Why are atheists so threatened by God?

Okay, qualify this…Richard Dawkins in particular, and the activists who keep going to court to remove any semblance of Christianity from the public square.

First, Dawkins. This is good.

Come January, London buses will be emblazoned with the slogan “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” This new form of atheist evangelisation has received public support from Richard Dawkins, Oxford University’s Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, and the renowned author of The God Delusion.

No surprise there. He is ever-enterprising in his self-promotion. But of course he declares a higher purpose, if you will.

Professor Dawkins is backing the campaign because it “will make people think – and thinking is anathema to religion.” But has he thought enough about his own missionary zeal?

Thinking is anathema to religion? Wonder what constitutes the ‘deep end’ for Dawkins, because he seems to gone off it.

Read this MercatorNet article, because it’s just precious. And the comments continue the great debate.

However, Dawkins and other passionate atheists aren’t engaged in a debate. They’re very angry folks, deconstructionsts getting away with lousy philosophical formation and scientific pontification.

And…wow, talk about chance….I was already into this post while flipping through TV channels in the background, and happened onto EWTN’s Franciscan University Presents, an excellent weekly panel discussion of some book or cultural issue or question of faith. This particular episode was already well into a lively engagement of….Richard Dawkins and the new atheism.

Benjamin Wiker and Scott Hahn have responded to Dawkins’ nonsense with Answering the New Atheism; Dismantling Dawkins’ Case Against God, and they were there to discuss the whole thing. Or, as Dr. Regis Martin suggested, the theory of everything. Here are some notes I jotted down as they talked, not actual quotes but close…

Astronomical improbability is one thing. But impossibility is disallowable.

(Because it would have to admit of miracles and hence, the hand of God.)

Is it possible for DNA to come together by chance? What is the actual status of that, arising by chance? It is not simply improbable, but impossible, without a Creator God. Both logically and scientifically, Dawkins has failed to make the case. Nothing cannot produce nothing.

Otherwise…what?….

Out of nothing is created something, out of which we have everything.

Right. As Dr. Scott Hahn points out, Dawkins represents “tolerance of everything but religion.” Does that make sense?

No.

Dr. James Hitchcock points out the incoherence of a totally tolerant society.

Shortly after Christmas a newspaper columnist produced what has now become a holiday staple — an essay lamenting the intolerance of those Christians who favor symbolic public recognition of the season, such as Christmas carols and nativity scenes, both of which have long been endemic in America. There has, he feared, been an increase of tension over the issue, and he urged that everyone be more understanding.

And this was, mind you, three years ago.

Readers who praised this seasonal sermon unwittingly revealed the fallacy of the author’s (and their own) position, which is that they alone truly understand what religion means. These self-consciously tolerant people were adamant that all religions must abandon claims to ultimate truth and admit to being merely part of a vague human search for meaning. For the tolerant, the chief problem is that not everyone agrees with them, and in the name of tolerance they ask others to give up their most cherished beliefs.

Which brings us to the story I’ve tried to avoid, since it’s already getting the usual glut of attention already.

But when I noticed Carl Olson’s blog post on the village atheist, a link was in order.

So, taking a glass “half-full but starting to leak badly” perspective, it’s amazing the Nativity scene and Christmas holiday tree were close enough to government property in Washington state to facilitate this open-minded, über-reasonable demonstration of public dialogue on the part of Freedom From Religion Foundation, who sponsored the sign

Yes, it’s them again.

There is, however, some creeping illogic on the part of the brave atheists who have worked so hard and spent so much energy creating the joyous sign announcing this good news to men: you are a material accident, life is meaningless, have a wonderful winter solstice. Dan Barker, who is described as a “a former evangelical preacher and co-founder” Freedom From Religion Foundation does not come off as the most rational or likeable of men:…

“It’s not that we are trying to coerce anyone; in a way our sign is a signal of protest,” Barker said. “If there can be a Nativity scene saying that we are all going to hell if we don’t bow down to Jesus, we should be at the table to share our views.”

What?!

Yes, I happened onto Barker, once again, on cable news today, taking every chance he gets to spew his angry rhetoric. He said there is “bigotry and hatred” in the Nativity scene and its public display is “an insult to human nature”.

Wow. What a reach. 

More of Olson’s reaction:

But the petulant Barker isn’t finished, intent on proving, apparently, Chesterton’s maxim: “There is no bigot like the atheist”:

“When people ask us, ‘Why are you hateful? Why are you putting up something critical of people’s holidays? — we respond that we kind of feel that the Christian message is the hate message,” he said. “On that Nativity scene, there is this threat of internal violence if we don’t submit to that master. Hate speech goes both ways.”

I encounterd this while doing some research online about ‘light’ and the Nativity. It was jarring to go straight from the Barker madness to this homily by Pope Benedict from Christmas 2007:

This is Christmas – the historical event and the mystery of love, which for more than two thousand years has spoken to men and women of every era and every place. It is the holy day on which the “great light” of Christ shines forth, bearing peace!

Love and peace, Mr. Barker. Where in the world did you get your sense of hatred?

Benedict continues. With all of those…

who down through the centuries have welcomed the mystery of Christmas, let us too, brothers and sisters from every continent, allow the light of this day to spread everywhere: may it enter our hearts, may it brighten and warm our homes, may it bring serenity and hope to our cities, and may it give peace to the world.

Even, and especially, the atheists.