Strange People, These Atheists
I try to pay a little less attention to politics and the news over the holidays—I mean, I didn't even know Kim-Jong was Il. But I couldn't help noticing this piece over at Salon via the RealClearPolitics religion page. It's by a Salon staffer named Mary Elizabeth Williams and while it's silly, it's silly in kind of a fascinating way.
After Christopher Hitchens died, I noticed with satisfaction that none of the religious writers I read said anything obnoxious about him, like "Now he must face the judgement of the unbeliever!" or "What a tragedy Hitchens wasn't saved!" No, instead, again and again, I saw religious people, moved by the death of this courageous and talented atheist, offering up the hope that Hitchens was taking a good-natured ribbing in heaven for his misguided stance on earth. This struck me as an expression of Christian love, as much as to say, "Hitchens may not have believed in God, but we have faith God believed in Hitchens and will welcome him home."
And yet in this article, Miss Williams quotes some of these good wishes and finds in them something sinister and ignorant:
Within hours of the news of Hitchens’s passing at the age of 62, the Internet was hotter than an inner circle of hell with the God squad thundering its own version of vindication. Along with plenty of hope that he “made his peace with God,” there was blowhard-for-Jesus Rick Warren tweeting that “My friend Christopher Hitchens has died. I loved & prayed for him constantly & grieve his loss. He knows the Truth now,” while creepy creationist Ray Comfort declared that the now dead “Christopher Hitchens is no longer an atheist.” LifeWay’s Ed Stetzer, meanwhile, blogged that “When Christopher Hitchens died, he entered into eternity as every man does: as a beggar at the gates of the kingdom,” and Southern Baptist Seminary president Albert Mohler tweeted that “The death tonight of Christopher Hitchens is an excruciating reminder of the consequences of unbelief. We can only pray others will believe.” I’m not a brilliant debater like Hitchens, but let me field this one. Death is not a consequence of disbelief. It’s a consequence of living, you moron.
Now, with the possible exception of that last comment from the Southern Baptist—which is sort of vaguely phrased so that I'm not really sure what consequences he's referring to—I don't read any condemnation here at all, just believers reacting with charitable affection to the loss of an unbelieving friend.
Miss Williams' piece strikes me as one more example of a hate-speech spewing leftist hearing hate speech on the right where there is none. Why do they do that? Maybe because they feel bad about themselves. Fortunately, God can help with that. Oh, wait...
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Re: Strange People, These Atheists
Well-spotted, Drew, and beautifully written.
What made Christopher distinctive among atheists--at least atheists in my own experience--is on view here: Whereas Christopher remained as stout a friend and as irresistibly charming to believers as to his fellow non-believes, most atheists, as witness Miss Williams, evince toward believers little but ignorant spite.
Oct '11
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
Peter Robinson: Well-spotted, Drew, and beautifully written.
What made Christopher distinctive among atheists--at least atheists in my own experience--is on view here: Whereas Christopher remained as stout a friend and as irresistibly charming to believers as to his fellow non-believes, most atheists, as witness Miss Williams, evince toward believers little but ignorant spite. · Dec 20 at 11:17am
I think Peter makes the more accurate distinction (atheists/believers rather than left/right). In the Paleonutrition blogosphere, a lot of the writers are libertarian conservatives who are atheists, and they are pretty uniformly obnoxious about those of us who see things differently.
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
One sign that Progressivism is a species of secular religion is that, on the margins, it gives rise to fanaticism. These days, there is a great deal more zealotry among the irreligious than among Christians and Jews.
Aug '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
I noticed the same turn of events over at Hotair.com. My own thought was of charity toward my fellow Christians - they spoke of Mr. Hitchens in loving terms and were rewarded by athiests and agnostics with bitterness, derision and hate.
But then again, they don't have Ricochet's CoC.
Merry Christmas, Andrew, Peter.
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
I've noticed some hateful commentary, too. I think Mary Valle was trying to attack Ross Douthat instead of make herself look like an idiot here, for instance, but I'm completely unsure: http://bit.ly/vvPCSE
In any case, part of what you notice might be Hitchens being an atypical atheist. But I also think that those who were fine with his atheism didn't really interest him so much. Douglas Wilson hit on this in his piece for Christianity Today:
Sep '11
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
I have a good friend who grew up in a religious home, studied theology, taught theology and is a militant atheist. He is a very smart, well read guy, but he is vituperative when it comes to religion. He attacks Christians with special zeal, and when I asked him if his insults (religionists are stupid among other things) applied to me and another believing friend, he wouldn't answer. He simply cannot imagine that an intelligent, thoughtful person can have faith in something unseen. Yet those people are all around him.
