Posted on 11/17/2003 6:02:20 AM PST by Tribune7
The idea that he is a devotee of reason seeing through the outdated superstitions of other, lesser beings is the foremost conceit of the proud atheist. This heady notion was first made popular by French intellectuals such as Voltaire and Diderot, who ushered in the so-called Age of Enlightenment.
That they also paved the way for the murderous excesses of the French Revolution and many other massacres in the name of human progress is usually considered an unfortunate coincidence by their philosophical descendants.
The atheist is without God but not without faith, for today he puts his trust in the investigative method known as science, whether he understands it or not. Since there are very few minds capable of grasping higher-level physics, let alone following their implications, and since specialization means that it is nearly impossible to keep up with the latest developments in the more esoteric fields, the atheist stands with utter confidence on an intellectual foundation comprised of things of which he knows nothing.
In fairness, he cannot be faulted for this, except when he fails to admit that he is not actually operating on reason in this regard, but is instead exercising a faith that is every bit as blind and childlike as that of the most unthinking Bible-thumping fundamentalist. Still, this is not irrational, it is only ignorance and a failure of perception.
The irrationality of the atheist can primarily be seen in his actions – and it is here that the cowardice of his intellectual convictions is also exposed. Whereas Christians and the faithful of other religions have good reason for attempting to live by the Golden Rule – they are commanded to do so – the atheist does not.
In fact, such ethics, as well as the morality that underlies them, are nothing more than man-made myth to the atheist. Nevertheless, he usually seeks to live by them when they are convenient, and there are even those, who, despite their faithlessness, do a better job of living by the tenets of religion than those who actually subscribe to them.
Still, even the most admirable of atheists is nothing more than a moral parasite, living his life based on borrowed ethics.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
"Thank you Henny [Youngman]! You've never been funnier. And it's a damn shame!" -- Steve Allen
Right… And atheist is simply someone who disbelieves what you claim to be true without proof. So you insult him publicly and claim he’s the “arrogant" one. Nice…
This is the basic assumption and working principle of such "civilized" societies as those found in Iran and Saudi Arabia, for example. It works, too.
This is not to say there are no atheists who ... are true to their godless convictions. Today, we call them sociopaths and suicides.
How many atheists these days have you heard of flying planes into buildings killing thousands of people, or strapping explosives to their bodies and blowing themselves and as many other people as they can to smitherines.
Suicides, huh? You mean like the Jim Jones cult, or the Heaven's Gate cult.
Where's this guy been living. The most famous suicides and sociopaths, and the most common, have all been highly religious.
VadeRetro, steve-b; elfman2, thanks for posting some sanity and relief from this "Quakers meeting."
Hank
You'd never know it from this. One very good rule of thumb in debate, rhetoric, polemic, and what-have-you, is that you should be able to give an accurate rendering of your opponent's argument, such that he himself would consider your description of his position a fair description - to not do so is to argue dishonestly. By that very elementary test, this article flunks completely. And that's only the beginning, the basic error of form - then you can get into the factual errors. Socrates was not an atheist. Neither was Nietzsche. And so on.
Nietzsche, who died insane, is perhaps not the best example....
As a Christian I agree that much of the article is flawed on logic. However I do think the conclusion has some merit. That most atheists do not live as though life is the accident that they claim it to be. However some do indeed live that way.
"The atheist is irrational because he has no other choice – because the rational consequences of his non-belief are simply too terrible to bear."
I do think the Atheist is irrational, but not because he disbelieves what I claim to be true without proof. But I believe that God provides the Atheist with ample proof and is rejected by the Atheist. But I take it on faith that this occurs because 1) God has provided me sufficient proof and 2) I know God well enough to believe that He is serious when He says he desires nobody to perish.
God doesn't manifest His presence in such a way that His existence is obvious and incontrovertible to everyone. Doing so might leave you with little choice but to worship Him. Certainly it would be hard to argue that you chose to love God or obey Him when His alpowerful Holy presence is constantly around. But that does not mean that He doesn't provide ample proof on an individual basis.
Irrationality and murderousness are not necessarily limited to the religious mindset.
I think you should recognize the contradiction there. “Proof” is not subjective. Either God’s provable or not.
I’m not able to invest the time here to rehash the evidence supporting or contradicting the Bible. But I hope to never be so arrogant and insulting as to publicly accuse all those that disagree with me of being “irrational”.
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