If ever you wanted to get into the mind of an atheist, the very last place you should turn is to a theist who doesn’t understand atheism in the slightest way.
Anthony DeStefano is the author of “Inside the Atheist Mind: Unmasking the Religion of Those Who Say There is No God" and he recently penned an article on FoxNews titled “Today's atheists are bullies -- and they are doing their best to intimidate the rest of us into silence.” I read just a few sentences of DeStefano’s article before quickly realizing he doesn’t know the first thing about the mind of an atheist.
I can’t speak for all atheists, obviously. But I can speak for myself, and I can speak somewhat generally about most of the atheists I interact with on social media (and the few I know in 'real life'). It would be impossible to paint broadly about any group of people--you couldn’t make accurate judgments about all white people, all Canadians, all photographers, or all Christians, except that they have white skin, live in Canada, own a camera, and believe in Jesus, respectively. Likewise, you can’t draw vast conclusions about all atheists except to say that they don’t believe in any gods. Of course, there are good and bad atheists (and white people, Canadians, photographers, and Christians too), but DeStefano doesn’t seem to acknowledge that.
We’re going to go paragraph by paragraph correcting DeStefano’s numerous egregious errors, beginning with the very first sentence:
It is often cited that atheism leads to poor, destitute nations. But studies show precisely the opposite. According to Phil Zuckerman in Free Inquiry “most secular countries-those with the highest proportion of atheists and agnostics-are among the most stable, peaceful, free, wealthy, and healthy societies. And the most religious nations-wherein worship of God is in abundance-are among the most unstable, violent, oppressive, poor, and destitute.”
I wrote a blog post a few years ago explaining why I do say “Merry Christmas” to some people, and I welcome all people to say it to me. In this post I also explained why DeStefano’s imaginary war on Christmas is ridiculous and why it is actually extremely rude to assume that all people celebrate the same holidays you do.
Humanity has existed for 100,000+ years and tens of billions of people have lived and died on this Earth. During the course of recorded history, there has been millions of different gods and religions invented. Without a shadow of a doubt in my mind, yes, the vast majority of the people who have believed in a god are wrong! Almost all of these gods and religious beliefs conflict with each other, and so it is certain that most of the people who held these beliefs, no matter how fervently held, were wrong. Right now at this moment in history, there are over 7 billion people alive and only 2.5 billion of them are Christian. That would mean, that even if we ignore the past and count only the current, and if we assume that Christianity is correct, then the majority of humans (4.5 billion of them) are wrong about what they believe.
DeStefano goes on to list several famous scientists or contributors to discovery who believed in God, such as Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Isaac Newton. What does this prove, really? It means that some smart people had incorrect religious beliefs. It doesn’t mean that religious people are more intelligent or better equipped to do science. It’s just a totally irrelevant statement. DeStefano doesn’t mention that religion is also responsible for censoring science books, jailing scientists, and even burning them at the stake for daring to observe such things as the earth is not the center of the universe. How does DeStefano explain the contributions of Mark Twain, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Charles Darwin, Vic Stenger, and Carl Sagan?
The Big Bang Theory doesn’t bolster any argument against God. But it does definitively disprove a literal interpretation of Genesis and a young earth, two things that many, but not all, theists hold near and dear.
First, atheism isn’t a belief system. It’s a lack of belief in gods. And its purpose isn’t to create any position about morality. Atheism doesn’t have a purpose! So this statement, assuming it were true, is a non sequitur. Knocking atheism for failing to produce a system or morality is like saying my Ford SUV is useless because it can’t mow my lawn or help me do the dishes. Atheism is simply a lack of belief in gods. That’s it.
DeStefano goes on to (correctly) state that most wars in history were not religious in nature. He states that “96% of all the wars on this planet were due to worldly reasons,” more specifically, “economic gain, territorial gain, civil and revolutionary conflicts.” Keep this in mind when reading the next paragraph. With this, I agree with Stefano.
