Saturday, August 15, 2009

Are We All Atheists? Answering an Atheist (Bill Walker)

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On Metacrock's blog I got this comment from Bill Walker:

I do not understand this insistence that Atheists are a 'hate group'.We are the same as christians & they are like us. We're both agreed on the non-existence of a huge number of gods created by our primitive, tribal ancestors. We atheists simply disbelieve in one or a few more than Christians. Period ! Try to wrap your mind around this.



First of all, the argument of this blog is not that all atheists are members of a hate group. I say that a segment of the atheist community is heading down the road toward formation of a hate group if they don't stop and examine their attitudes, some of them already constitute a hate group. In analyzing the FBI profile of hate groups I have determined that this segment of atheism is in stage four now, that's one step away from violence, but I think there are seven stages so still have some to go. Most atheists are not violent, or at least not the stage of committing violence against religious people. Although there have been a couple of cases there plots of small groups to burn churches were discovered and stopped in time. But the supposition that anesthetist are responsible for the wave of chruch burnings is not verified. For this reason I say this segment is "approaching" the level of a hate group.

For the many the attitude is there now. I've seen people on message boards say that religious people should be put in jail. I've seen them contend that religious people are mentally ill, they are all brainwashed, that they are victims of hypnotism. These are extremeists and these attitudes are not things you hear everyday. I have seen many websites where atheists use the phrase "burning churches" as metaphors, symbols, screen names, ideals expressed, expressed as wishes, and one one Googles this phrase there are hundreds of websites where it is used in that way.

There hundreds of atheist message boards and every single one of them reflect a tone of arrogance, anger, hatred, people group up as a feeding frenzy to mock, deride and ridicule any Christian who goes on. This is standard. This not an extreme it's very single one! for years now I have been challenging atheists to go on atheist boards and pretend to be Christians to see how they are treated. Not one has ever taken me up on it in years! They don't need to see, they know they will be treated like shit.

As for the idea that we are all atheists, that is a total misunderstanding of what belief in God is. God is not a big man in the sky. Atheists think of all concepts of God as just a collection of personalities and that is not the case. The real difference the God of the Bible and Zeus or Thor is not that they have personalities. God of the Bible is not a contingent being, he' snot a man in the sky he's not just limited localized being with his own little personality; he is the basis of all reality. There can only be one and all the gods of different mythologies are merely pointing to that one reality behind all religions.

Belief in God is not just adding a fact ot the universe; there's also this guy named God. God is not just another opinion to argued with God is the basis of all reality. The world of the theist and that of the atheists are totally different worlds. They are not just one world has one guy extra in it. They are totally different. One world is based upon a purpose it has a meaning and it has a moral nature that part of it's very fabric. The other is meaningless, it exists by accident and has no propose and no reason for being. That means in the one world all the individual creatures and people have reasons for their lives, they can accomplish something, they have theological significance, it matters and each and every person lived. In the atheist world it doesn't' matter that you lived. you are nothing but worm food, all you ever could be.

It a vast difference that one believes in God or not. To say "you just believe one fewer God" is groundless and absurd because the different is vast. That one God is the only one there could be and all those little personalities are just place holders that point to the one god.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"One world is based upon a purpose it has a meaning and it has a moral nature that part of it's very fabric. The other is meaningless, it exists by accident and has no propose and no reason for being."

Bullshit. Atheists and Humanists find plenty of meaning and morality in our lives. Just because they are grounded in nature and humanity and not some abstract concept you choose to call God doesn't make them any less meaningful.

I know you don't like to acknowledge it, but we are in fact as fully human as you are...

tinythinker said...

Some things to consider, based on my my discussions with Metacrock. If I misrepresent him, I'm sure he will let me know...

1. By definition the typical atheist worldview does not, in fact, claim to have meaning and moral nature as a part of its very fabric. Suggesting that meaning is inherent to existence tends to be be considered "off the reservation" in atheism. Meaning is generally reduced to that significance which is imposed by an observer, in this case a human observer. Morality is an evolutionary convenience for certain kinds of species, nothing more or less.

2. Who says we must find God apart from nature of humanity? Who says nature and humanity do not participate in the divine and reveal various aspects of God? The hangup is to not think God is merely this or only that.

3. Where in that post does Metacrock suggest that atheists are subhuman?

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

thanks Tiny. my criticism of atheists is not that they are sub human.Its' that they are too human.

tinythinker said...

I dunno, because technically wouldn't being aware of participating in the divine be considered being a completely actualized human? That doesn't imply anyone is "not human" or "less than" human, it is a question of realizing ones potential. I mean, I'm sure that would still sound patronizing to someone like Hermit, unless one takes the position similar to Simone Weil that some, while not referring to anything named "God", nonetheless have found a grander depth and value to existence, etc, and have discovered therein true purity of heart. (Conversely many who claim to "believe" in God still live lives of shallowness and vanity.)