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My Dogma Ran Over My Karma
Five conversation-stopping myths behind the New Atheism and how dialogue can be restored.
Oct. 1, 2014
Straw men are easier to dispose of, and have the added advantage of allowing one to retain the appearance of intellectual superiority. And for those who would rather not face the hard questions head on, what could be an easier target than the silliest mythological gods and fairy tales one can think of? So it comes as no surprise that New Atheists insist on forcing the history of every world religion into that mold. Richard Dawkins says,
“I have found it an amusing strategy, when asked whether I am an Atheist, to point out that the questioner is also an Atheist when considering Zeus, Apollo, Amon Ra, Mithras, Baal, Thor, Wotan, the Golden Calf and the Flying Spaghetti Monster. I just go one god further.” – (Dawkins, 2008, Pg. 53)
Amusing is hardly the word for it. As of 2010 religious believers account for over 88% of the human race (roughly 6.3 billion human souls) of which 69% (5 billion) are Christian, Muslim or Hindu (ARDA, 2010). By comparison, Atheists are a mere 2%. Take Dawkins’ list of “gods” to any public library, and even ten minutes in the Comparative Religion and Philosophy sections will be more than enough to reveal it for the illiterate nonsense that it is. To anyone willing to do so, the reasons why are extensive and self-explanatory so we needn’t belabor them here. It’s a safe bet that most, if not all of the world’s believers understand their own traditions and doctrines far better than any New Atheist, so Dawkins list will only be convincing to his acolytes… and their minds are already made up. Nevertheless, some comments on it are in order.
To start with, it’s based on a logical fallacy known as the Pluralistic Fallacy—multiple versions of idea A are possible, including some that are clearly false; Therefore A does not exists and statements about it are false. New Atheists think that as long as they can dream up a silly caricature of God they’ve proven that the concept of God or anything like Him is nonsensical. This is incorrect.
Atheism is by definition exactly what the word implies. A-Theism—that is, the rejection of anything or anyone that fits a formal definition of god and/or the supernatural. Theism, properly defined, is the claim that there exists an omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent being, or agent who is rational and self-aware (that is, possesses personhood), regardless of who that agent is taken to be or how any particular religion chooses to worship Him. Typically (though not always) it’s also assumed that this being created the material universe and all it contains, including us. The issue on the table is not whether this or that particular god exists, but whether anything similar to the concept of God does. Claiming to be “an Atheist regarding Zeus or Apollo” is like saying one is a human race non-believer regarding Capt. James T. Kirk or Harry Potter. It’s a basic category error that distracts attention from the real question.
Then there’s the question of Atheism itself. New Atheists vehemently deny that it’s a religion on the grounds that it does not entail belief in any god or gods. If that were valid, then Buddhism would not be a religion, and neither would Jainism, Scientology, EST, or any of a number of other belief systems. Properly defined, a religion is any belief system with the following traits;
- A set of doctrines regarding the ultimate nature of reality (including the option of believing that the supernatural is not part of it).
- A concept of spirituality involving beliefs about the meaning and purpose of our lives (if any), and how we are to live as a result.
- An attendant moral code and concepts of righteousness based on it.
- A body of recognized leadership fulfilling most, if not all of the roles of clergy and/or ideological leadership.
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