He continues his assault on atheists by forgetting what he stated in the previous paragraph, blaming atheism for Stalin, Pol Pot, and even Hitler (who was never a confirmed atheist) for death and other atrocities. Theists have been corrected for using the “Atheist Atrocity Fallacy” ad nauseum, but Michael Sherlock may have done the best job here. In short, the atheists who committed and ordered these mass attempted genocides did not do so in the name of atheism. They did not do it because they were atheists. They were atheists who happen to be bad people, and there are all types of bad people (white people, Canadians, photographers, and Christians, etc). Stalin killed to gain political and economic power, not to spread logic, reason, and skepticism. Many of the religious wars and attempted genocides throughout history, however, had the purpose of spreading a certain religion.
DeStefano’s mind would explode if he ever learned that atheists only make up 0.1% of America’s prison population. That’s 1/10th of one percent. How would DeStefano explain that fact, given that he thinks atheists are not capable of concluding that murder and crime are immoral without a belief in god? Evolution can shape morality every bit as easily as it can shape a wing or an eyeball. Humanity has figured out that living in a society where murder and crime are rare is pretty desirable--in this way, being selfless is actually a selfish thing to do if you think about it.
Suicide and homicide have nothing to do with atheism or religion. This is just a red herring from DeStefano. He’s blaming atheists for a problem that atheism has no ties to whatsoever, and frankly, by doing this, he makes firebrand atheism even more necessary. I’ve had enough of atheists being blamed for everything from school shootings to hurricanes. The world needs more firebrand atheists to correct bigoted statements like the ones DeStefano makes in his article; and it’s time that the religious moderates aid the cause to reduce this bigotry too. The hate he’s spewing towards people is not acceptable.
Abortion and euthanasia are definitely separation of state and church issues. These are things that Christians don’t like, and so they expect--No, they demand--the privilege to be able to force their morality on all other people, whether they share their religion or not. This can’t continue. Those seeking an abortion or euthanasia deserve the right to seek safe means to these procedures, regardless of whether Christians like it or not. Abortion isn’t against my religion, and DeStefano doesn’t have, nor does he deserve, the right to dictate his religion on anybody else.
I don’t think Atheists are bullies. I don’t think we intimidate people, and we certainly aren’t trying to silence anybody. I believe strongly in the freedom of speech, and I’ll defend that freedom even for those who disagree with me. DeStefano has the right to spew his bigotry on the internet, and I have the right to tell him he’s wrong. I have the right to tell him his beliefs are putrid shit, too. And they are.
Firebrand atheism (sometimes dubbed “neo-atheism” although I must admit I’m not sure whether those two terms are synonymous or not) is not about silencing our opponents. It’s about demanding equality. Atheists don’t deserve the reputation we have. According to polls, atheists are considered the least desirable political candidate and son or daughter-in-law in America. And why? Because we trust the scientific method (the same method that has produced combustion engines, cell phones, space travel, nuclear energy, heart transplants, and 4k televisions)? Because we want a seat at the table when it comes to politics? Because we want equal treatment? Because our brains demand more evidence before accepting outrageous claims? DeStefano wrote an entire book about the mind of atheists, but he doesn’t even know why atheists are angry and doesn’t even know what atheism is (he thinks it’s a belief system).
DeStefano is wrong by many orders of magnitude on just about everything that he wrote. He’s so wrong, that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if his entire book and article is satirical and he’s trying to trigger a bunch of dumb atheists into wasting time writing a counter-post.
Guilty as charged.
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Anthony DeStefano is the author of “Inside the Atheist Mind: Unmasking the Religion of Those Who Say There is No God" and he recently penned an article on FoxNews titled “Today's atheists are bullies -- and they are doing their best to intimidate the rest of us into silence.” I read just a few sentences of DeStefano’s article before quickly realizing he doesn’t know the first thing about the mind of an atheist.
