Atheists Denounce Myers

Atheist Matthew Nisbet, Ph.D, is a professor in the School of Communication at American University, and a blogger on Scienceblogs, the site hosting P.Z. Myers' vile.

Yesterday morning, he distanced himself from Myers' bigotry understanding how much fanatic extremists like Myers hurts their atheist cause. Surprisingly, he draws attention to Jeff Gardner's piece at the National Catholic Register in regard to focusing on the damage Myers has done within the faith-based community and its byproduct of deteriorating society's overall perception of Atheists:

Atheists have a major image problem. There's a reason that when people ask me what I believe I have to say with a smile: "I'm an atheist...but a friendly atheist."

...These "new atheists" are the dark under belly of atheism. In books, blogs, and public statements, they sell us ideological porn, sophomoric rants that feed our dark sides and reinforce our own unfair stereotypes about the "other," i.e. the religious.

Yet all of this does far more harm than good. The addictive nature of their rhetoric radicalizes us and leads us to an ever more closed off conversation about how we are superior and everyone else is delusional.

In the process, we miss out on working together with religious communities around shared common values and problems. And when their self-promoting atheist punditry is picked up by either the mainstream press or the religious media, we as a community of atheists incur deep self-inflicted wounds, with news coverage feeding the stereotype that we are a bunch of intolerant and arrogant eccentrics.

Consider this recent article at the National Catholic Register. Titled "The Face of the New Atheism," it profiles PZ Myers and his rants against the Eucharist and the Catholic community. Notice the key words emphasized. The dominant image of atheism portrayed in the article is one of "hate," "contempt," "dogmatism," "a junior high level understanding of religion," "irate," "incredulous," "bigoted"...the list goes on.

Is this how we really want Catholics to view us? Do we really want a group of moderately religious Americans--who polls show otherwise prize science, reason, and stand for many of the same values that we hold dear--to think of us through the prism of PZ Myers?

The image of atheism doesn't have to be this way....

The points of emphasis for the rest of the public should be on "strong community member and leaders," "teachers," "listeners," "working with others on common problems," "tolerant," "engaged," "open-minded," "pragmatic," "improving society," "cares about people and social issues..."

This is the "new atheism" that we should promote, not an image of attacks and intolerance.

National Catholic Register Checks In on Myers

The National Catholic Register this week addressed the PZ Myers' sacrilege. They have a readership about 70-100,000, mostly very devout Catholics, so expect more calls to Chancellor Johnson.

VCR friend, Tom Hoopes, editor of the NCR, does a five-star job in his editorial defining the heart of the atheist mentality, whether government or university sponsored:

"But what the Chinese regime and the cranky professor do have in common is their atheism — and their behavior in both cases is a direct result of the same source.

Atheists would have you believe that Christians are the intolerant ones... They will even look to excesses from centuries ago (the Inquisition, the Crusades, witch hunts) as typical Christian behavior. (Blogger Note: Myers called my previous post listing all his posts on university time a "witch hunt".)

Yet, in our own lifetime, we have seen more murder perpetrated by atheist persecutors than the Church has been guilty of in her entire history. It is the atheists who have killed tens of millions of Christians in Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, Mexico, and elsewhere. In China they killed more than they have anywhere else — and have not necessarily stopped.

It’s the government in Beijing that is cracking down on opponents... and it’s atheistic science professors like PZ Myers who go out of their way to belittle and offend those who disagree with them...

That’s because the logic of atheism is self-centered, by its very nature. Most atheists, of course, don’t lash out at their opponents. But with nothing to restrain them but the limits of their own ferocity, it’s not uncommon for atheists to grow violent and hateful.

Atheists want to believe that they live in a world that wasn’t created. They define the world, decide what truth is and isn’t, on their terms, and in a sense become their own creators. Their moral choices and actions aren’t limited by anything but their own imaginations and self-restraint.

The atheist mentality will thus see any appeal to a higher power as an attack on its own egoism, a threat to the world it has created. There is no special reason for an atheist to believe that he should temper his anger or the force he uses to respond to it."

Kudos, Tom. You should have majored in psychology.