Atheist Proletyzers?!?!

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

So I was going through my usual routine of news links when I came across this gem:

OUR VIEW: Atheist preachers, prophets and killers (vote in poll)

The story is apparently that some atheist 'extremeist' went on a 'rampage' at the Discovery Channel HQ to proletyze evolution and 'environmental armageddan'. This article is about that.

It's amazing just how much stupid can be packed into one article, written by one Wayne Laugesen, who you can apparently friend on facebook, but go ahead and read up, because you'll miss gems like this one:

Just as religion has prophets and proselytizers, so does atheism. Conventional wisdom conflates Charles Darwin with atheism, and some atheists embrace the late great scientist as a prophet — even though Darwin wanted nothing to do with atheists and understood the ultimate limits of science. Darwin didn’t waste time trying to disprove creation theory, just as smart religious leaders don’t waste time trying to disprove scientific discoveries that reveal how God’s creation evolves.

Though I'm somewhat relieved that some of the commenters seem far less ignorant than the editorial paper's author. Like this one:

That's got to be the silliest editorial ever published in this paper. There is no logical connection between most of the points.

Atheists, as a class, are the least likely to utilize terrorist methods. Examples are extremely rare. It is very unclear that this example qualifies. Neither evolution nor environmentalism are "atheist". Most intelligent religious people believe in both. It is an insult to many religious people to call evolution an atheist belief.

Many studies suggest that atheists are the most moral people- which makes sense since they are people who choose to be moral, rather than acting our of fear of punishment.

Still, it's disappointing to see people with so much indoctrinated ignorance about our position on matters of faith that we're equated to being another religion. I've argued against this so much on these boards that it concerns me about how just how prevelant these views are.
What's more disappointing is that people like Bill O'Reily equate the American Civil Liberties Union as an atheist organizaiton despite the fact that it's an organization merely protecting people's civil liberties in any form (it's even in the bloody name!)

There is even an atheist lobbyist group that advances our 'secular agenda' - such that it is. I never even heard of it until I did a google search on the topic just a moment ago.

Still, it's hard to fathom just how ignorant people can be when the people who do advocate our viewpoints on religion are doing the exact opposite of what proletyzers do.
I'd like to hear any takes the rest of you have on this.

EDIT: On a more positive note, Evolution Readiness Project Helps Kids Explore Evolution. So that means at least one forth grade class all about the topic of evolution and allowing them to explore it from the safety of their school computers. This is wonderful news considering how many school systems prefer to stay quiet about the topic for fear of enraging the people who wish to teach their children that they appeared by magic because their genocidal father loves them.

[lrh9]

I don't see anything wrong with militarism considering the most powerful organizations in the world don't want atheists to exist, and barring that don't want us living our lives the way we want to.

[Minimalist]

Never be surprised by the depth of stupidity shown by believers.

[Entropist]

When this hit the news the other day I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and I knew this is what would happen: ATHEIST TERRERISTS DARWINDAWKINSCOMMIEBASTARDS ARE UNAMERICUN!!!1!! etc etc ad nauseum. Let the misconceptions begin...

Actually, the main (stated) reason why he went on a rampage was something to do with overpopulation and he was a bit of a nutcase, obsessed with the idea that humans were destroying the earth (to a degree, this could be true, however, I am often tempted to welcome this with open arms). He didn't go to the Discovery channel to make people "convert" to atheism-- he went there to convert people to his obsessive form of environmentalism. A distinction I can't expect idiots to make...

Americans, least of all, I expect to have any understanding of atheism, which, taken by itself says NOTHING but that it is the absence of belief in gods. FROM that absence a myriad of ideologies MAY arise, many which are mutually exclusive and have nothing to do with religion per se: secular humanism, existentialism, communism, Darwinism, nihilism, Objectivism, etc. All this covers a lot of different ground, but none of them are religions. A nihilist may be an atheist, but not all atheists are nihilists. A secular humanist may be an atheist, but not all atheists are secular humanists. And so on.

When someone tells you "I am an atheist" it doesn't really tell you a lot. When someone tells you "I am a humanist" or "I am an Objectivist" or "I am an existentialist" they are telling you a lot more information. On this one board, we've got atheists who fall under a variety of political, scientific, moral and philosophical points of view, many of them overlapping.

Understanding such nuance requires at least some degree of intelligence. I don't expect that from most people, least of all religion-saturated Americuns.

[Shell B]

Actually, the main (stated) reason why he went on a rampage was something to do with overpopulation and he was a bit of a nutcase, obsessed with the idea that humans were destroying the earth (to a degree, this could be true, however, I am often tempted to welcome this with open arms). He didn't go to the Discovery channel to make people "convert" to atheism-- he went there to convert people to his obsessive form of environmentalism. A distinction I can't expect idiots to make...