We’re going to go paragraph by paragraph correcting DeStefano’s numerous egregious errors, beginning with the very first sentence:
There’s no polite way to say it. Atheists today are the most arrogant, ignorant and dangerous people on earth.Sure, some atheists are. And some white people, Canadians, photographers, and Christians are, too. The first sentence proves that firebrand atheism is a necessity in this world. DeStafano cannot be allowed to get away with this level of discrimination and hate speech. The majority of atheists are not arrogant. I think Guy P. Harrison summed it up nicely: “Thanks to atheism, I have no divine blessings, no god watching over me, no place in heaven waiting for me, no angels who know my name, and no predetermined mission set for me before my birth. I am not the greatest creation of the greatest creator in the cosmos. I’m just a fortunate collection of atoms, a spec of organic matter, trying to make it through another day without being mean to anyone or doing anything too stupid. I’m here for a flash and then I’ll be gone. I’m adrift in an incomprehensibly vast universe filled with places, events, and wonders that I will never know. Now who is the humble one?” Atheists aren’t ignorant either, as atheists know more about religion than the religious people themselves, and as education increases, religion decreases. I don’t claim to know whether the inverse relationship between religion and education is causal, but there’s no doubt that the average atheist is more educated and less ignorant than the average theist. An atheist who incites no violence, preaches no hate, and breaks no laws definitely isn’t dangerous either. Why does DeStefano think atheists are more dangerous than Al Quaeda and ISIS Muslims?
It is often cited that atheism leads to poor, destitute nations. But studies show precisely the opposite. According to Phil Zuckerman in Free Inquiry “most secular countries-those with the highest proportion of atheists and agnostics-are among the most stable, peaceful, free, wealthy, and healthy societies. And the most religious nations-wherein worship of God is in abundance-are among the most unstable, violent, oppressive, poor, and destitute.”
We’ve all seen how these pompous prigs get offended by the slightest bit of religious imagery in public and mortified if even a whisper of “Merry Christmas” escapes the lips of some well-meaning but naïve department store clerk during the “holiday season.”
I wrote a blog post a few years ago explaining why I do say “Merry Christmas” to some people, and I welcome all people to say it to me. In this post I also explained why DeStefano’s imaginary war on Christmas is ridiculous and why it is actually extremely rude to assume that all people celebrate the same holidays you do.
But while their arrogance is annoying, it’s nothing compared to their ignorance. Atheists believe that the vast majority of human beings from all periods of time and all places on the Earth have been wrong about the thing most important to them.
Humanity has existed for 100,000+ years and tens of billions of people have lived and died on this Earth. During the course of recorded history, there has been millions of different gods and religions invented. Without a shadow of a doubt in my mind, yes, the vast majority of the people who have believed in a god are wrong! Almost all of these gods and religious beliefs conflict with each other, and so it is certain that most of the people who held these beliefs, no matter how fervently held, were wrong. Right now at this moment in history, there are over 7 billion people alive and only 2.5 billion of them are Christian. That would mean, that even if we ignore the past and count only the current, and if we assume that Christianity is correct, then the majority of humans (4.5 billion of them) are wrong about what they believe.
What they don’t seem to know – or won’t admit – is that the greatest contributions to civilization have been made, not by atheists, but by believers.
Even the Big Bang Theory itself – which atheists mistakenly think bolsters their arguments against God – was proposed by Fr. George Lemaitre, a Belgian astronomer and Roman Catholic priest!
The Big Bang Theory doesn’t bolster any argument against God. But it does definitively disprove a literal interpretation of Genesis and a young earth, two things that many, but not all, theists hold near and dear.
The truth is, the atheist position is incapable of supporting any coherent system of morality other than ruthless social Darwinism. That’s why it has caused more deaths, murders and bloodshed than any other belief system in the history of the world.
DeStefano goes on to (correctly) state that most wars in history were not religious in nature. He states that “96% of all the wars on this planet were due to worldly reasons,” more specifically, “economic gain, territorial gain, civil and revolutionary conflicts.” Keep this in mind when reading the next paragraph. With this, I agree with Stefano.
