Posted by Jeffery Jay Lowder . . at 6/10/2012 02:35:00 AM
(As an aside, why is it common practice to refer to some atheists as "militant" or "avowed," but one rarely, if ever, sees those adjectives in front of "Christian," "Muslim," "Jew," or even "theist"?)
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Fox News uses the phrase "militant Muslim".
ReplyDeleteLikewise the Guardian via the Associated Press.
In fact, so does True Freethinker, the website which Jeff so vehemently criticized. Presumably True Freethinker has a tag for the phrase because it's frequently used.
And wouldn't you know it? If the post is correct, it looks like fellow atheist in arms John Loftus does as well. (Although I'd be surprised if Jeff would want to associate himself with Loftus.)
Militant Christians:
ReplyDeletehttp://atheism.about.com/b/2007/04/17/militant-christians-wheres-the-criticism-wheres-the-hand-wringing.htm
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8584030/Christians-are-more-militant-than-Muslims-says-Governments-equalities-boss.html
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Militant_Christianity
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/militant-atheism-militant-christianity/2011/08/03/gIQAJS0rrI_blog.html
On the one hand, I appreciate Jeff aims for a more irenic discourse between atheists and Christians (and perhaps others). Related, my impression (at least at this point) is Jeff is a bit of a sensitive soul. I think that's laudable in many ways.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the fact of the matter is Jeff is in engaging in atheistic and secular apologetics. If someone is going to engage in any sort of apologetics, one has to expect some modicum of hostility. One has to expect return fire. It's tough to survive in the trenches without thick skin.
For that matter, it's tough to survive as a sensitive soul in an atheistic universe.
For instance, if I recall, T.H. White was one such atheist. I believe a friend once said White had lost his fear of God, but never lost his fear of mankind - referring to the "evil" and suffering mankind could unleash on itself with its terrible wars including the two world wars through which White lived (and in which the concluding chapters of his retold Arthurian tale The Once and Future King was in part meant, I think, to lament).
This tension is almost palpable in what White writes and in the words he places in the mouths of his characters:
"But there was a time when each of us stood naked before the world, confronting life as a serious problem with which we were intimately and passionately concerned. There was a time when it was of vital interest to us to find out whether there was a God or not. Obviously the existence or otherwise of a future life must be of the very first importance to somebody who is going to live her present one, because her manner of living it must hinge on the problem. There was a time when Free Love versus Catholic Morality was a question of as much importance to our hot bodies as if a pistol had been clapped to our heads. Further back, there were times when we wondered with all our souls what the world was, what love was, what we were ourselves."
"Love is a trick played on us by the forces of evolution. Pleasure is the bait laid down by the same. There is only power. Power is of the individual mind but the mind's power is not enough. Power of the body decides everything in the end and only might is right."
"Life is such unutterable hell, solely because it is sometimes beautiful. If we could only be miserable all the time, if there could be no such things as love or beauty or faith or hope, if I could be absolutely certain that my love would never be returned, how much more simple life would be. One could plod through the Siberian salt mines of existence without being bothered about happiness. Unfortunately happiness is there. There is always the chance (about eight hundred and fifty to one) that another heart will come to mine. I can't help hoping and keeping faith and loving beauty. Quite frequently I am not so miserable as it would be wise to be."
I thought the phrase "militant atheism" was originally a take on the well-worn phrase "militant Islam". That's the etymology in my own mind, certainly. Seems like Jeff would do well to actually take 5 seconds to type some words into Google before he posts yet another embarrassing comment.
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