Mar '11
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
Salon.com? *chuckles*
To paraphase the recently departed Mr. Hitchens (God rest his soul), to describe such a writing as a piece of crap would run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental.
Jul '11
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
One of the beauties of the first amendment lies in our ability to ridicule idiots who have exercised their rights in truly ignorant fashion. RIP Hitch, I am sure you would have a wonderful retort for all those detractors.
Apr '11
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
I enjoyed and admired Christoper before I knew he was an atheist, I enjoyed and admired him after I knew he was an atheist.
I once saw him in a debate about belief vs. non-belief with Denish D'souza, I was impressed with the open admiration Denish had for Christoper.
It was nice to see so many wish him well.
Click here to give Dinesh your feedback on this book.
Oct '11
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
Her piece was a bit much, but I share her irritation with the chorus of closet mourners out on the corner, the Lutheran that I am. Megan McArdle had a nice couple tweets a few days ago:
A lot of people are genuine in their remembrance (Peter's was nice), but why the off-hand religious tweet? Is any mind changed? Why use Hitch? You've gotta be careful when talking about the dead, because they can't hear you, so are you doing it for others, or for yourself? I doubt all the commenters genuinely read Hitch; a lot probably just know that 1) he's an atheist, 2) he died, and 3) he's one of the few liberals it's okay for conservatives to like. Maybe I'm just not paying attention, but I don't see atheists tweeting about the rude awakening (or lack thereof) of the nothingness every time an out-spoken Christian dies.
Dec '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
So I've always wondered why there were evangelical atheists who were so desperate for converts. Here's my only conclusion: They believe in the perfectibility of man.
This is, in my opinion, the Rosetta Stone to liberal thought.
Hence, they are angry at any attempt to forestall pleasure to the next life because it provides less labor for Utopia on earth.
Oct '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
Dr. Mohler also has a follow-up:
Dec '11
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
There is a reason why, even before I started my conversion process, I stopped referring to myself as an Atheist and started referring to myself as Agnostic. And the above pretty well sums it up. So many, too many, of those who call themselves Atheist are absolutely so evangelical about it that, that it crowds their basic humanity.
I never understood why I was supposed to be offended at being wished “Merry Christmas” as the holidays approached; or told “God bless you” after I sneezed. The person wasn’t trying to offend me, they were sincerely wishing me well. Additionally, my reluctance to extend the same greetings wasn’t out not wanting to offend my beliefs (I had none), but not wanting to debase their beliefs which I respected.
In short, I agree Andrew, strange people them Atheists.
May '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
Poor Ms. Williams. So smug and mean-spirited. For her, the words of Oliver Cromwell: "I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken."
Jun '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
I think it was Fr. Robert Barron who said, what atheists do is use a philosophical intuition (asserting that if something is beyond scientific examination, then for our purposes it doesn't really exist) to refute a religious believer's philosophical intuition that God (the Creator) exists and has a direct influence over him. The atheist's intuition is no more valid than the believer's intuition, and it's certainly no proof of the atheist's superior thinking.
Edited on December 20, 2011 at 9:02pmJul '11
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
I don't know about you guys but I find the statements "He knows the truth now," "...Hitchens is no longer an atheist," and "...excruciating reminder of the consequences of unbelief" to be really creepy. I can guess what Hitchens would say...
Nov '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
I think if you counted a representative sample of atheists, Peter, it would be many, or even just some, rather than "most", who "evince towards believers little but ignorant spite". It's just that the vocal and acerbic ones stand out. One should not overgeneralize from the salient.
Also, Miss Williams says she's a Christian in the piece, so maybe leftist is a better characterization. In places, she seems to engage in what I call meta-prejudice: prejudicially attributing prejudice to others.
But there is surely no need to compensate for her errors by engaging meta-meta-prejudice towards atheists generally--that is, exaggerating their tendency to engage in meta-prejudice!
Peter Robinson: Well-spotted, Drew, and beautifully written.
What made Christopher distinctive among atheists--at least atheists in my own experience--is on view here: Whereas Christopher remained as stout a friend and as irresistibly charming to believers as to his fellow non-believes, most atheists, as witness Miss Williams, evince toward believers little but ignorant spite. · Dec 20 at 11:17am
Dec '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
Even science requires a great deal of faith. You must believe that the world is orderly and predictable. You must believe that if you conduct two experiments properly that they will show the same result.
May '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
I agree. Statements like the above cannot be made with any certainty, even by believers.
Nov '10
Re: Strange People, These Atheists
Is it any more (or less) creepy (or not-creepy) than holding standard Christian beliefs, and not being a fan of Hitch?
It seems me you have a devout Biblical believer here, who dutifully extrapolates from his premises.