He continues his assault on atheists by forgetting what he stated in the previous paragraph, blaming atheism for Stalin, Pol Pot, and even Hitler (who was never a confirmed atheist) for death and other atrocities. Theists have been corrected for using the “Atheist Atrocity Fallacy” ad nauseum, but Michael Sherlock may have done the best job here. In short, the atheists who committed and ordered these mass attempted genocides did not do so in the name of atheism. They did not do it because they were atheists. They were atheists who happen to be bad people, and there are all types of bad people (white people, Canadians, photographers, and Christians, etc). Stalin killed to gain political and economic power, not to spread logic, reason, and skepticism. Many of the religious wars and attempted genocides throughout history, however, had the purpose of spreading a certain religion.
Atheists don’t believe in God, so they don’t believe in any transcendent, objective moral law. Nor do they believe that human beings are made in the image of God, and so they don’t believe humans possess infinite value and dignity. When you put these two beliefs together, you have a deadly recipe that makes killing “problematic” human beings quite easy and defensible.
DeStefano’s mind would explode if he ever learned that atheists only make up 0.1% of America’s prison population. That’s 1/10th of one percent. How would DeStefano explain that fact, given that he thinks atheists are not capable of concluding that murder and crime are immoral without a belief in god? Evolution can shape morality every bit as easily as it can shape a wing or an eyeball. Humanity has figured out that living in a society where murder and crime are rare is pretty desirable--in this way, being selfless is actually a selfish thing to do if you think about it.
One has only to look at the growing numbers of abortions, suicides, homicides, and cases of state-sponsored euthanasia, and infanticide, to see the atheist-death connection.
Suicide and homicide have nothing to do with atheism or religion. This is just a red herring from DeStefano. He’s blaming atheists for a problem that atheism has no ties to whatsoever, and frankly, by doing this, he makes firebrand atheism even more necessary. I’ve had enough of atheists being blamed for everything from school shootings to hurricanes. The world needs more firebrand atheists to correct bigoted statements like the ones DeStefano makes in his article; and it’s time that the religious moderates aid the cause to reduce this bigotry too. The hate he’s spewing towards people is not acceptable.
Abortion and euthanasia are definitely separation of state and church issues. These are things that Christians don’t like, and so they expect--No, they demand--the privilege to be able to force their morality on all other people, whether they share their religion or not. This can’t continue. Those seeking an abortion or euthanasia deserve the right to seek safe means to these procedures, regardless of whether Christians like it or not. Abortion isn’t against my religion, and DeStefano doesn’t have, nor does he deserve, the right to dictate his religion on anybody else.
And that’s exactly what modern-day atheists are—bullies; bullies who are doing their best to intimidate the rest of us into silence.
I don’t think Atheists are bullies. I don’t think we intimidate people, and we certainly aren’t trying to silence anybody. I believe strongly in the freedom of speech, and I’ll defend that freedom even for those who disagree with me. DeStefano has the right to spew his bigotry on the internet, and I have the right to tell him he’s wrong. I have the right to tell him his beliefs are putrid shit, too. And they are.
Firebrand atheism (sometimes dubbed “neo-atheism” although I must admit I’m not sure whether those two terms are synonymous or not) is not about silencing our opponents. It’s about demanding equality. Atheists don’t deserve the reputation we have. According to polls, atheists are considered the least desirable political candidate and son or daughter-in-law in America. And why? Because we trust the scientific method (the same method that has produced combustion engines, cell phones, space travel, nuclear energy, heart transplants, and 4k televisions)? Because we want a seat at the table when it comes to politics? Because we want equal treatment? Because our brains demand more evidence before accepting outrageous claims? DeStefano wrote an entire book about the mind of atheists, but he doesn’t even know why atheists are angry and doesn’t even know what atheism is (he thinks it’s a belief system).
DeStefano is wrong by many orders of magnitude on just about everything that he wrote. He’s so wrong, that I wouldn’t be at all surprised if his entire book and article is satirical and he’s trying to trigger a bunch of dumb atheists into wasting time writing a counter-post.
Guilty as charged.
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