The Modern Atheists….

The Modern Atheists….

(Are not terribly different than the old ones. The difference is how believers answer them.)

There is a new wave of Atheists that have hit the scene. Well not so new anymore but they think their ideas are new, which they are not. In our popular culture they are seen as ‘cutting edge’ and ‘deep’ but an analysis of their beliefs, attitudes and actions shows that they are actually more like a bunch of petulant adolescents that have yet to get smacked in the mouth for talking back to their parents. They are of course products of our time where very weak thinkers play to ignorant people and think themselves clever as they preach to their own choir. This is of course a symptom of what Dennis Prager calls the ‘Age of Stupidity’. This is an age where foolishness passes itself off as wisdom and fools pass themselves off as prophets.

James White, someone whom I rarely find myself in agreement with made an interesting statement that Richard Dawkins is not a deep thinker. He of course is correct (which pains me to say). Dawkins is not a deep thinker. When ever he is pressed on his views he throws a temper tantrum or makes some sort of flippancy. He is a rather weak thinker. At least someone like James White, whom I have very little respect for, makes his points and defends them rationally. Dawkins on the other hand demonstrates that in our modern world what passes for deep thought is generally a flippant retort that gets a few giggles from pimply faced college freshmen who think it’s clever to annoy their parents at the dinner table by regurgitating what they hear from Dawkins, Hitchens or any of the other cookie cutter atheist cranks. When White posted that comment on Youtube atheists were quick to show just how silly and classless they tend to be. There were comments about ‘bible-thumping idiots’ and that 'There are no Christian intellectuals' other high brow commentary. Sadly, that is what one should expect in a discussion with atheists.

Here is a humorous clip from Dawkins:

For the record I am not a Creationist but the thought of this man being passed off as an intellectual giant is rather funny.

It was cute to see that Dawkins made statements about ‘Cultural Christianity’ and his delight in signing Christmas Carols. When I read this I thought ‘If I thought Christianity were a crock I would think Christmas Carols a waste of time.’ But then I thought more (which is something atheists should try once in a while). I thought about the fact that Mr. Dawkins simply doesn’t understand the world around him. He doesn’t understand that a Civilization is a fragile thing. He goes about swinging his atheistic club as if it will have no ramifications for the Civilization he inhabits. You see, even when I was an agnostic I understood the Christianity, in particular Catholicism, made Western Civilization what it is. I defended the Church before I believed in it because I knew that without Christianity the West would not be the West. As Mr. Dawkins gets his way and the West loses its soul we will stop being who we are. Christmas Carols will simply be stupid reminders of our past. We will look to our future. A future that, thanks to secularism, is far more bleak than it ever has been. Women murder their children in the womb and think it an advancement in society. People embrace materialism because it is all that really matters to them. Westerners no longer care about making the future what it needs to be. We are more concerned with our 401ks, cheap crap that we go into debt for and making sure that we tax other people to take care of us in our old age since we are killing our children in the womb. Wow, what a brave new world. We have no purpose in the West anymore. We are a soulless entity treading water. I remember reading about the Reconquista of Spain and how the Christians had been bushed up into the mountains and over a 700 year period fought inch by inch to re-claim what was theirs. You don’t do that for materialism. You do that because you have a sense of purpose. You are willing to sacrifice for that purpose. Because of people like Dawkins or the eminently more interesting HG Wells we no longer have that purpose. What Dawkins does not see is if he were to ever truly get his way Christmas could simply be done away with as a foolish reminder of our previous 'superstition'. Yet even he is fond of what that sliver of culture that Christianity produced. Again, not very deep thought. He simply relies on emotion and anger. Yet humorously his blog has a subtitle of ‘A Clear Thinking Oasis’ I do not blame Dawkins though. His ability to use reason has been damaged by his atheism. Atheism destroys reason. It pretty much destroys thought. GK Chesterton pointed this out in ‘Orthodoxy’ (a book I am sure none of the modern atheists have bothered to read):

In so far as religion is gone, reason is going. For they are both of the same primary and authoritative kind. They are both methods of proof which cannot themselves be proved. And in the act of destroying the idea of Divine authority we have largely destroyed the idea of that human authority by which we do a long-division sum. With a long and sustained tug we have attempted to pull the mitre off pontifical man; and his head has come off with it.

