How dare the Theists

The New Atheist movement was basically born on September 11^th, thirteen and a half years ago. Even before that, Dawkins, derivative of Russell (as much of his “theology” and “philosophy” has always been) would routinely complain about all the bad, and no good, that Religion has done for mankind.

Forget the Healthcare system, educational system, and charity. Science was in earnest born because of the belief stemming from monotheism (that by the way ended up being true), starting with Socrates, in opposition to the Stoics (early atheists) that this world was somehow understandable to the human mind. While this and much else has repeatedly been pointed out to how obviously false this Atheist claim is, Atheists cannot help but keep up this charade. 

A perfect example of this was the recent Ebola crisis. Brain Palmer, Slate’s pop culture Science writer and avid Atheist, recently wrote an unsurprising and rather transparent attack on Christian doctors who were continuously on the forefront of treating and ultimately helping stop the Ebola crisis, see http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2014/10/missionary_doctors_treating_ebola_in_africa_why_people_are_suspicious_of.html

A high-profile response came from the keyboard of Ross Douthat, the young New York Times op-ed writer (who happens to be a Christian).  Douthat first points out that,  the only reason secular humanism hasn’t faltered yet is because monotheistic still largely influences morals, service and culture here and in Europe.

Douthat is subtle but you can read clearly between the lines and it's a valid point: what has Atheist groups done for humanity? When is the last time you saw an Atheist group feeding the poor, risking their lives to help the sick, raising money for a widow, sacrificing themselves for others? How about something much more objective: let’s calculate the amount of money raised by Theist groups to help those in Africa during the crisis and compare it to how much Atheist groups did. I’m guessing it’s somewhere in the millions versus zero.

Of course the crux of the difference is the faith-system. The Atheist worldview/faith system does not by definition concern itself with these matters. In fact, it's the most honest, integrity-filled Atheists who are upfront about this. They are living with integrity, something most of us Theists fail at doing.  Among these are the late Hitchens, Dawkins, and Peter Singer. If you want to see how different the values of honest Theists with integrity and the values of  honest Atheists with integrity, familiarize yourself with Dawkins' or Singer's value system (for instance, according to them, only some human lives are of value, those that are selfless are evolutionary rejects, etc.). While it should be alarming to Theists, the integrity should be refreshing.

But that doesn’t change the critique from Palmer. He is deeply troubled that Christian doctors were at the forefront of the Ebola crisis, mingling their Christian Worldview with medicine. So, here is a good idea. Next time there is a crisis in which sacrifice is called for, putting one’s livelihood (and genetic pool) at risk to help others, let the Atheist group(s) take action. And then Douthat or Yancey or Metaxas can complain some months later, after the risk has been taken and the Atheist-driven ideals that led to the selfless acts that helped saved numerous lives are acknowledged, that “Atheism and life-saving medicine mingling at the frontlines of crisis X is just not fair.”

Here’s another good idea. Don’t hold your breath.