Posted by
Starspangledblogger on Sunday, September 30, 2007 3:14:37 PM
In a particularly loud and often vicious rash of evangelical revivalism, Atheists like Christopher Hitchens have been on a tear at the bookstores. While reading such delusional rants, mostly void of reasoned, logical, case-building argumentation, is as pleasurable as a long-overdue trip to the dentist, it is healthy to have this opportunity to underscore the vapid, anti-intellectual nature of Atheism.
But what really is the problem with Atheism? The Bible says, "the fool hath said in his heart there is no God." That verse hints at the core of Atheism's unforgivable sin: its pretense of intellectual openness, while really being the exact opposite. I call it "unforgivable" only because it is a mental trap that allows its victim no opportunity to escape.
Atheism is nothing more than faith with something other than God as its object. If the Atheistic faithful could only take one step back and view their creed with more objective eyes, they would begin to see that the supposed irrationality and emotionalism they so deride in Theists is at the heartless core of their own world view.
Note: I am calling Atheism heartless, not its hapless victim, the Atheist. Just the opposite is true. Atheists tend to be large-but-broken-hearted folk. They feel injured or perhaps abandoned by God, and lacking any other course for reciprocation, they simply shake their empty fist at the blameless heavens and declare, "YOU ARE DEAD TO ME."
This feckless exercise has all the intellectual heft of a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Yet it passes as reasoned and intelligent empiricism. To say, " I can't see it. Therefore it doesn't exist," is neither reasonable nor intelligent.
But the emotional heft is still there, which is why Atheists, especially the brand who are smart enough to observe how badly they are losing the intellectual debate, are becoming so frothingly evangelical and aggressive. Some of them become like the soul-sellers on Youtube, who are just big versions of small brats shouting curse words at the dinner table, hoping to draw adult attention to themselves.
Others, like Hitchens, are actually believers who really want to convert the thinking of this world. Misguided or not, at least their intentions are not without some honor. But if honor and integrity are truly important to him, Hitchens may want to consider upgrading to Agnostic, where at least there is some intellectual integrity.