I have given consideration for quite a long time to why the atheistic radical left-wing is so strongly opposed to God and Christianity. What inspired the “War on Christmas” and led to no “Pledge of Allegiance” in schools? Why do these people insist that we interpret “Freedom of religion” to mean “Freedom from religion” and work so diligently toward achieving their agenda; re-writing our history leaving no room for God and attempting to erase any signs of the importance Christianity played in the founding of this great country.
While it is certainly true that Christianity is growing dramatically in certain regions of the world, it does seem that there is a “war” being waged on Christianity in this country of ours. I list here a few quotations to illustrate the point:
“It is wonderful not to have to cower before a vengeful deity, who threatens us with eternal damnation if we do not abide by his rules.”
~Karen Armstrong, A History of God
“If he does exist, I personally want nothing to do with him.”
~Victor Stenger, God: The Failed Hypothsis
“I want atheism to be true …. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God …. I don’t want to live in a universe like that.”
~ Philosopher Thomas Nagel
I have often wondered what atheists like this hope to gain in their arguments and actions. I have no problem with their “non-belief”, that is certainly their choice and, as an American, though I disagree with them, I would defend their right to have that “non-belief.” However, I think we, as a nation, must draw a line in the sand when their “un-belief” threatens the very core values of this great nation.
I will tell you what I think is the real root of this effort. The real “opium of the people” is not religion as Karl Marx stated, but instead it is, as stated by Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz, “a belief in nothingness after death.” This belief would certainly have to be much less frightening to immoral people than the belief that their betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders and other assorted sins will be judged when their life on earth has ended.
I think this is why people seek to free themselves from God and Christianity. If you chose to live an immoral life, then God is essentially your mortal enemy. He represents a very real threat to those who are selfish, greedy, lecherous, or filled with hatred. It would certainly seem to be in the best interests of such people to despise and ridicule the belief in God and do what ever they could to rid our nation of His presence.
If God could be stamped out of existance by these people, then the seven deadly sins are no longer, as Dinesh D’Souza writes, “terrors to be overcome, but temptations to be enjoyed.” Death is no longer a justification for morality … it is now a justification for immorality.
Nietzsche understood this. The death of God would allow us to escape guilt and live “beyond good and evil.” In Nietzsche’s scheme, man would kill God to achieve the freedom to create his own morality. This line of thinking, though toned down, can be found in many of Christopher Hitchens’ railings against Christianity.
And, it really seems to boil down to a simple concept … sex. Hitchens wrote that “the divorce between the sexual life and fear … can now at last be attempted on the sole condition that we banish all religions from the discourse.”
Now, I am not a prude by any stretch of the imagination and I certainly am not against sex … and incidently, neither is God. However, God does put some thoughtful limitations on when, and with whom, sex should be had. The “sexual revolution” has left its scar on many people’s lives. Unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, younger and younger single mothers, ill-advised marriages, etc. Today we even have the ACLU defending such repulsive organizations as NAMBLA … and criminal judges issuing “slap-on-the-wrist” sentences for heinous child abuse, molestation, and rape cases. Could Dinesh D’Sousa be correct when he writes that the orgasm has become today’s secular sacrament. I think, sadly, maybe he is.
What happens when you remove the horribly old, out-dated, Christianity inflicted, moral restraints surrounding sex … such as waiting until you are married? You often get unwanted pregnancies. Could it be simply a strange coincidence that this leads us to the next most important sacrament in the secular world; one very near and dear the to atheistic left-wing liberal’s heart … abortion.
To me, the real tragedy and horror connected to an abortion is not that a woman kills an unborn child. It is that a woman kills her own unborn child. I cannot help but think that the feelings of guilt associated with doing this to ones own child must be nearly unbearable for any morally healthy person. Therefore … it would then become necessary, for the good of all immoral people in the country, for atheists to lead the way and free people from the guilt associated with abortions. And how is this done? By completing the following steps:
-
Get rid of God … that way there is no soul of the dead child to bother the conscience and, no threat of going to Hell for the act of murder.
-
Define the fetus as being “not yet human” … hmmmmm, sound familiar?
Not really too far from opening the door to eugenics, euthanasia and infanticide are we? In this atheistic new nation, under nothing, with no inalienable rights, and with an immoral system of morality, Hell on earth might be just around the corner folks … wait and see.
I think D’Sousa is right. Although they like to point to science as their guiding star, atheism is actually not an intellectual revolt at all, it is a immoral revolt. Atheists do not find God invisible, they find Him objectionable. The atheist simply seeks to rid himself of any later moral judgment by eliminating the judge.
