Atheism: A Religious Assault on Religion
I have been watching the Youtube presentations by Atheists ranting and raving about how evil religion is. I have literally watched hundreds of videos and one of their main tenets is : “Christian nations promote imperialism, violence and oppression as was demonstrated by the Inquisitions, Witch Burnings of Salem and The African Slave Trade. They have pointed to other tragic events conducted in the name of religion such as the Japanese Empire rooted in Buddhism and Shintoism, Islam and today’s terrorist organizations, as well as the Israeli injustices against the Palestinians, etc. saying that these are evidence that religion aggravates human differences until erupt in war, violence or oppression.”
At first glance their premise seems quite compelling. This would mean that any religion would catalyze the behaviors they have cited in their dogmatic diatribes.
The Communist societies that were founded in Russia, China, and Cambodia rejected all organized religion and belief in any god. These were, as our Atheist friends would say, rational and secular societies and each one of them produced massive violence of an unprecedented order. Marxism makes the State a god, science makes Knowledge a god, Nazis’ made race a god.
Alister McGrath indicates that when a society abandons an idea of God it will “transcendentalize” some other concept in order to appear morally and spiritually superior. So, when I hear an Atheist call me stupid, moronic, imbecilic and retarded for my faith all I can say is, “Well, isn’t that special!”
Communist societies weren’t rational. The Nazi’s also weren’t communists OR atheists. In fact the facists openly attacked the idea of reason holding feeling and faith to be superior.
As for why communism isn’t rational, you only need a first year economics course. It breaks down to “people don’t work that way” and “the economy is impossible to plan out”. There are other flaws, but these are the most obvious. Communists responded to this… by assuming there was a capitalist conspiracy ranged against them attempting to thrawt the revolution. Hence the secret police. They were perfectly logical, and completely irrational.
Also, science doesn’t make knowldege a God. It simply is a process to uncover knowledge.
Finally, societies without a God ideal don’t always slip into some other nuttiness. Japan, Sweden and Albania are good examples of countries that haven’t. Apparently widespread education helps such poor thinking from taking root.
Aren’t rational according to whose standards of rationality, yours or theirs?
I never claimed that Nazi’s were communist, and Hitler wasn’t an Atheist, but a “Positive Christian” or maybe just an eugenicist?
Your right, Science doesn’t make knowledge a God, Scientist tend to do that.
And Alister McGrath didn’t say that “societies slip into some other form of nuttiness,” you did. He said, they “transcendentalize” some other concept in order to appear morally and spiritually superior.”
Thanks for the clarifications.
First of the standards of rational are common to everyone (well, almost everyone). Theists simply have a spot where they don’t apply the same level of reason as they do everywhere else.
Eugenicist is not a religion. It is an ideology.
Scientists don’t make knowledge a God. Knowledge to them is an ideal and a currency- it has either worth for what it enables them to do or because it answers their questions. They don’t pray to it, assign it supernatural powers or kill those of opposing systems.
Actually the teo statements are the same. They go from religious based lunacy to ideological based lunacy to pseudoscience based lunacy. See the former Soviet countires- that is the pattern they followed. It doesn’t hold true for the richer countries though.
Regarding rational, so then what are these universal standards?
Regarding Eugenics, all religions are based on an ideology.
I know two different scientist who admit they have made knowledge a god numerous times.
With regard to the two statements:
‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean different things.’
‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.’
And from one of the greatest scientific minds that ever lived:
“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)
The main standards for rational is it must fullfil the rules of logic, it must be consistant and it must be evidentary based.
All religions are based on the supernatural and explaining transendent purpose, causes and God. Eugenics is about castrating the proles.
Einstein wasn’t a theist. If you read his statements and the reactions of other people at the time he lived it was pretty obvious. The man venerated the universe and knowledge- but he didn’t believe in miracles, the supernatural or God. At most he was a pantheist- at the least he was an atheist who liked religious imagry.
Samuel,
I asked you these questions because you write with such certitude. Personally, the absolute nature of your comments regarding logic combined with the ambiguity of your response to my request for the simple standards of logic reveals to me that you are not as rational as you may think you are.
I never said that Einstien was a theist. You did. I just quoted him.
On religion: Sociologists and anthropologists tend to see religion as an abstract set of ideas, values, or experiences developed as part of a cultural matrix. For example, in Lindbeck’s Nature of Doctrine, religion does not refer to belief in “God” or a transcendent Absolute. Instead, Lindbeck defines religion as, “a kind of cultural and/or linguistic framework or medium that shapes the entirety of life and thought… it is similar to an idiom that makes possible the description of realities, the formulation of beliefs, and the experiencing of inner attitudes, feelings, and sentiments.” According to this definition, religion refers to one’s primary worldview and how this dictates one’s thoughts and actions.
Logic is a discipline of philosophy and is usually classified as part of Epistemology. Traditional logic, includes classical and contemporary logic. The study of logic involves special emphasis in the structure of arguments, the nature of language, and the logic of reasoning. In my study of logic I sought:
1 to gain an appreciation for the complexity of language,
2 to learn effective methods of resolution for a variety of disagreements,
3 to obtain the ability to define terms,
4 to understand the structure of different kinds of arguments,
5 to recognize and evaluate different kinds of arguments,
6 to grasp the features of traditional logic,
7 to sketch some principles of symbolic logic,
8 to obtain some facility in symbolic manipulations,
9 to develop the ability to think critically, and
10 to realize that the proper use of logic is a reasonable way to solve problems.
It is well understood in the schools of philosophy that logic is not a science, but more a art that has it’s limitations.
One of the primary principles of logic is the law of (non-) contradiction. Basically it states that no statement (proposition, assertion, etc.) can be both true and not true–false-
The second primary law of logic is the principle of excluded middle. The law of (non-)contradiction simply states that A cannot equal or be non-A
The third primary law of logic is called the law of identity. It states that A=A or that “if any statement is true, then it is true
The fourth primary law of logic is the law of logical or rational inference
These four primary laws of logic are vital–essential–to all coherent or intelligible discussions or arguments.
All people are religious about one thing or another, I think it is the belief that our thoughts are our own and that the Earth can provide any concrete answers that gets in the way of connecting fully with one another.
I mean, who can argue with the golden rule? It’s not like a human came up with the laws of goodness, they are built inside of each of us. I find that people who have a struggle keeping them are the ones who are the most disconnected with a belief in a creator. That is just my experience, I…don’t claim to know anything- but I do KNOW the truth when I hear it and that truth has only come from one place: Jesus’ Teachings.
When I hear atheists ranting and raving and trying to convince me of something I know to NOT be true- there is nothing to be done or said, except for LOVING ANYWAY…. that is all one can do to serve fully what they say they believe, because it is what God does every day with His grace.
I personally believe that God knows His sheep, and that not all belong to him. That is the easiest way to end an argument. Atheists just dont belong to him, and that is probably not my responsibility to dedicate my life to trying to convince them that they do. However, staying in conversation and loving IS the responsibility of Christians, because there are some out there who are deceived by the “pleasures” of this world… who will change their minds one day.
You are a kook. Atheism is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
If it isn’t a religion why give any apologetic (defense, definition or analogy) for what is supposedly nothing like religion? You don’t think a negation has it’s dogma?