S. E. Cupp, an atheist, has a thoughtful and generous article in today's New York Daily News."The militant atheist wants nothing more than to spoil the believer's spiritual journey. That's both meanspirited and radically unenlightened."
Read the Whole Article
Unfortunately, most of the response she can expect to receive from atheist fundies will simply prove her point. Here is one such example that popped up in my google reader this morning.
It mocks her for being The Good Atheist and suggests she may not even be a real atheist. Evidentally, for true unbelievers, smugness isn't just an unfortunate trait, it's a requirement and a badge of authenticity.
One can avoid being meanspirited, and still firmly defend unbelief; Myers sees Cupp as being unwilling to mount an intellectual defense, thereby capitulating to theists at every turn. Cupp sees Myers as defending his arguments in spite of collateral damage to his greater cause. I think a middle ground may be struck; in which a a respectful but firm defense is presented.
ReplyDeleteC'mon, Jordan. Myers is snarky. I agree with you, one can avoid being meanspirited and still firmly defend unbelief. One can, but apparently many can't. The same is true on the belief side.
ReplyDeleteI've come to think that belief systems are like thin, opaque films that merely overlay a person's core disposition. Both loving Christians and atheists try to share what they believe to be a more enlightened, true, and liberating way. Jerks on both sides scorn and throw stones, while intellectuals tend to be smug.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I thought it was disingenuous for Greg Boyd to throw 'paganism' under the bus in a video I saw here recently. It is true that different systems can make moral choices easier or more difficult, but it's too easy to vilify a system based on the behavior of it's adherents (bad or good.) I think of this when I remember my youth group, and the hand-wringing debate about whether it was a sin for Corrie ten Boom to lie about hiding Jews. In the end, of course, her personality trumped the guilt that her system/she placed on her conscience, but this, I think, is my point -- that in most cases, people's behavior is ultimately more a reflection of their own personality than their belief system.
Thanks, Josh.
ReplyDeleteOne may relate "whether it was a sin for Corrie ten Boom to lie about hiding Jews" to what's being said in Joshua 6 and Hebrew 11 perhaps.
ReplyDeleteThanks Enoch, I appreciate the response. I'm not entirely sure I would relate these passages in the way you might intend.
ReplyDeleteI would find Joshua and Hebrews particularly problematic for the believer, as the stories of Rahab and Noah and Moses are tales that ultimately justify, if not celebrate, genocide as a righteous act. In my opinion, these examples would simply ask Christians to play God themselves-- to decide in the moment whether someone is special or useful enough that a moral exception should be made, or whether they should instead be thrown into the mass grave with the rest of the children in Egypt and Jericho.
In the particular case of Corrie ten Boom, I think a person with the same brave, humanitarian disposition, but who was not trying to satisfy a divine authority, might have had an advantage for not having to agonize over whether to tell the lie, or feel guilty afterward.
I'm not for loose moral relativism, but I do think we sometimes turn the screw so far that it breaks.
Sorry, but everything Ms. Cupp accuses the "arrogant" atheists of, she, or the believers she defends, is guilty herself, or themselves. I'll present a small sampling of the errors in Ms. Cupp's article that I fully refuted, she claims that "new" atheists profess certainty and the faithful accept measure of doubt. When in fact, it is the atheists, most notably Richard Dawkins, who recognizes that it is impossible to KNOW there is no god, while the most fundamental believers are the ones who claim absolute certainty in a series of preposterous events. Ms. Cupp also ignores the depth of understand Sam Harris has for subjective experience, from his practice in the contemplative arts, a depth of understanding most of the religious westerners will never reach. And if you want arrogance, just watch any Fox news "interview" with any atheist, and you will see a believer nearly throwing a temper-tantrum in front of a very polite gentleman.
ReplyDeleteMilitant Muslims commit suicide bombings, militant Christians assassinate medical doctors, militant atheists put up bill boards, enough said.
ainefairygoddess--
ReplyDeleteI believe Richard Dawkins has admitted to being only something like 99.9% there is no god. I certainly don't know enough about Ms. Cupp to know how arrogant she is or isn't. All I know is that the idea of being less dismissive and contemptuous of those with whom we disagree seems like a reasonable and healthy goal. I agree completely that there is every bit as much arrogance and pejorative behavior from believers (christian, muslim, whatever). As for Fox "news," I couldn't agree with you more.