Christopher Hitchens whom, unlike most of his co-religionists, is somewhat of a deep thinker is another example of the modern atheist. Unlike many others though he is a very bright man. Unfortunately, he is constantly wrong. This is a man who is a (former?) Trotskyite. He got the Cold War wrong. He then buddied up with the Neoconservative movement. He backed the Bush Administrations war on Iraq. These are big things to have gotten wrong! Unfortunately, despite is quick wit, brilliant insights into literature, and obvious intelligence he is completely irrational and violently abusive toward anyone or anything having to do with religion. This is a man that from what I can tell has never written a book attacking Trotsky and the furious carnage Trotsky and his fellow Bolsheviks wrought upon the people of the former Soviet Union, but has managed to write a book attacking Mother Theresa.

Even if I were an atheist I would take a step back and see that I would not want to buy what Christopher Hitchens is selling. He is literally out of his mind when it comes to religion. Take a look at this exchange from ‘An evening with Christopher Hitchens’ (copied from Takimag)

FATHER RUTLER: I have met saints. You cannot explain the existence of saints without God. I was nine years chaplain with Mother Teresa [inaudible]. You have called her a whore, a demagogue. She’s in heaven that you don’t believe in, but she’s praying for you. If you do not believe in heaven, that’s why you drink.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: Excuse me?

FATHER RUTLER: That’s why you drink. God has offered us happiness, all of us. And you will either die a Catholic or a madman, and I’ll tell you the difference.

And secondly, I’m an officer with this club. And this conversation has been beneath the dignity of this club.

UNIDENTIFIED AUDIENCE MEMBER: No it hasn’t been.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: Well, it is now.

DAVID HOROWITZ: Okay. I–

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: It is now.

FATHER RUTLER: And I’d just say that…

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: Fine host you turned out to be.

FATHER RUTLER: …this club, we’ve had very open discussion. But we’ve never heard such vulgarity and bigotry.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: Till now.

FATHER RUTLER: And I am, I don’t want to see this in this club again. And I think I represent the officers of this noble…

DAVID HOROWITZ: All right.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: Your claim to know what a [saint] is or what heaven is is as absurd as your [inaudible] arrogance, your unkindness and your lack of hospitality.

DAVID HOROWITZ: See? Everybody –

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: You should be ashamed.

FATHER RUTLER: [inaudible]

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS: And you are supposed to represent a church of charity and kindness?

DAVID HOROWITZ: I said this evening was going to be interesting and unpredictable.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS Especially [inaudible].

DAVID HOROWITZ: And anyway, thank you all for coming. And to all a good night. (”An Evening with Christopher Hitchens”)

It was after the above exchange that the real fireworks started, according to witnesses. This blog has obtained a written account of the incident by one eyewitness, which states the following:

“At the end of the event as he staggered, sweating and red faced, out of the room, he [Hitchens] advanced on Father Rutler in a threatening and physical manner, screaming that this beloved pastor and brilliant scholar whom he had never met was ‘a child molester and a lazy layabout who never did a day’s work in his life’. His behavior was so frightening that a bodyguard put himself between Hitchens and Father Rutler to protect him. Several of the event organizers then escorted Hitchens to the men’s room and when he emerged he continued his psychotic rant, repeating the same calumnious and baseless screed as before. It was then that Father Rutler, in the most charitable manner, told Hitchens [for the second time] that he will `either die a madman or a Roman Catholic’. … Unless he faces his alcoholism soon, I am betting on the ‘madman’ ending for him.” (Private communication, name of source withheld by request, 17 September 2007)

Evidently, Mr. Hitchens never met Father Rutler before their May 1 encounter, and did not know who he was. It happens that Father Rutler is a hero of 9-11. He holds a special place in the hearts of New York City’s police and firemen, for he was with them that day at Ground Zero. Before Father Mychal Judge was struck dead by a body falling from the burning towers, Father Rutler stood side-by-side with Father Judge, hearing confessions and giving the last rites to firemen en route to their deaths.

[/quote]

Let’s see…..Father Rutler who gave last right to people at ground zero on 9-11 or a drunken Trotskite with bad manners and mental illness…..

It shows how absurd the world is that the man is still taken seriously about religion.

Also amusing was a discussion I heard between Dennis Prager and Hitchens. Prager prefaced his question by saying that most religious people question their beliefs throughout their lives. He then asked Hitchens if he ever doubted his atheism. Hitchens responded ‘No’. Of course Prager pointed out that he is just as blind in his ‘faith’ that there is no God as any religious person. Hitchens then said that he never said no! He twisted and turned whining that he never said it despite the fact that it was right there on tape. It was sort of amusing in a pathetic kind of way. It reminded me of when I told my Mother to ‘shut up’ in front of my Father. As he was getting ready to smack me I told him that I had not actually said that. Sadly, Dennis is too good natured and too much of a gentle debater to have given Hitchens the smack he needed.

