Not Atheists but Anti-Theists

As the number of nones, or those with no religion continues to rise swelling the ranks of atheism is there more than meets the eye to this phenomenon, have we missed something?

Forget the confessions of high profile ex Christians about how they lost faith, or the opinions of equally prominent atheists, what are the views of the silent majority.

Okay, so they have found their voices in a big way, consider the many blog sites and forums devoted to the views of the supposed former faithful turned atheist to get an idea.

While many are turning away from religion, just not for the reasons you think, the exes are obsessed, talking about Christianity constantly every chance they get.

They may have walked away but certainly not shut-up and moved on.

To understand where this all leads we have to go back to the beginning to get some perspective.

9/11 and anti-theism

The aftermath of 9/11 saw the emergence of strong anti-theistic sentiment against both Islamic and Christian fundamental beliefs.

It is interesting that Islam the ideology with its link to Jihadism, was not separated from Islam the religion at the time because Islam is both.

Out of the feverish wake of September 11 New Atheism was born, Sam Harris began writing The End of Faith (2004) immediately after the World Trade Center attacks and it became a bestseller.

Following hot on its heels was philosopher Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell, Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion, and Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great.

New atheism was a breed apart from the common-garden-variety-atheism, all about ridiculing the beliefs of believers, while shifting the legal onus of burden of proof for the existence of God onto Christian theists.

The ‘horsemen’ saluted one another for the impressive sales of their books, boasted about how willing they were to cause “offence”, and reminisced about how brilliant they were when they befuddled this or that bishop with some debating point

In the introduction to his book, Dawkins insisted, “the atheistic worldview has an unsung virtue of intellectual courage,” in a pompous self-tribute that would have remained unsung had its adherents not taken to singing it for as long as they have.

The gist of it is New Atheism’s arguments have never been sophisticated or historically informed so calling out the whole shebang as anti-intellectual is spot on.

The Horsemen assumed religion has always been an impediment to science, dismissing famous religious scientists such as Georges Lemaître, the Catholic priest who first proposed the big bang hypothesis, not to mention Isaac Newton et al, as inexplicable outliers.

Harris frothed at the mouth and complained about a leading geneticist who was Christian saying; “this guy seems to think, that on Sunday you can kneel down in the dewy grass and give yourself to Jesus because you’re in the presence of a frozen waterfall, and on Monday you can be a physical geneticist”

Harris offered no reason why the man could not, only that it was incompatible in his own mind proving his narrow-mindedness.

The geneticist could as they say, multitask, much to Harris’s chagrin.

According to Dawkins if they commissioned Michelangelo to do the ceiling of a museum of science, he would have produced something just as wonderful.

Nah, sorry a museum of science does not have the same ring to it. .. somehow.

Fast-forward to the year 2012, when criticizing Islam was a no-no when it became an ally of progressives as their political and religious goals coincided in the war against the Christian fundamentalist crusaders.

Fast forward again, when the 2016 election resulted in a huge chasm between Republicans and Democrats, with the GOP’s conservative wing paired with Christian fundamentalism and branded the mortal enemy of all things liberal.

If this political synopsis seems too hackneyed, that is because there are no nuances in the current American situation making it something of a parody.

While politics has played a fair part in the younger, progressive sect leaving Christianity altogether, the problem is not as straightforward or set in stone as you may think.

It’s all about beliefs, stupid

Blaise Pascal, a Christian mathematician, said something to the effect that people have their reasons for thinking the way they do that in reality has nothing to do with reason.

We live in a loosey-goosey time where people want everything on their own terms and religion is no exception, it is the itchy ears brigade of prophecy.

Yes, there have always been hardcore atheists and there always will, but the problem might be something of another nature, instead of an increase in atheism, we are witnessing an increase in anti-theist Christianity by another name.

While new atheism missed the mark, its impact was huge following 9/11, and still is, with millennials not immune to its populist appeal.

A God that requires something of them is definitely out, which is why so many describe themselves as spiritual not religious allowing them to fashion a god in their own image.

You have to wonder about how much of this mentality motivated the ex- Christians now atheists and still does.

Atheists, are even long-standing attendees of Churches, yes, it beggars belief, depending on what kind, becoming all bright-eyed and peculiar about Churches that reject orthodoxy and embrace anything or everything else.

It is almost diabolical I tell you.

My take is if you want to mimic Christianity sans the beliefs form your own ‘whatever’ but do not call it a Church, it does not exist for your entertainment or ‘it is all about me’ moment whatever your opinion to the contrary.

They argue the idea of a supernatural creator proves deism not theism while slapping each other on the back in awe of their own brilliance not realizing they scored an own goal.

Listen jokers, you claim to be the atheists here, so splitting hairs over the type of God when you cannot even grasp his existence only proves your idiocy and anti-theism.

Christian Atheists, wot wot

Today, atheism means something entirely different from a simple lack of belief.

It is an anti- Christian movement that seeks to purge fundamentalist beliefs from society.

Uninterested in hard materialism, today’s atheists believe in a narrative invented and reinvented by otherwise motivated human beings, you could say of a more political slash humanistic nature.

Oh, they quack about science a lot but are wholly unscientific and their movement is anything but.

Anti-clericalism is nothing new, but many atheists of the past were at least comparatively coherent in their embrace of a naturalistic worldview.

Christian atheism, also called non-realistic Christianity, is a bizarre form of quasi-spiritual philosophy that keeps the forms and practices of Christianity while denying God’s existence.

Christian atheists attempt to “de-mythologize” Christianity, doing away with all belief in the supernatural yet maintaining liturgies and corporate worship experiences as meeting humanity’s need for socialization and the communication of lofty ideas.

Christian atheism focuses on earthly concerns and earthly justifications.

Religion is a purely human endeavor, and God is simply a projection of a person’s mind.

Belief in an afterlife is incoherent within a Christian atheist framework.

In fact, Christian atheism generally holds that Christianity, like all religions, is nothing more than a “benevolent lie,” a fiction that makes life easier to understand and control.

Does this identify anyone you know and is this where it all leads?

I rest my case your honor.