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April 13, 2007
Why Only an Atheist Can Believe
Crom, I have never prayed to you before. I have no tongue for it. No one, not even you, will remember if we were good men or bad. Why we fought, and why we died. All that matters is that today, few stood against many. Valor pleases you Crom, so grant me this one request. Grant me revenge! And if you do not listen, then the Hell with you!
Jossip claims Christopher Hitchens is "out to piss off everyone in the whole world" which, damn him, he is in a better position to do than I am.*
This is red meat for contrarians young and old, of course, and a tonic for those of us tired of pissing and moaning from "people of faith" when their ill informed readings of Bronze Age scrolls are accorded insufficient respect in matters of genetic engineering or nanotechnology. It is a sad state of affairs when Scientologists deploy metaphors exponentially more up-to-date than whatever goat-herding analogy pops to mind (be that mind currently running Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, Sanskrit or Punjabi software). One thing I will say for my fellow serious fundamentalists: We don't do this. One advantage of knowing my beliefs are true is that they are true whether you share them or not. True, in fact, whether you have ever heard of them or not. The truth does not require consent.
Knowing this, I feel no particular compunction that I am not issuing semiotic traffic tickets. As I once explained to some well presented men at the door: My God is the Lord of Hosts, he does not need ninety-pound Avon ladies like yourselves to remind me. Still, give them credit for showing willing. More annoying is the ludicrous spectre of would be "defenders of faith" calling for mutual respect; this muliticulti thinking typically suggests an abiding belief in nothing in particular. Most ludicrous are those shrill personalities blowing up barber shops or beheading kite fliers in testament to their faith. One is forced to wonder to whom exactly these people are trying to prove their point. If anything, the greater the demonstrative histrionics, the less trust in the God they claim to worship.
"Something absolutely unheard of happens in Christianity. ... In all other religions we trust God, we believe in God. The death of Christ means God trusted us." Slavoj Zizek is my sort of fundamentalist and, nominally Marxist, he has actually read Paul; something I would suggest most Christians might usefully consider doing themselves. Quoting Neils Bohr, Zizek observes, "I was told it works even if you don't believe in it."
* Yet.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at April 13, 2007 06:43 AM
Comments
So if you called the fundamentalists "ninety-pound Avon ladies," then what do you say to the kids selling candy bars?
Posted by: agent bedhead ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.ghostofaflea.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at April 13, 2007 09:27 AM
Er....well-dressed guys who are perhaps fundamentalists in some regard.
Posted by: agent bedhead at April 13, 2007 09:28 AM
I tell them that Crom cares not for their delicious snacks.
Posted by: Ghost of a flea at April 13, 2007 09:39 AM
If more christians were like you and less "but you are wrong, how could you not see what I see as true to be true??? you are wrong!!!" then atheists like me wouldn't have such issues we felt need to voiciferously deal with..
Hail Crom
Posted by: Gorthos at April 13, 2007 10:32 AM
Color me quite skeptical on the value of Hitch's new book. Full of entertainingly fiery rhetoric, no doubt, but likely sparse on anything of real substance.
It will be amusing, though, to watch those religious conservatives who adopted the gin-soaked loose cannon because of his stance on the war squirm with embarrassment as he spouts off anti-religion...
Posted by: Varenius at April 13, 2007 02:12 PM
In fairness to Hitch, he makes no secret of this stuff whenever he is on Hugh Hewitt's radio show and those discussions are uniformly friendly despite the difference of opinion. I suspect the book is aimed at his brother as much as anybody.
Posted by: Ghost of a flea at April 13, 2007 02:25 PM
I know Hitch can be civil when it's called for, but I expect he will be in high dudgeon when he's on the book tour circuit.
The brother angle occurred to me too -- in fact, I had the thought that a book in which the two of them go at it on the topic would be quite a spectacle!
Posted by: Varenius at April 13, 2007 02:32 PM
Hmm couple of videos....
The Prayer scene.
In terms of arguing about one's religion, I think Subotai and Conan's discussion on their respective religions is relevant.
Have you seen the deleted scenes?
Posted by: Montieth at April 13, 2007 04:42 PM
For a stretch of years, I had the greatest guy in a suit at the door every eight Saturday mornings. His faith and mine were not exactly in line but it was fascinating to have an extended explanation of the JW's way. Knowing they got shit from behind 99% of the doors, I gave the kid an apple and the Dad an ear. When others came to the door I said "my JW is Jim. Send him along. I talk to Jim." Nazis had gased some of his family. I'd wager Jim's ahead of me in line for the Glory and with any luck I'll get to wave up the line to him from a few billion spots back when the end times come.
One thing that we recognized in each other was the every day intimacy of the relationship with God - not only did he trust us but he screwed around Noah and then Job then felt really badly about it afterwards. He just had a different role asked of him, Jim did. He knew I knew the God was the Lord of Hosts. His calling was just the shit end of the stick of giving witness.
Posted by: Alan McLeod at April 13, 2007 06:21 PM
You must be one of those guys who actually read "Meditations". Now, if you've read "Satanic Verses" you'll be the only other guy I've known of that has done so...
Posted by: OregonGuy at April 15, 2007 01:10 PM
