Letter To The Editor Whangarei Leader
I write in response to A.L Brett
It was written some thousands of years ago that it is a foolish thing to say (even to yourself) there is no God.
Firstly the word "atheist" is the description of one who holds that there is no God. It is an untenable position for this reason- It is an ultimate definitive or exhaustive statement, an absolute statement if you like. It is foolish for the simple reason that a mere man (or any number of mere men) would claim infinite and infallible knowledge of all that exists, which is what you must assert in order to say God does not exist. This is what you are claiming if you are an atheist. You are in fact claiming by implication an attribute or power that has been reserved for God alone- that of infinite knowledge.
Whether or not you believe in his existence you surely would see the absurdity of claiming absolute knowledge. No Mr Brett all you can really say is “I do not believe such a God exists” in which case your view becomes an opinion more or less developed from evidence you may or may not have. And I for one will defend your right to an opinion, which I might reasonably expect you to do for me.
“atheists don’t preach from 1000 year old writings” (abridged) What is that to the point? How long ago did Isaac Newton “preach” about the law of gravity, is it still relevant today? Would it have been relevant a thousand years ago? Truth by its very nature is timeless, lets have no more of this new versus old stuff, what people really want to know is “Is it True?” Bell bottomed trousers and hoop skirts are in and out of fashion like politicians, but should we deal with truth this way?
“Atheists don’t go on healing and worshipping crusades to obtain donations…” Donations are given freely as a question of conscience, you pay taxes whether you would like to or not, even whether they are justified or not. I will grant you that there may be odd cases of manipulation for financial gain but greed is a vice of human nature found in any sphere of society and if religion were to be free from it then you would have to abolish all human involvement! But to be fair and consistent you would need to abolish every other human institution also, including atheism. An old sage (whom I have a great respect for) once said “should men ban rope because some will hang themselves with it?” To castigate Christianity because some abuse it is to mask the point. (I mention Christianity here since a Christian minister has been taken to task on his letter.) In other words don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Surely you aren’t trying to tell the public that atheists are without exception pillars of society where avarice is never to be seen! This and other evils are why Christianity exists, but it does not guarantee that it cannot be abused by the very evils that are the reason for its existence.
“Atheists don’t start holy wars…” Let’s dispense with this foolish talk of “holy” war, war is anything but holy and I would venture to say that word has only ever been used to rope in the religious for political ends or used in discussion against religion. As for atheists not starting wars, more blood has been shed in the last hundred or so years than the previous 1000 put together. And that happens to coincide with the fact that atheism has never, in the history of mankind been the driving force in any civilization except in these last hundred or so years. Stalin for example killed millions of his own people in just a few years, and communism is at its heart atheistic by definition. Communism is the child of an atheistic worldview. Chairman Mao said religion is the opiate of the people and his regime has waged war on millions. The Khmer Rouge- another horrific slaughterhouse scene following the existential ideologies of atheistic philosophers. Hitler enlisted Nietzsche a philosopher who coined the phrase “God is Dead” and wrote of a superman by whom Hitler promulgated the idea of a super race, the Arian. And this by no means diminishes the list. Nope, waging war is the human struggle for power to dominate and merely enlists the “God” word for enlarging the power base when it suits. It is unfortunately true the human propensity for self-deception is such that no one relishes doing evil (and justifies it) so much than when he does it in the name of God.
“Atheists don’t’ tell other non-believers…” Etc, etc. Really Mr Brett! What sort of people is it then who spend millions of dollars telling us what to eat, what to drink, where to eat it and drink it, what to wear, where to live and how to live, what to think and whether or not it is profitable to think at all. Atheism or to call it by its more covert name secularism is the most promulgated religion of the world. The atheistic worldview is the presupposition behind 90 per cent of every book, newspaper article,(letter to the editor), television series, movie, government policy etc, etc ad nauseum! And I must admit it has done a superb job Mr. Brett. Atheists keep to themselves? Do they indeed?
I go to the movies once in a blue moon and what do I find? I went recently with my wife and 10 year old son to the movies. We watched “Happy Feet” The penguin villains in the cast were the old, the religious, and the leaders. The particular emphasis of these “villains” was the use of Christian jargon like repentance and the derogatory use of Christian ideas. The audience would, I imagine be mostly young impressionable children. Is not this coercion? Whatever! And people begrudge the little time we may have on the blessed box. And not to put too fine a point on it, what exactly are you doing writing to the paper...? Looks like a soapbox to me!
All of this in the final analysis is beside the point. Whatever the worldview a person has, each believes in the reality of it or he/she wouldn’t hold it as his/her worldview and each in his/her own way preaches it as true, whether incidentally or by design. The real issues are, we both must defend each other’s right both to have the freedom to express our views, and to seriously question our own basis for believing either atheism or Christianity.
Is it true or is it not true?
If the claims of Christ are true then all these other things fall into their proper perspective. Would you not forgive a dog if you realized all he could do to alert you of danger were to tear at your trousers and pull you in the opposite direction? Some efforts are clumsy, some are insincere but can’t these be the faults of the messengers not the message? If the message is true then the incompetence or insincerity of the messenger is irrelevant.
"A thing is not necessarily true because badly uttered, nor false because spoken magnificently." St. Augustine
K A Campbell
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