I read a posting on one of my mailing lists today that just really got my goat. Unfortunately, my response was, I think, a bit too much advocacy of a certain point of view to be tolerated on that mailing list, so I’ve posted it here where I control what I think is OK and isn’t 🙂 The thread of conversation was this (paraphrased):
“Don’t blame Jesus for [a certain faith]”
To which another poster, apparently a fellow nonbeliever, responded:
“Your words have more wisdom than you know! Blaming Jesus would be like blaming the Pink Easter Bunny for Easter, including egg rolling and too much candy!”
Lumping Jesus in the same category as the Easter Bunny touched off a nerve in the raving Catholic of the list, someone known only pseudonymously as “ELC”. Below is my complete response to his short rant.
—-
Note that I’m trying hard to avoid preaching here 🙂 Unfortunately, reasoned argument is the key evangelical method for atheist advocacy. The handle of this blade also cuts. Realize I’m not advocating atheism, just correcting a misconception.
ELC said:
> Oh, the blind faith [and stupidity] of atheism!
First, I’ll address the “blind faith” of atheism, relevant definitions from Dictionary.com:
a-the-ism, n. [syn: godlessness] [ant: theism] 2: a lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.
faith, n. 2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence
4. The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God’s will.
I’m guessing, like many theists, you define atheism by this alternative entry, also at dictionary.com:
atheism, n. 1b. The doctrine that there is no God or gods.
If atheism were simply dogmatic assertion that there is no God, I’d agree with you that it would require blind faith. However, for most, atheism is just the default position if you have *no* faith. If there is any “faith” to be found among many atheists, it is that there must be logical proof or material evidence for everything.
As far as the “stupidity” of atheism: have you ever met an unintelligent atheist? I admit, this is a limited subset of all atheists, but the atheists I know arrived at that position after a great deal of study. There are also enormous numbers of “closet atheists” in various religions (including LDS) who often refer to themselves by a different term: intellectuals.
Now, if you’re asserting that atheism itself is stupid, I must assume you mean this definition of “stupid”:
stupid, adj 5. Pointless, worthless: a stupid job
To the contrary, the refusal of faith itself promotes critical thinking in all aspects of life. But I suspect, rather than the clinical definition, you meant “stupid” as a simple perjorative, as in “something I don’t like”.