If you want to discover what kind of people atheists are, scroll down to my recent posts and read the responses. I am a troll. I am a cretin. I am a moron. I am a nut-job. And so on. For those who go beyond abuse, there is shrieking complaint. How dare you suggest atheists weren't around when this happened? How can you say atheists don't have feelings? How can you exploit this tragedy in this way? How come your God didn't prevent this, huh?
Actually my point was a simple one, and it seems to be unrefuted. Atheism seems to have nothing to say to people when there is serious bereavement or tragedy. Of course atheists have feelings and there were undoubtedly atheists among the mourners at Virginia Tech. But the Richard Dawkins philosophy--that we live in a meaningless world where there is no good and no evil--whatever its intellectual merit, seems arid and unconsoling when human beings are really hurting.
One atheist wrote to say that rather than rely on idle promises of fantasies of life after death, what atheists would say is that we need gun control laws and a better health care system. Fair enough, but is this what you tell a crying mother? "Madam, you should feel much better because new gun control laws and mental health reforms are on their way."
I wonder if the abuse that atheists heap on people when their ideas are questioned is indicative of a deeper malady. Atheists like to portray themselves as devotees of reason, but read the responses and see how much reason you discover there. Rather, it looks like these fellows hate God, and this hate spills over to anyone who brings up God's name. Call it the atheism of revenge. They blame God for screwing them over in some way, and unbelief is their form of payback.
Reader Comments ( Page 8 of 8)
106. While many people are responding to your posts in disgust, it seems that it's not merited. It is obvious to me that you are simply ignorant. Don't worry, there are others like you: those who say gay people must not understand the institution of marriage, that Asian men are virtually asexual, that Jews are greedy, that Black men are violent, that Christians impose their fanatic beliefs on others - the list goes on. There are, of course, athiests who use their disbelief as "payback" for God's apparent absence in their lives and may seem unable to verbally sympathize to those grieving over lost ones at Virginia Tech. Perhaps you should consider that, just as with any stereotype, your generalization reveals both intolerance and ingnorance, with a quite a bit of self-righteousness mixed it. Sure, there are probably people out there who fit your description exactly. But to say that athiests, in general, have nothing to offer in the face of such a tragedy? Do you hope to convert people by personally attacking them with false generalizations?
Atheism, in its strict definition, is simply the belief that there is no God. This does not mean that people who advocate this belief are ignorant of the importance of religion in the lives of non-athiests, or that other positions have no merit. It does not mean that atheists are void of morals or virtues or vices or sympathy or apathy - they're just people.
I am about to lose my mother to cancer. If a Christian chose to come up to me and try to "help" me with my loss by assuring me that she was "in God's hands" or "in heaven now" or anything of the like, I would not feel as much comfort from the words themselves as I would be comforted by the fact that this preacher cares about my loss and cares about its effect on me. There is absolutely no difference in the comforts of an atheist versus the comforts of a theist. Despite what you imply, athiests are intelligent and sympathetic beings who are more than able to help loved ones cope with loss.
Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean that it can't be respected.
Whitney at 7:08PM on Apr 26th 2007
107. Dinesh, maybe you should read Dawkins' book "The God Delusion" before you slander him. In it, he specifically refutes the false idea that atheists think we "live in a meaningless world where there is no good and no evil". He shows how our fundamental sense of morality is not dependent on religion, and writes movingly about the sense of awe and wonder at the world around us that many atheists share.
Think About It at 3:46PM on Aug 22nd 2007
108. Dinesh--
What do I (an atheist) have to offer to someone mourning? As other have stated, such paliative and PALPABLE offerings, such as:
"I'm sorry for your loss. Would you like a hug?"
"If you need to talk, don't hesitate to call at any hour."
"Is there anything I can do to help"
"Here's a cassarole--I didn't think you would feel up to cooking today."
In other words, what any caring individual with common sense might do.
I recall when my father died. I was a devout Christian at the time, and yet the things I listed above were the most comforting to me. I don't recall being all that comforted by assurances that my father was "in a better place, awaiting my arrival one day."
Atheists hate god? Are you for real? I don't hate God anymore than I hate the toothfairy--neither one exist (OK, I don't buy into the notion that either one exists to be exact, but in my mind the toothfairy is just as reasonable to believe in--after all, there was always a dollar under my pillow in the morning to replace that tooth). I'm guessing you have choosen to reject Zeus and the rest of the gods of mount Olympus--Do you hate them?
I don't have delusions that anything I can say will convince you that you are flat out wrong to suggest that I "hate God" because of soemthing He "did to me." This kind of assertion is laughable, and barely worthy of consideration, except that you place it at the end of the article as the last thought you leave the reader with. You would have to be a mind reader for such an assertion, and I doubt your sky daddy has blessed even you with that ability.
That hate spread to anyone that believes in God? Again, I don't hate something I don't beleive in. This is where I really take issue, because these arguements of dualism continue to widen an arbitrary gap between believers and non-believers. It leads to fear amongst those who might be unfortunate to buy your clap-trap ("oh my God, atheists hate me?"). Fear leads to anger, anger to hatred (the very hatred atheists supposedly harbor) and hatred, potentially, to some very horrific acts (one only need open a history book for a sampling of these acts.)
Is it really any wonder that a great many atheists respond angrily to your diatribes against them? Stop for just a moment and read your words in the shoes of an atheist: You have basically stated that we are all unfeeling, caloused, reprehensible beings incapable of human connection. In other words, your are attempting to strip them of their humanity. Imagine if this piece were written by an atheist, and the term "atheist" as replaced by "Christian." You might be angry as well.
If this is the best the religious right has to offer (and considering that you are merely parroting what other of this ilk have been saying, almost word for word,) atheist really have nothing to fear. I am optomistic (something else atheists, believe it or not, are capable of) that a majority of the public will eventually see these baseless areguements for what they are.
Fritzy at 5:50PM on Oct 14th 2007