Fortunately, contrary to what they would have you believe, not all scientists agree with atheistic claims of having the real truth. I leave you with this quote from one rather well-known scientist … often erroneously quoted by many atheists:
“In the view of such harmony in the cosmos which I, with my limited human mind, am able to recognise, there are yet people who say there is no God. But what makes me really angry is that they quote me for support for such views.”
~ Albert Einstein
D.C. Gilbert 
Einstein was very clear that did not believe in an anthropomorphic God, like the god of Christianity. His idea of God was more akin to believing that the universe itself was God.
It is silly to say that atheists are less moral than Christians. We just don’t need the threat of cosmic reward or punishment to keep us in line. If you do, by all means, keep believing. Atheists are much less likely to go to prison than believers, making up only .02% of the prison population in the US, while making up 3-14% of the population (depending on which survey you believe). Those parts of the nation with higher percentages of atheists are, in fact, the areas most likely to support social justice and poverty relief, despite the fact that atheists are on average much better educated and therefore have a higher average income.
As far as the pledge of allegiance, is it really wrong of me, as a patriotic American, to want to be able to give my nation’s official pledge of loyalty without being coerced into including a religious declaration in which I do not believe? Opposing that is not “war on religion” it is fighting back in the continuing war on non-believers.
By the way, most people don’t “choose” their beliefs. I can choose to TELL you I believe something, but whether I believe it or not is a matter of evidence, thought process, and experience. No matter how much I wanted to believe in the Christian God (or any other such fanciful entity) I would fail. It simply goes against everything I have learned about how the universe works. It would be exactly like deciding to believe in the tooth fairy. It is obviously impossible, used by those in the know to pacify those less sophisticated about unpalatable events, and a cherished tradition handed down from generation to generation.
Christianity had nothing to do with the founding of the USA. That is Christian teaching and it is a myth.
It has begun …. I know this post would get generate some responses.
Anyway, atrocities and crimes committed by Christians have no bearing on the argument. Incidently, atrocities and crimes committed in the name of Christianity pale in comparison to atrocities and crimes committed by atheistic regimes such as those under Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and Hitler.
There is nothing in the way the universe works that refutes the possibility of divine creation. In fact Dr. Francis Collins, a former agnostic/atheist, decided, after leading the international scientific team which deciphered the human genome, that the only explanation for such a unbelievably complex set of instructions for the creation of a human being could only have been accomplished by a intelligent divine creator … and could not possibly be an accident. The easter bunny / tooth fairy argument is simply a strawman tactic and has no merit.
Christianity and its ideas are the root core for many of the principles on which our country was founded. Of course, many do chose to ignore history and perpetuate atheistic propaganda and brainwashing. I suppose you have read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Those are just two obvious and very simple examples. In reality, it goes much, much deeper than that.
The theist teleological argument boils down to “I can’t understand how it could have happened, so it must be magic.” That is antithetical to science, and once you pull out all the misquotes you find that virtually no scientist subscribes to it.
Even leaving science behind, the theistic philosophical arguments for a “god” (weak as they are) have abandoned the Christian personal god as a viable opportunity. You can dress up your faith any way you want, but it remains just that–faith, not reason. And that’s fine! Just stop trying to shove it down our throats.
Excuse me … but this is my blog. I am shoving nothing down anyone’s throat. You certainly do not have to read it.
Actually, you are very wrong. What we now call science was developed by Theists who viewed science as the means to further explore and understand God’s creation. Here is just a partial list of Christian scientists: Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Brahe, Descartes, Boyle, Newton, Leibniz, Gassendi, Pascal, Mersenne, Cuvier, Harvey, Dalton, Faraday, Herschel, Joule, Lyell, Lavoisier, Priestley, Kelvin, Ohm, Ampere, Steno, Pasteur, Maxwell, Planck, and Mendel.
However, the nice thing about being on my side of this argument is that, if I am wrong … no harm done. If you are wrong … you are in deep doodoo!
Have you read the Treaty of Tripoli or because it proves your thoughts wrong are you gonna say it was an atheistic forgery?
Sorry … it does not prove me wrong!
John Locke, the early modern thinker who gave us the ideas on natural rights and that government should exist to protect the people’s rights of life, liberty, and property; was a sincere and practical Christian.
The Founding Fathers were, for the most part, devout Christians. For example:
George Washington, at his farewell address stated “Let us indulge with caution the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.”
John Adams went farther when he stated “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
Thomas Jefferson, while actually a Deist, argued that religious faith was the very foundation of liberty itself, “And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift from God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?”
