According to the common usage of this phrase, I am a “Militant Atheist”. Here’s why:
- I speak out publicly about my critical view of religion and spiritual belief.
- I maintain an atheist blog. le gasp.
- I will engage theists in discussion and debate about theology.
- I vehemently support the separation of church and state.
- I love science so much, I’d have its babies.
- I use sarcasm and ridicule to illustrate why I think certain things are, indeed, ridiculous.
- The most violent thing I’ve done in the name of godlessness is to gleefully throw a bible into the recycling bin.
Why is this a bad thing? Why should I be quiet simply because I lack faith in mythological creatures? Why do we give religious people a free pass to express their loud, evangelistic points of view and then shy away from expressing our own thoughts?
The word “militant” should not be assigned to someone like me who at worst is loudly expressing opinions and ridiculing the irrational.In the words of twitter user @HHeliBebcnof:
A militant Christian blows up abortion clinics; a militant Muslim hijacks airplanes; a militant atheist argues with people.
-@HHeliBebcnof (Science Man), 13-1-2010 21:36:52
I don’t stone you for being a Christian/Jewish/Hindu/Wiccan. I won’t burn you at the stake for being a witch. I will never kill in order to please a lack of deity. My lack of spiritual belief doesn’t make me want to hurt you. My lack of belief doesn’t tell me to bomb a building or damn someone to eternal torture. If I ever do something violent, it’s because I’m an ass–not because some imaginary friend would like it.
The term “militant atheism” needs to be utterly rejected by skeptics and atheists everywhere. If anything, call us Proud Atheists or Pain-In-Your-Ass Atheists. But don’t call a peaceful, intelligent movement a name that equates it with acts of violence, hatred, and bigotry. It’s easy to slander your opponents–to poison the well in order to make yourself the good guy. But cheap shots don’t make for a winning argument.
Check out a discussion on this topic at deconversion.org. Watch two great videos about “militant atheism” after the cut!
Read the Rest! Post a comment (22)Were you raised as a Christian? Then perhaps you remember catchy songs by Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber of Veggie Tales, a morality-teaching, values-encouraging, Bible-Story-Telling cartoon series that’s still publishing silly songs and DVDs today. But the Tales are too modern, too palatable to the secular audience. If you really want to raise your kids with Bible Values™, you should go back to the 1980s. Before the computer animated Veggie Tales, there was Psalty the Singing Songbook. Children such as myself were raised by Psalty the Singing Songbook and his pals, the Kids Praise gang. This music group made videos and records in the 80s and 90s that helped reinforce Bible verses, the gospel message, and Christian values into the minds of impressionable children.
I loved it! Here’s how awesomely bad these videos actually were:
Kids Praise 5: Psalty’s Camping Adventure
“Throw the ball! Praise the Lord!” … “Howlelujah!” Pure gold wrapped up in a primary color package.
One thing I learned from this video was that children are whiny little runts, and a guy wrapped in skintight blue spandex-polyester blend with a hunchback is even more likely to complain and bitch on a long musical hike. I won’t even mention the nightmares I’m going to have tonight about that giant dog.
Bonus! “Psalty: Behind the Music”:
photo by Luciano Meirelles
One of the most common disputes non-believers have with Christianity (and I would think Judaism, considering the circumstances) is the depiction of morality in the Bible.
As a Christian, I was constantly reminded that God is special and unlike other gods because he valued fallen sinners. I was taught the bible was honestly written because the book shows imperfect people doing horrible things and still God uses them to bring forth his Perfect Plan™. At the time, I believed this was an amazing, praiseworthy reason to trust what the bible said and to love the so-called Author.
Did I ever take an honest look at the morality of God himself? No. God received a Get Out of Jail Free card because according to my beliefs, he was the source of everything that was good, perfect, loving, and just. If he was the source of morality, then he had to be 100% moral (i.e. good). Any evidence to the contrary had to be based in misunderstandings or closed-minded hatred. There was no ability in my mind to think of myself as more moral than my God. If I was, then why worship him? Why trust him? Why should I give up my life for him if my standards seem to surpass those of the Almighty? I wasn’t able to even consider these questions. I had built a protective wall inside my mind: critical thinking and challenging my assumptions on one side—God and faith on the other.
It wasn’t until after I deconverted from Christianity that I took the time to critique this deity and the depictions of its so-called “goodness” that I had accepted my whole life.
Is God moral?
Read the Rest! Post a comment (3)Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert go head-to-head. Smite them, oh Mighty Smiter!
It is rather silly, isn’t it? I watched another video last night by a fundamentalist Christian pointing out that of course Muslims were going to hell because Mohammad came hundreds of years after Jesus and “the prophet” just made up all those stories from his imagination.
I guess Jesus and all the Bible’s authors called dibs. Insert facepalm here.
Chris on 
Bill the Heathen on 
jabran on 
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