The normally sensible Evan Derkacz exploits the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. to bash at atheists. King was good, he reminds us, and a Christian, and therefore Richard Dawkins should shut the hell up. It's as if Derkacz thinks that atheists' principled stand against the tenants and trappings of religion amounts to nothing more than an ad hominem attack. If we argue that religion is irrational, illogical and immoral, then he concludes that we must therefore be saying that religious people are uniformly irrational, illogical and immoral as well. A few counter examples, like MLK, easily defeat this atheist straw man.
Of course our argument is not an ad hominem. Dr. Dawkins and others are not arguing that religion is bad because the people who practice it are stupid. Quite the reverse. We believe that people are intrinsically smart and good and are fully capable of discovering what's true and what works without the aid of imagined supernatural beings. Our disagreement is not with the quality of religious peoples' character, nor with the morality of their actions. Our argument hinges instead on the one premise underlying all theistic belief - that a god or gods exist. No matter how brilliant, generous or just a religious individual may be they believe this to be a true fact, and they are wrong. When this false belief leads to idiocy or evil we point it out, but mainly as a reminder of the consequences of acting on that which is not true.
Derkacz postmodern whining is really just another example of that common complaint that liberal atheists are an embarrassment to the left and should stop speaking out. I've previously handled this issue here, but I think that invoking the legacy of Dr. King in service of this nonsense is particularly heinous. Atheists are a despised minority in America, subject to discrimination because of their religious beliefs. I think the rise of "non-pluralistic" atheists like Dawkins in the popular culture is a positive development, and if it makes people on the left uncomfortable then good. As the late Dr. King said,
The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists.
- jack*
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