Alexis de Tocqueville termed religion the first of America’s political institutions when he observer and wrote “the sects that exist in the United States are innumberable,” and yet “all sects preach the same moral law in the name of God.”
And … the idea behind the separation of Church and State as outlined in the Bill of Rights was actually first enunciated by Jesus Christ himself when he stated “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”
Have a great weekend!
George washington refused to take communion and avoided using any referance to Jesus. Most scholars agree he was a warm deist.
Thomas Jefferson was very anti-Christian, a well recongnized deist, and had he been born a few decades later (with the benefits of Darwin’s insights_, would no doubt have been an atheist
Sam Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Tom Paine, and many other of those who were so important to the founding of the US were also non-christians, as any honest examination of the facts will show.
As for Lincoln, his private views were made very plain:
“My earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation and the human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with advancing years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them.”
— Abraham Lincoln, to Judge J S Wakefield, after Willie Lincoln’s death (Willie died in 1862
If you think that is a list of scientists who shared your beliefs, you are even more ignorant than you seemed.
My comment about shoving your beliefs down our throat has to do with the position you support, not the writing of this blog, as you well know. Lies, misquotes, and shoveled out talking points are the currency of your point of view, so I expect little else.
Not that I blame you, you right wing extremists have been very successful at using those things to get many of the common people to oppose their own economic and other interests in favor of those of the insurance companies and the others who got us into our current messes. The tea parties and similar movements are the obvious examples of this. Well done. I hope you can sleep at night. But then, perhaps you are just another dupe, in which case, I can only hope you open your eyes soon.
First, I did not say they shared my beliefs. I said they were Christians.
Actually, there are very few, if any, right wing extremists that got us into this mess. George Bush was a pretty moderate republican … hardly a right wing extremist.
Actually, many liberal democrats were involved with the collapse of our economy. Barney Frank goes way back with Fannie Mae … along with Joe Kennedy. The democrats have been in control of Congress for sometime now. They even had a filibuster-proof majority and still couldn’t get anything done because they can’t even agree with each other on such poorly written legislation that nobody even has time to read. Or … is that also Bush’s fault?
The teaparty folks are just upset with out-of-control government spending by both parties… which I guess you, then, must support. We are already so far in dept our great grandchildren will still be trying to pay it off. That is simply stupid and irresponsible!
I am one of the common people and if that, as you say, makes me a dupe … I wonder who is kidding who. Rasmussen says about 69% of Americans agree with me!
Have a great weekend!
Actually, I think Darwin just couldn’t forgive God for the death of his daughter.
Darwinism, although on the surface does make a reasonably decent attempt to explain how life has evolved, it does not necessarily preclude a creator … and it cannot explain man’s consciencness, morality, or why we are here.
Just to throw my two bits into the argument:
While I may not necessarily agree with Darren upon religious matters or the validity of Christianity I do believe that some people in their hurry do dismiss that Christianity has anything to do with the founding of America over look several things. While it is most certainly true that the men listed in pauperedpalate’s reply to Darren are all Deists (a category that I usually put myself in) it is necessary to understand some facts about several of them. Benjamin Franklin came late in his life to Deism, he spent most of his life as a Christian. Thomas Jefferson created what is referred to as the Jefferson Bible where he cut out all the miracles and left alot of the moral teachings, Jefferson even said
“Of all the systems of morality, ancient or modern, which have come under my observation, none appear to me so pure as that of Jesus.”
It is also to think it naive to believe that even though Thomas Paine, Samuel Adams and others were Deists that they were not influenced in there formative years by Christianity. Even though I don’t consider myself a Christian I was raised that way and as such absorbed many values that I consider valid and important, in such a fashion I would consider it highly likely that many of the founding Deists probably had a similar base.
So whether or not they where Christian, it can still be argued that the founding principles are Christian.
As for the Treaty of Tripoli, you do know that foreign relations is all about lying as hard as you can without getting caught? Ever heard of Realpolitik?
You make some good points Vigilance, and I would never argue against the huge influence of Christianity on the US. But not all influences on the values and and traditions of the US are Christian. Our legal system is not based on a biblical model, but on English Common Law, which is founded on the system of Britain’s old masters, the Roman Empire. That system was pagan.
It is good to keep in mind that these comments were only generated in reply to a post that makes the ridiculous argument that, by not wanting to be compelled to participate in the writer’s religion in their public life, atheists are somehow declaring war on Christianity. In addition, he stipulates that without the fear of a god or the hope of reward from him we can’t be moral. Logic, history, and the facts clearly show otherwise. THAT is the context of our replies.