Wednesday, May 27, 2009

"The fool says...."

Via Cranach, a summary of the "five basic arguments against the existence of God" by Rev. William Cwirla:
  1. The existence of God can’t be proven scientifically, therefore there is no God.
  2. Religious people do bad things, therefore there is no God.
  3. No one has yet to convince me there is a God, therefore there is no God.
  4. The world sucks, therefore there is no God.
  5. Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy don’t exist, therefore there is no God.
Cranach [Gene Edward Veith] also links to an article by Charlotte Allen, reacting to the "new atheists." Excerpts:
.... Maybe atheists wouldn't be so unpopular if they stopped beating the drum until the hide splits on their second-favorite topic: How stupid people are who believe in God. This is a favorite Dawkins theme. In a recent interview with Trina Hoaks, the atheist blogger for the Examiner.com website, Dawkins described religious believers as follows: "They feel uneducated, which they are; often rather stupid, which they are; inferior, which they are; and paranoid about pointy-headed intellectuals from the East Coast looking down on them, which, with some justification, they do." Thanks, Richard!

Dennett likes to call atheists "the Brights," in contrast to everybody else, who obviously aren't so bright. In a 2006 essay describing his brush with death after a heart operation, Dennett wrote these thoughts about his religious friends who told him they were praying for his recovery: "Thanks, I appreciate it, but did you also sacrifice a goat?" With friends like Daniel Dennett, you don't need enemies.

Then there's P.Z. Myers, biology professor at the University of Minnesota's Morris campus, whose blog, Pharyngula, is supposedly about Myers' field, evolutionary biology, but is actually about his fanatical propensity to label religious believers as "idiots," "morons," "loony" or "imbecilic" in nearly every post. The university deactivated its link to Myers' blog in July after he posted a photo of a consecrated host from a Mass that he had pierced with a rusty nail and thrown into the garbage ("I hope Jesus' tetanus shots are up to date") in an effort to prove that Catholicism is bunk — or something. ....

What primarily seems to motivate atheists isn't rationalism but anger — anger that the world isn't perfect, that someone forced them to go to church as children, that the Bible contains apparent contradictions, that human beings can be hypocrites and commit crimes in the name of faith. The vitriol is extraordinary. Hitchens thinks that "religion spoils everything." Dawkins contends that raising one's offspring in one's religion constitutes child abuse. Harris argues that it "may be ethical to kill people" on the basis of their beliefs. The perennial atheist litigant Michael Newdow sued (unsuccessfully) to bar President Obama from uttering the words "so help me God" when he took his oath of office.

What atheists don't seem to realize is that even for believers, faith is never easy in this world of injustice, pain and delusion. Even for believers, God exists just beyond the scrim of the senses. So, atheists, how about losing the tired sarcasm and boring self-pity and engaging believers seriously? .... [more]
The five arguments against God — Cranach: The Blog of Veith, Atheists: No God, no reason, just whining - Los Angeles Times

2 comments:

  1. Can I just make a suggestion? Turn off comment moderation. To let others see atheists in the true light of day, via how they speak, I think, is a good thing.

    thank you - God Bless - See you there!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks.

    I've had the immoderate experience, and no doubt other believers have too. When I moderate, I don't discriminate - I only require and welcome civility.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated. I will gladly approve any comment that responds directly and politely to what has been posted.