Many atheists think it is their void-given right to make disrespectful, insulting or condescending remarks about religion. One I have heard a number of times is a common atheist response to “Your atheism is a religion”: If religion were a hair colour, then I am bald.
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“This book is a gem. Through letters of advice from A.F. Christian, an enthusiastic convert to the cause of the new atheists, Mary Eberstadt deftly exposes the flaws in their views. Using the lingo of pop culture to hilarious effect, she offers a scathing satire of their question-begging arguments and shows with great wit that they are not just wrongheaded but downright laughable. Yet this spirited defense of Christian faith is also a poignant commentary on what it means to be human.”
– Fr. Peter Ryan, SJ, Professor of Moral Theology, Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary
Last night I watched a 2007 debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox on 5 of Dawkins’ theses from his book The God Delusion. Lennox (who recently visited Australia to speak at the Easter Convention here in Katoomba) was delightful and made some strong statements. Dawkins was, to me, surprisingly earnest. But I did see in Dawkins’ responses to Lennox support for the observations of David Bently Hart that I read in a recent post by Justin Taylor. The new atheists are not the same as the old atheists:
From God, the Christian Socialist and the Mad Monk by Chris Uhlmann
It might irk many to hear it but Judaeo-Christian morality is a foundation stone of Western democracy and, before we pull it out, perhaps we should ponder its strengths as well as its weaknesses. Because the West still hasn’t found an answer to the questions Friedrich Nietzsche’s fool posed in 1882.
Nietzsche wrote of the lunatic “who lit a lantern in the bright morning hours, ran to the marketplace and cried incessantly, ‘I seek God! I seek God!’ As many of those who do not believe in God were standing around, just then he provoked much laughter.
“Why did he get lost?” said one. “Did he lose his way like a child?” said another. “Or is he hiding? Is he afraid of us? Has he gone away on a voyage? Or emigrated?
“Thus they yelled and laughed.
“The madman jumped into their midst and pierced them with his glances.
An 8 minute interview with Peter Hitchens. Thanks to Tim Nichols.
Peter Hitchens Author Interview–The Rage Against God from Gorilla Poet Productions on Vimeo.
Another quote from Regis Debray’s God: An Itinerary, and then some comments.
He’s a staunch atheist so I really shouldn’t be enjoying this book. What a mind. He’s like James Jordan’s evil twin. He has some wonderful observations despite his lack of the unifying paradigm of faith to understand their true meanings. He alternately makes me want to scream and sing.
Debray mistakenly interprets the adjustments made by God in the economy of His people throughout history as the inventions of men, yet without the constraints of errant tradition, he often hits the nail on the head. All he says should be taken with a grain of salt, but he is consistently thought-provoking.
These modern atheists are totally blind. Besides the fact that they give all the credit for the cultural achievements of Christianity to “human reason” (aren’t Muslims human, too?), they believe that social anarchy is freedom. After all, we are just pondscum, blindly—antinomiously— finding its full potential.
…but slack on Creation.
“What’s so great about Christianity? D’Souza gives this question a book-length answer, exploring Christianity’s effect on government, science, philosophy and morality, while answering the objections of atheists along the way. He also gives a warning: most of the West is living on the inheritance of the Christian culture handed down to it by previous generations, but the secular worldview is slowly eating away at the best things Western culture offers. Continue reading
It is impossible to impose any foreign worldview, modern or otherwise, onto the Bible. It will never be accommodated to the current ephemera. It comes in like a sword and violates our thinking until we think the way God does. Then it has dambusting consequences in every area of life.
It is a weapon to crush the head, to bring death and resurrection in us, and in the world. It carves up nations like a sacrifice and makes them a pleasing aroma to God. It rebuilds cultures from the inside out, and is the fount of all western society, art, literature (and literacy), music, government and charity.
And western atheism is in reality a black leech hanging off this grandeur, a little horn with a big mouth, totally dependent on the longsuffering and mercy of Christ the ascended King.
Secular humanism is but a perversion of Christianity. As a ‘Christianity without Christ’, and thus bankrupt, it can only ever survive on borrowed capital. It is a temporary wart.
My comment on iMonk’s article, Why Do They Hate Us? is here. Below is another comment that I thought interesting:
As a former rabid atheist, I disliked Christians because I saw them as ignorant, intolerant and absurdly convinced that they had the Truth. The only evidence for this was TV and the people I came in contact with. Also, many of my College Professors found them easy targets and I enjoyed laughing at these poor deluded souls. But I was empty if the truth be told. However, I was won over to the other side, in the San Francisco Bay area because I personally witnessed the love amongst Christians and I had had enough of the self righteousness of New Agers and fellow Freethinkers to know they were a bunch of lost souls. Continue reading
