Archive for March 26th, 2008
Your beliefs deserve no deference
Austin Cline has posted an excellent article about the myth of atheistic intolerance, and that has led me to think about my own position on the matter. I have been accused on many occasions of being too harsh, too dismissive, and/or too mocking toward religion. One such complainant explicitly denounced my position as being that of “fundamentalist” atheism (an appellation which is self-evidently logically incoherent). Other correspondents have urged me to be less disrespectful toward their blind-faith positions.
While I have tried to direct my reproachful critique toward theism itself, rather than at individual theists (”you have a silly belief” vs. “you are a silly person”), my experience has been that religious adherents, whose very identity is linked almost inextricably to their faith, seem to be unable or unwilling to recognize that distinction.
Christianity occupies a position of power in this country, and that fact has given rise to a widespread popular consensus that Christianity should enjoy an exemption from scrutiny. Any criticism of its doctrine, any suggestion that it might be inconsistent with reality, any idea which threatens to displace “faith” from its privileged position as the defining characteristic of one’s entire worldview — these and other insinuations are virtually guaranteed to cause an immediate, swift defensive reaction. I’m intolerant, I’m disrespectful, I’m closed-minded, I’m hateful, I’m an evil fundy. The list goes on and on, and the common theme is that I should just shut up and stop criticizing religion.
Hell, no.
I will not refrain from calling religion exactly what it is: medieval, superstitious, incoherent nonsense, incompatible with reality, dreamed up by scared human beings seeking explanation and comfort, encouraged by opportunistic humans seeking to control others, and used in furtherance of all manner of evil ends (opposing science, oppressing women and gays, causing holy wars, promoting in-group/out-group divisions, killing defenseless children, cheating the gullible, and scaring people into compliance through the grotesque absurdity that is the doctrine of hell, to name just a few examples).
I do not, will not, and indeed cannot show any deference toward a belief system that seeks to undermine reason itself to make room for the acceptance of unprovable and, in many cases, downright ludicrous propositions.
You Christians know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that all other religions are full of crap. You know that Islam and Mormonism and Hinduism and all the others are complete nonsense because (1) your own doctrines say so, and (2) your rational mind is free to come to that obvious conclusion because it is not blinded by any Muslim or Mormon or Hindu dogma.
What you need to realize is that Christianity is no different. Burning bushes and wine-conjuring, donkey-stealing, fig-tree-smiting, virgin-impregnating superheroes are no more rational than flying horses and magical golden plates. Religion is both utterly absurd and ominously dangerous, and those of us who recognize this owe your ideology no deference whatsoever.