The Christmas Atheists

The Christmas Atheists by Jack Kinsella            http://www.omegaletter.com/

 
In North America, Christmas tradition demands a Christmas feast and candy canes and unique little pastries and all kinds of nuts.  The kinds that come in shells -- and the other kind.

The American Humanist Association is spending millions sponsoring billboards of happy young models wearing Santa hats over the legend, "No God?  No problem. Be Good for Goodness Sake."

Out West, the inaptly-named atheist group, "Freedom From Religion" plans an ad campaign under the tag line, "Yes, Virginia, There Is No God."

I said they were inaptly-named because they already have freedom from religion -- there is no religious litmus test in America.

And if there was, it sure wouldn't be Christianity, which despite its 80% majority in the population,  is virtually illegal to practice in public.

The folks at "Freedom From Religion" don't want freedom of religion for themselves -- they want to take your freedom of religion away from you in the name of "reason." 

To these folks, you are the hypocrites because you don't practice your religion they way they think you should, therefore it is right and just that they take it away from you.  

In return, they offer you nothing.  Well, less than nothing.
Oddly, atheists are also big on global warming, euthanasia, abortion gay rights and social Darwinism. You'd think that since this life is all there is,  they'd view it as being more precious than they do.

I've never really understood why atheism is so militant. It would seem that a religious system based on the belief in nothing wouldn't really have much to say.   I mean, it's about nothing.  What more is there to say?

But nature (including human nature) abhors a vacuum.  So a religion based on nothing has to fill the vacuum with something.
Since they don't have a God,  they use ours.  

I note with interest that they only use the God of Christians and Jews.  I'm still waiting for the American Humanist Group or Atheism.com or Freedom from Religion to sponsor billboards proclaiming, "There is no  Allah."

I suspect I'll have to wait a very long time.

Atheists and humanists have a problem with Jews putting up a menorah or Christians displaying a Nativity scene.

But I've never heard an atheist group going after Hinduism.  Or Jainism, Tenrikyo,  Bahai, Unitarianism, Rastafarianism, Wicca or Druidism.

Assessment:

I think the reason that the humanist and atheist movement are so obsessed with attacking the God of Christians and Jews is self-evident.

If they REALLY didn't believe there was a God, they would live out their lives as if God wasn't there.   Apologist Dinesh D'Souza framed it this way:

"I don't believe in unicorns, so I just go about my life as if there are no unicorns.  I haven't written any books called "The End of the Unicorn" or "Unicorns are Not Great" or "The Unicorn Delusion" and I don't spend my time obsessing about unicorns."

Atheists don't spend their time obsessing about Vishnu, or Brahma or Shiva or (especially) Allah or Quetzalcoatl.  Because they don't believe that they are any more real than unicorns.

But they spend millions to pay for billboards and movies and lawyers (lots and lots of lawyers) to suppress any mention or memory of the God of Christians and Jews from the public square.

I've read lots of thoughtful analysis this season speculating that atheists and humanists are obsessed with Christmas because they are jealous.   I don't think that's it, exactly, although it may be partially valid.

I've read other analysis that speculate it is because atheists want to demonstrate that they are as moral as believers.  It seems too counterproductive to be a deliberate strategy.

Attempting to demonstrate one's morality by launching a bigoted attack against a whole class of people is a demonstration of hypocrisy, not morality. 

One can't even argue 'fairness', since the only remedy possible is to impose the view of a tiny few on the vast majority, hardly qualifying as 'fair'.

The only conclusion that seems reasonable is, as I said earlier, self-evident.   Mythical gods have no power.  It isn't the concept of religion that scares them.  What scares them is the issue of accountability.

It amuses me that atheists and humanists believe they have some special insight not available to Christians.   I wasn't always a believer.  Neither were most of you.  I resisted Christ primarily because I didn't want to have to change my ways.  

I tried to be an atheist, but it seemed too intellectually dishonest.  How does one begin to defend a position whose starting point is that of one who is certain that he knows the unknowable?   I'm not that arrogant.

The best I could ever manage before coming to Christ was that of an agnostic, or one who knows he does not know what he does not know.  That's a lot more humble, but not very satisfying. 

Sort of like the statistics that place American students last in Western academia but first in self-esteem.   "Not too bright, but feeling good about it."

Logically speaking, the billboard campaigns are themselves direct evidence that the Bible is true.   The Bible says that all mankind is born with an instinctive knowledge of God.

"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them."

"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:"

That conforms with my personal experience.  I always believed in God for as far back into my childhood as I can remember, despite the fact we never went to church.

"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened."

The existence of God isn't something that is learned, it is something that must be unlearned. I believed in God until somebody told me only kids believed in God.

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient."

They don't do billboards protesting Ramadan.  But they never let a Christmas or Easter go by without highlighting Jesus.  It helps the rest of us remember the Reason for the Season.   Proving yet another truth of Scripture.

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28)

Even atheist billboard campaigns.