seowulf

To The Atheist

Of what consequence is it to an atheist whether someone else believes that there is a God? If he truly believes that there is no God it should make no difference to him, it should be just another fairy tale told to children at bedtime. It should no more matter to him than Goldy Locks and the Three Bears. Yet there seems to be a common militant atheist who would not only deny God for himself, but would also deny God for anyone else as well. They want anything that can be believed to be based upon scientific evidence. They do not want to acknowledge that science has limitations that cannot be overcome, and I don't think they fully realize the implications of what they want.

For the sake of debate what if I concede the point that there is no God, and that God is a fiction? Atheists assume that the little fictions that humanity has developed through millenia of civilization have no value. What are some of those little fictions that we, including atheists, commonly believe?

Some of these little, insignificant constructs that all of us believe are justice, hope, compassion, and love.

Is love simply a manifestation of pheromones and audio-visual cues, a neurotransmitter response in the brain, and associated autonomic responses? That is what scientific investigation can show. Pheromones can be detected using chromatography techniques. The researcher can observe facial expressions, body movements and responses to them. That is about all.

“There is no greater love than this; that a man would lay down his life for a friend.”

Would you be willing to lay down your life for pheromones or a raised eyebrow? Would you die for a neurotransmitter rush? Some might, I suppose. But love is one of those fictions that we keep in our minds. We love our families, we love our friends, and we would, and do, put ourselves at risk to protect them because we love them. Yet no one can give us a quantifiable amount of love that we have for one another, because that is unquantifiable. How much we love someone cannot be scientifically measured.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.”

“But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, kindness...”

What is hope? What is compassion? What are they if they are not fictions that we hold in our minds as ideals to which we can aspire? Why would we be compassionate to our fellow man and take pity upon his circumstances? What is in it for us? Yet we are compassionate. We do take pity on people who are in difficult situations. We do because we know it is the right thing to do. We know it is the right thing to do because we have in our minds the example of that ideal compassionate being.

What is justice?

King Alfred of Wessex was once asked, “What is justice?” Alfred replied, “I know it when I see it.” Justice is one of those concepts that defies a succinct definition. It is not revenge or retribution. It is an ideal that we have composed to make society operate without the need for revenge and retribution. It allows us the ability to right wrongs with fair order. But what is it if not a fiction in which we all believe. At least most of us believe it.

Yet what scientific method can detect a molecule of love, or an atom of compassion. What spectrometer can detect a trace of hope that gives us the courage to face the next disaster? What particle of justice can be detected in the laboratory? We all know the answer is 'none'.

As atheists you accept these little fictions that we have constructed, commonly, in our minds. Yet you will deny someone else their “fiction” of God. Consider that to these backward folk, God is the embodiment of Hope, Love, Compassion, and Justice. Consider that God as Love shows us the ideal way we are to behave and sacrifice for one another, including you. Consider that God as Compassion shows us how we are to have compassion upon you when you are distressed. Consider that God is Justice, and is the ideal dispenser of reward and punishment. Consider that God is Hope that allows us to face another day when reason would tell us to give up.

By denying them their “fiction” you are telling them they have no ideal. They have no reason to have hope. They have no reason to have compassion toward you. They need not lay down their lives for you. They do not need to give you justice when someone has wronged you. Indeed, they do not need to respect your right to life or liberty. If God bestows rights, then as the ideal, they cannot be changed by the whims of government. If government bestows rights, your rights are no rights at all, but privileges.

Denying the believer their God denies you the benefit of what they believe in and ultimately causes harm to yourselves. What you are denying is the lubricant that allows the machine of civilization to function smoothly. Yet, maybe that is your point after all. Maybe the militant atheist is not so much atheist as he is nihilist.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

They that deny a God destroy man's nobility;
for certainly man's of kin to the beasts by his body;
and if he be not of kin to God by his spirit;
he is a base and ignoble creature.

Sir Francis Bacon, Of Atheism

*********************************************

Concordia civium murus urbium.

"Harmony of citizens is the wall of cities."

America has become an unwalled, shining city on a hill. Unwalled cities, especially shining ones, stand out not as symbols of power and strength, but as targets.

There is a significant fifth column in America whose allegiance is not to country, faith, neighbors, family, or friends. It is not to their fellow citizens like you and me. Their allegiance is to the ideal of Utopian Marxism thinly disguised as altruistic care for the children or the poor or whatever group can tug at the heartstrings of the gullible.

Their allegiance is not divided between America and Marxism, it simply does not exist for America. It is expressly hated. Until these wolves in sheep's clothing are defrocked, we are vulnerable. No man can serve two masters.

