It would be more amusing if it weren’t so common. This time, the source of the bad article of the day is the website for the Western Center For Journalism (“Informing And Equipping Americans Who Love Freedom”); the article, a commentary piece “Atheists Believe In Nothing, Including You“.
Atheism is the absence of a belief system.
There is no religion called Atheism. If atheists resided in the Middle East, they would be beheaded as non-believers, which they are. They have no belief in anything good in this world. All they can do is criticize people of faith and use the generous nature of the American people and the unabashed support of socialist groups like the ACLU to exploit the American culture.
They did get one sentence right, but other than that… and do I detect a bit of approval for the Middle East treatment of atheists?
I don’t understand why more people don’t just tell them to shut up. Where is the country’s backbone? Where have all the God-fearing men and women gone? Why do we have a government that is more interested in protecting the rights of people who try to murder our military than standing up for the religious beliefs of soldiers that are protected under the First Amendment?
You can tell it’s a journalism center. (Ok, you can tell because it says so on the label, but if you missed that, nothing about the writing would give you a clue.)
Anyway, I was going to deconstruct the whole thing, but it’s just so depressingly bad. Random talking points (e.g., the Judeo-Christian tradition our country was founded on) are hammered into a paragraph along with a Webster’s dictionary definition, an unsupported slur against atheists and “the people on the extreme left”. Traditional marriage, abortion, religious charities, and word salad in many different varieties. Christians can’t read bibles in public, radical Muslims want to kill our babies, and it’s all Obama’s fault. It’s just too much. A journalism center? Really?
But yeah, Atheists believe in nothing. Apparently. And it turns out I already have my response written. Maybe the author will actually find an opportunity to meet with a real flesh-and blood atheist, and reconsider his opinions on atheists’ beliefs.
Or, more probably, not.
Anyway…
I believe in love and kindness
I believe in helping hands
I believe in strong opinions
I believe in taking stands
I believe cooperation
Overcomes the steepest odds
I believe we have a fighting chance
I don’t believe in gods.
I believe in education
I believe in learning science
I believe we see much further
When we climb atop of giants
I believe in writing poetry
And verses praising love
I believe that there are mysteries
But not a god above.
I believe in art and music
And the power of a voice
I believe in nature’s beauty
I believe we have a choice
I believe we have a future—
We’re in charge of how it looks—
I believe in sharing knowledge, too
But not in holy books
I believe we came from nothing
And to nothing we’ll return
I believe we don’t know everything
But much of it, we’ll learn
I believe we’re all connected
I believe all sorts of stuff
I believe we are humanity
And isn’t that enough?
“Why do we have a government that is more interested in protecting the rights of people who try to murder our military than standing up for the religious beliefs of soldiers that are protected under the First Amendment?”
..he does know that there are Muslims in the American military, doesn’t he?
The old atheists are nihilists sneer. Can’t these “journalists” get any new caricatures to use since that one is so old it’s been in its grave for centuries.
Oh, lovely poem. I must have missed it the first time around; now I”ve copied it to my desktop.
May I send it to a few of my family?
Of course you may, Hotshoe (now with more boltcutters)! That’s why they get posted!
That is an excellent poem, Cuttlefish.
I just couldn’t help but think back to The Big Lebowski, as if we’re going to stand around dressed like the Nihilists, talking in that accent, going, “We believe in nothing!”
It was funny. Can anyone get me a White Russian?
Or maybe that bit with John Goodman’s character, changed to reflect the article. “They’re atheists, Donny. There’s nothing to fear.”
Atheism is the absence of a belief system.
One PARTICULAR belief system, not all possible belief systems. Just the one that he’s inordinately fond of.
The accusation is that atheists … “use the generous nature of the American people and the unabashed support of socialist groups like the ACLU to exploit the American culture.”
I suppose that that “generosity” might be placed in context by pointing out that while the various religions are free to avoid taxes, even as they benefit from taxpayer provided services, atheists have, last I checked, failed to establish a tax loophole for themselves.
When claims are made of freeloading it is instructive to step back and note who is pushing the wagon and who is riding. It is indeed galling when the riders accuse those pushing of freeloading.
It is indeed galling
But sadly unsurprising…
Isn’t journalism supposed to involve facts at some point? Even making allowances for the fact that this is clearly an editorial, an opinion piece, there’s still no excuse for the deluge of factual errors pouring through the cracks between the outraged condemnations.
If atheists resided in the Middle East?
So the typical “failure to join my club means you have no morals” tripe. This is why theists hate it when you refer to their “beliefs” as “The Old Superstitions”. I have beliefs, in terms of a philosophical approach to issues, but it’s not mired in “The Old Superstitions”, it’s instead based on what we can find to be real, which we refer to as “evidence”. Of course, “You have no beliefs!” sounds far more accusative and threatening than “You have beliefs which are supported by evidence rather than clinging to The Old Superstitions like me!”