Hitchens unlike the others reminds me of a young St. Augustine. St. Augustine prided himself on being able to out debate people, especially Catholic priests, when he was a Manichean. Later in life when he ‘sobered up’ so to speak, he looked back and saw that he was a fool, but a good rhetorician.

I recently came across a web posting by ‘PZ Meyers’. From what I can see he is trying to be the poor mans Richard Dawkins. Mr. Meyers pretty much embodies the modern atheist movement. He’s ignorant of what he is speaking of. He’s classless. He is a coward both intellectually and physically. And of course he has a gaggle of college kids that think he is clever. Let’s look at what passes for thought with Mr. Meyers.

Right out of the box he shows off his ignorance:

Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn't eat it as he was supposed to do, but instead walked with it.

The humorous thing is that if he were not an ignoramus he would have a better case against Catholicism to the average Atheist. But as we all know that an imbecile and his opinion are often parted. Catholics do not believe that the Eucharist is the ‘symbolic’ body of Christ. Any introductory theology book would let him know that. Catholics believe it is actually the body of Christ. But hey why bother to actually know about the topic you are discussing when you can repeat ‘cracker’ over and over and curse a lot so that you look cool to your college students.

As a side note it is interesting that Mr. Meyers obviously has a strange need for acceptance. He is not a man that is acting his age. When I originally read his post I assumed he was 18 but in his picture he appears to be physically well past 20 which shocked me.

He goes on to say:

It’s a frigging Cracker!

Any person who reads his post sees that he repeats this over and over. An interesting thing is that I have taken communion over and over and I would not consider it a ‘cracker’. I would describe it more like styrofoam. But I digress. He is obviously trying to drive home the point that he finds Catholic beliefs foolish. Okay well fine. But let’s face it, he is not exactly the modern Voltaire. His silly taunts may go over well with his students but he comes across as someone who has not thought out his positions and just wants to ride the coat tails of other atheists who have made lots of money selling books about what they don’t believe.

More of his insights:

There are days when it is agony to read the news, because people are so goddamned stupid. Petty and stupid. Hateful and stupid. Just plain stupid. And nothing makes them stupider than religion.

There is one way that you can tell if a person is stupid. That is to see if they use the word ‘stupider’. Yes, I know it is technically a word but only teenagers and trailer trash use it. Which goes into my theory of Mr. Meyers and the fact that he has the mind of a child. Either his atheism has retarded his thought or he seems intent on showing that his doctorate is not in English or Philosophy.

He also struggles with consistency. He is complaining about people being hateful all the while calling people names. He is arguing that people are acting petty while he is acting petty (see his quote later on in this post). The entire post is a pathetic attempt for him to discuss topics that are obviously over his head.

He goes on:

This isn't the stupid part yet. He walked off with a cracker that was put in his mouth, and people in the church fought with him to get it back. It is just a cracker!

While I think death threats are deplorable and I think people have over-reacted I must say that this statement shows what Catholics have come to expect from Atheists, ignorance and childishness. People have desecrated the Eucharist in the past. There are strange superstitions that people have about torturing and desecrating the Eucharist. I encourage Mr. Meyers to actually read some history before he advertises to the world his ignorance of both theology and history. Again, Mr. Meyers shows that he struggles with consistency of thought. He is outraged that Catholics would worry about someone stealing the Eucharist to desecrate it and later in his post he advertises that he would like someone to steal the Eucharist and he would like to desecrate it! To say that he is a fool is unfair to fools. The man is stupid (but not stupider).

More wisdom from from the Mr. Meyers:

Oh, beyond hate speech. Where does this fit on the Shoah scale, Bill? It shouldn't even register, but here is Wild-Eyed Bill the Offended calling for the expulsion of a student…for not swallowing a cracker.

I actually dislike Bill Donohue. I hate that he is trying to be the Catholic Abe Foxman. And I actually hate the notion of ‘hate crimes’. I also agree that the student should not be expelled. But again this shows Mr. Meyers inconsistent thought. Of course this does not register in the ‘shoah scale’ but does it need to? In our modern world if someone were to walk into a Jewish synagogue, steal the Torah scroll and burn it they would be charged with a hate crime. There is no doubt that Abe Foxman would fly into a tantrum and call for the expulsion of the student. That is simply the world we live in. That is what Meyers is asking someone to do for him. If he had any understanding of Catholicism he would know that. But to Mr. Meyers as long is it is not the equivalent of the Holocaust it is not a big deal. To him Catholics should just sit back and take it. They have no right to defend what is sacred to them.

