I've been perusing book reviews of Christopher Hitchens' latest book, God is not Great, in which Hitchens basically argues:
Of course, atheists have historically been too preoccupied with slaughter of a home-grown variety to be bothered waging war against neighboring states.
This "absence of religion" that Hitchens seems so fond of certainly didn't stop Mao Zedong from killing 40 million of his own people during China's "Great Leap Forward." Nor did it stop Stalin from racking up a 20 million body count, or Pol Pot from slaughtering one-third of Cambodia's population.
In a astounding display of intellectual dishonesty, Hitchens casually dismisses communism's 100 million death toll by stating that those instances were merely types of "secularised religion," and as such - do not count.
Well isn't that convenient.
Pure atheism, or the societal rejection of any formalized belief system, has never existed.
What Hitchens, like most atheists, fails to realize is that the void left by the absence of religion does not remain empty. It is always filled with a quasi-religious belief in someone or something - which, historically speaking, is oftentimes worse than its predecessor religion.
Make no mistake, while atheists may not worship at the alter of formalized religion, they instead substitute a blind faith in the divine with a new faith in the infallibility of their elitist brethren.
Atheists reek of the same level of elitism and superiority as the fervently religious, the only difference is the source of their moral authority. One comes from a presumably omniscient diety, the other from some guy in apartment 2-D.
For many, like those of the DailyKos variety, the advancement of far-left liberalism has become their de facto religion. For others, it takes the form of radical environmentalism (see Al Gore a/k/a The Goracle).
Religion, for better or for worse, hangs its hat on the belief that God - as the architect of the astonishingly complex design and authority found in our universe - is the father of the instrinsic concepts of good and evil. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the athiest is inclined to leave the formulation of these concepts in the hands of man.
. . that the world would be better off without religion altogether. Stupid religious people would stop fighting stupid religious wars and a new enlightenment would ensue. Nobody ever went to war for atheism.
Of course, atheists have historically been too preoccupied with slaughter of a home-grown variety to be bothered waging war against neighboring states.
This "absence of religion" that Hitchens seems so fond of certainly didn't stop Mao Zedong from killing 40 million of his own people during China's "Great Leap Forward." Nor did it stop Stalin from racking up a 20 million body count, or Pol Pot from slaughtering one-third of Cambodia's population.
In a astounding display of intellectual dishonesty, Hitchens casually dismisses communism's 100 million death toll by stating that those instances were merely types of "secularised religion," and as such - do not count.
Well isn't that convenient.
Pure atheism, or the societal rejection of any formalized belief system, has never existed.
What Hitchens, like most atheists, fails to realize is that the void left by the absence of religion does not remain empty. It is always filled with a quasi-religious belief in someone or something - which, historically speaking, is oftentimes worse than its predecessor religion.
Make no mistake, while atheists may not worship at the alter of formalized religion, they instead substitute a blind faith in the divine with a new faith in the infallibility of their elitist brethren.
Atheists reek of the same level of elitism and superiority as the fervently religious, the only difference is the source of their moral authority. One comes from a presumably omniscient diety, the other from some guy in apartment 2-D.
For many, like those of the DailyKos variety, the advancement of far-left liberalism has become their de facto religion. For others, it takes the form of radical environmentalism (see Al Gore a/k/a The Goracle).
Religion, for better or for worse, hangs its hat on the belief that God - as the architect of the astonishingly complex design and authority found in our universe - is the father of the instrinsic concepts of good and evil. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the athiest is inclined to leave the formulation of these concepts in the hands of man.
Its been awhile since my last post. For the four or five people who regularly read this blog - I apologize - things have been hectic around here.
On Saturday I got my first tattoo. Its a custom-designed "tribal" on my left arm. I can't stand using the word "tribal" - because its basically become synonymous with barbed wire and other ridiculous frat-boy armbands. The whole "tribal" tattoo concept, most notably the tribal armband, has become so completely played-out at this point that I hesitated getting mine done.
The fact that I drew the design myself - and the fact that it wasn't an armband - ultimately saved the day, and I went ahead and got inked.
Everyone in the shop was professional and nice. I spent about 2.5 hours in the chair, and the first two hours were completely uneventful and boring. My patience quickly wore out after the two hour mark, and by the time it was finished, I was dying to get the hell out of that chair.
I absolutely love the end result though, and I'll definitely be back for #2.
And #3.
And #4.
I think I'm hooked.
On Saturday I got my first tattoo. Its a custom-designed "tribal" on my left arm. I can't stand using the word "tribal" - because its basically become synonymous with barbed wire and other ridiculous frat-boy armbands. The whole "tribal" tattoo concept, most notably the tribal armband, has become so completely played-out at this point that I hesitated getting mine done.
The fact that I drew the design myself - and the fact that it wasn't an armband - ultimately saved the day, and I went ahead and got inked.
Everyone in the shop was professional and nice. I spent about 2.5 hours in the chair, and the first two hours were completely uneventful and boring. My patience quickly wore out after the two hour mark, and by the time it was finished, I was dying to get the hell out of that chair.
I absolutely love the end result though, and I'll definitely be back for #2.
And #3.
And #4.
I think I'm hooked.