**********************************************************

TITLE 10 - ARMED FORCES Subtitle A - General Military Law PART I - ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS CHAPTER 13 - THE MILITIA Sec. 311. Militia: composition and classes -STATUTE- (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. (b) The classes of the militia are - (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

PAX SUPERIORE VI TELARUM (PEACE THROUGH SUPERIOR WEAPONRY)

How strange a thing is this love of woman, that is so small in its beginning and in its ends so great!
See, at the first it is as the little spring of water welling from a mountain's heart.
And at the last what is it? It is a mighty river that floats argosies of joy and makes wide lands to smile.
Or, perchance, it is a torrent to wash in a flood of ruin across the fields of Hope, bursting in the barriers of design, and bringing to tumbled nothingness the tenement of man's purity and the temples of his faith.
For when the Invisible conceived the order of the universe He set this seed of woman's love within its plan,
that by its most unequal growth is doomed to bring about equality of law.
For now it lifts the low to heights untold, and now it brings the noble to the level of the dust.
And thus, while Woman, that great surprise of nature, is, Good and Evil can never grow apart.
For still She stands, and, blind with love, shoots the shuttle of our fate, and pours sweet water into the cup of bitterness, and poisons the wholesome breath of life with the doom of her desire.
Turn this way and turn that, She is at hand to meet thee.
Her weakness is thy strength, her might is thy undoing.
Of her thou art, to her thou goest.
She is thy slave, yet holds thee captive; at her touch honour withers, locks open, and barriers fall.
She is infinite as ocean, she is variable as heaven, and her name is the Unforeseen.
Man, strive not to escape from Woman and the love of woman;
for, fly where thou wilt, She is yet thy fate, and whate'er thou buildest thou buildest it for her!

H. Ryder Haggard

Arthur Conan Doyle

A letter to Micah Clarke from an old seadog aquaintance informing him of his proposal to his future bride from:

MICAH CLARKE: His Statement As Made To His Three Grandchildren Joseph, Gervas, And Reuben During The Hard Winter Of 1734

'"Master Clarke. Sir,—When last we was in company I had run in under the batteries on cutting-out service, while you did stand on and off in the channel and wait signals. Having stopped to refit and to overhaul my prize, which proved to be in proper trim alow and aloft—"'

'"Having also read her the articles of war, I explained to her the conditions under which we were to sail in company on life's voyage, namely:"'

'"First. She to obey signals without question as soon as received. "'

'"Second. She to steer by my reckoning. "'

'"Third. She to stand by me as true consort in foul weather, battle, or shipwreck. "'

'"Fourth. She to run under my guns if assailed by picaroons, privateeros, or garda-costas. "'

'"Fifth. Me to keep her in due repair, dry-dock her at intervals, and see that she hath her allowance of coats of paint, streamers, and bunting, as befits a saucy pleasure boat. "'

'"Sixth. Me to take no other craft in tow, and if any be now attached, to cut their hawsers. "'

'"Seventh. Me to revictual her day by day. "'

'"Eighth. Should she chance to spring a leak, or be blown on her beam ends by the winds of misfortune, to stand by her and see her pumped out or righted. "'

'"Ninth. To fly the Protestant ensign at the peak during life's voyage, and to lay our course for the great harbour, in the hope that moorings and ground to swing may be found for two British-built crafts when laid up for eternity. "'

'"'Twas close on eight-bells before these articles were signed and sealed. When I headed after you I could not so much as catch a glimpse of your topsail. Soon after I heard as you had gone a-soldiering, together with that lean, rakish, long-sparred, picaroon-like craft which I have seen of late in the village. I take it unkind of you that you have not so much as dipped ensign to me on leaving. But perchance the tide was favourable, and you could not tarry. Had I not been jury-rigged, with one of my spars shot away, I should have dearly loved to have strapped on my hanger and come with you to smell gunpowder once more. I would do it now, timber-toe and all, were it not for my consort, who might claim it as a breach of the articles, and so sheer off. I must follow the light on her poop until we are fairly joined. "'

'"Farewell, mate! In action, take an old sailor's advice. Keep the weather-gauge and board! Tell that to your admiral on the day of battle. Whisper it in his ear. Say to him, 'Keep the weather-gauge and board!' Tell him also to strike quick, strike hard, and keep on striking. That's the word of Christopher Mings, and a better man has not been launched, though he did climb in through the hawse-pipe.

—Yours to command,

SOLOMON SPRENT. "'