And this man teaches at a University?

He goes on to say:

That's right. Crazy Christian fanatics right here in our own country have been threatening to kill a young man over a cracker. This is insane. These people are demented fuckwits.

And here we have a grown man acting like a child. Yes, Meyers keep saying ‘fuck’ and your students will think you are really cool!

He even has people in his blog comments section making really thoughtful comments like:

All you people who say that PZ shouldn't do this because it is insulting to the devout, all of you should just fuck off.

And the part of the article that should make all atheists proud:

Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers? There's no way I can personally get them — my local churches have stakes prepared for me, I'm sure — but if any of you would be willing to do what it takes to get me some, or even one, and mail it to me, I'll show you sacrilege, gladly, and with much fanfare. I won't be tempted to hold it hostage (no, not even if I have a choice between returning the Eucharist and watching Bill Donohue kick the pope in the balls, which would apparently be a more humane act than desecrating a goddamned cracker), but will instead treat it with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web. I shall do so joyfully and with laughter in my heart. If you can smuggle some out from under the armed guards and grim nuns hovering over your local communion ceremony, just write to me and I'll send you my home address.

Here is where we see the ultimate in atheist thought. He is asking for someone to ‘score’ (again, act your age Meyers) him some consecrated Eucharists. This is the most sacred thing in the world to Catholics. He wants to desecrate it for all to see. He then preemptively mocks people for being upset by this. The man is a child. He is a old shriveled up bitter child that has a need for attention from other children. If it were not so pathetic it would be funny.

He then goes on to demonstrate his stupidity (or is that more stupider??) further by stating this in his com box:

No Jews have threatened me over my beliefs or what I choose to do in my own home. Neither have any Hindus or Buddhists. If someone tries to tell me that I can't throw away any bagel and lox I can't finish, then, well, it'll be time to desecrate rather than nosh.

Only a very stupid person would equate throwing away bagels and desecrating the Eucharist. The fact that the people of Minnesota are forced to pay his salary is a disgrace. It shows lack of standards American universities now have in their hiring practices.

Now, another interesting aspect of this is Mr. Meyers is in all actuality a coward. He is looking to pick a fight with Catholics because he knows deep down that they will not do anything to him. He sits there mocking Catholics because he knows he can get away with it. If he were really a man and not a boy he would pick bigger fish to fry. If he really wanted to demonstrate his point he would post attacking Islam in the same manner he is attacking Catholicism. If he were not a coward he would encourage people to go into a Mosque, steal a Koran and he would desecrate it on his website (please note that I do not suggest he do this as it would be very wrong). Some people on his com box claim he intends to do that but we know he won’t. No, he is too scared to do that. Instead he picks on Nuns and people who just want to go to Mass without atheist fools desecrating what they hold sacred.

As you can see the key ingredients to the modern atheist movement is both childishness and ignorance. I once had a discussion with an atheist who thought himself clever. After the usual non-sense about God being like ‘the Easter Bunny’ and ‘Santa’ and all other things Atheists find to be really strong arguments he finally just said ‘There is no proof of the existence of God’. I simply smiled and said ‘What have you read from the other side?’. Of course he was full of bravado and said ‘Just because the Bible says something doesn’t make it true!’. My response was ‘Okay but what have you read from the other side?’. After a bit of silence I asked ‘Have you read the Summa Theologia and were you able to dismiss all of the arguments made in that work?’ My friend the atheist responded ‘What’s that?’. The pathetic thing is that these people really are quite ignorant and should be mocked. They never actually engage the arguments. Instead they rely on childish statements that when examined end up being rather stupid..

I long for Catholics like Hiliare Belloc and GK Chesterton who exposed the foolishness of people like the modern atheists and defended the faith masterfully. Sadly, Catholic Apologists are too busy worrying about disproving ‘Sola Scriptura’. It is time that they wake up and realize they are literally kicking a dead horse. The intellectual enemy is no longer Protestantism. It is dying. The mainline Churches drank the kool-aid of modernism and are struggling to stay relevant. The ‘Fundamentalists’ are falling into the ‘health and wealth Gospel’ trap and will soon be irrelevant as well. It is time for Catholic Apologists to stand up and fight these intellectual midgets. These people may come across as bullies but like most bullies they are actually cowards and will run from a good fight. It’s time to stand up.