Right after this happened, another writer that I bump into occasionally on another site, started a thread titled "My Hero." She went on to say how fucked up it was that they killed this guy and that the Discovery Channel needs to stop the bullshit programming and air stuff about solutions to over population. She's one of those environmentalists who do more to hurt their cause than to help it, like all the idiots in PETA.

I completely agree that the world is over populated. However, I will never support the ideas some of these people have. Forced abortion, infanticide, forced birth control measures - including surgery, mass murder, etc. These people are out of their fucking minds, as evidenced by that jackass.

[Minimalist]

I completely agree that the world is over populated

Just think how nice it would be if we could get rid of all the nutty believers?


Paradise!

[Entropist]

Uncyclopedia's entry on "atheism":

Atheism (pronounced Eehtheism in Cantuckistanish) is a fundamentalist religion which dogmatically adheres to the conviction that God, be he of the long-flowing bearded kind, or be it of the flying spaghetti kind, is probably a product of your poor, incense-riddled brain. It is a non-prophet organization, however it does have a few demigods such as Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan and Darwin. Ideal ways to kill the Atheist scourge include waving crucifixes at them, showing outright displays of faith, and saying "God bless you" when they sneeze. Modern anthropologists note that Atheism is as boring as hell, which Atheists don't believe in either. Atheists don't have any gods to lead them, so they made a King called The King of Atheists who leads them through life....

MORE HERE.

---

[Rev. Rye]

Another atheist extremist went on a rampage last week, taking hostages at the Discovery Channel building and demanding the network do more to proselytize evolution and fear about environmental Armageddon. Before he harmed anyone, police shot the terrorist dead.

Wow. They can't even tell atheism from the fucking hard greens.

The violence and the response of atheist evangelists, such as American shock-scientist PZ Myers, illustrate how organized atheism increasingly resembles religion.

Writing for the Discovery Institute, David Klinghoffer pointed out that Darwinian theory has a strange effect on people who are “crazy, wicked, or both.” He’s correct, but he might as well have said “belief” or “philosophy” has a strange effect on people who are crazy, wicked or both.

Wait... is he citing the Discovery Institute? Red flags should be going up here.

Klinghoffer explained that Columbine High School shooter Eric Harris, Jokela High School shooter Pekka Eric Auvinen and Holocaust Memorial Museum shooter James von Brunn espoused an evangelical loyalty to Darwin and atheism.

Notice the instances he gives; all three of these were effectively Social Darwinists, an ideology all but abandoned after both the atrocities of Nazi Germany, and the realization that genetics is much more complicated than previously thought. And, of course, it's always been incompatible with the scientific theory of Darwinism: I mean, isn't the entire point of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection that a similar process to the type of breeding we humans do to domestic animals is responsible for the variety of life in nature?

Just as religion has prophets and proselytizers, so does atheism. Conventional wisdom conflates Charles Darwin with atheism, and some atheists embrace the late great scientist as a prophet — even though Darwin wanted nothing to do with atheists and understood the ultimate limits of science. Darwin didn’t waste time trying to disprove creation theory, just as smart religious leaders don’t waste time trying to disprove scientific discoveries that reveal how God’s creation evolves.

To Quote XKCD,

Just as James Dobson and other evangelists cultivate audiences in order to spread their beliefs, so do atheist evangelizers. The bigs are Britons Christopher Hitchens, who is battling cancer, and Richard Dawkins, who turns 70 in March. Myers, who grabbed attention by vandalizing sacred religious property, is a young and energetic American evangelist on track to become the James Dobson of atheism.

And in case anybody wants to know just what "sacred religious property" Meyers vandalized, I'll let you in on it: It was a cracker. Along with a few pages of the Oxford University Classics version of the Koran, and a copy of the God Delusion.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I despise militants and proseltyisers of all kinds as arrogant dickheads, and consider idealogues naive idealists at best, dangerous lunatics at worst.



The one being discussed seems to be a lunatic of some kind who is also an atheist.


Tu quoque and fatuous slippery slope arguments used to justify the same behaviour have not convinced me.

[TheDarkestOfAngels]

@ Entropist.
You neglected to give proper credance to our Lord and Savior, the King of Atheists.

Everyone Else:

I tend to agree that crazy is as crazy does. Atheists are just as human with all the irrationalities and stupidity that that implies. Atheists just generally are irrational in one or more fewer ways than most people.

Yet, just as with muslim extremists, I fear less the extremists themselves than the reaction from the ignorant masses they produce. This whole FOX news fabricated 'ground zero mosque' ordeal is an excellent example of this as well as the whole anti-muslim fervor in the united states that is causing people to do some hurtful things directly to innocent victims and indirectly by basically telling the state that that should violate the constitution that (that the complaining parties tell us we're not following well enough) in order to deny them their ability to build whatever place of worship (community center or not) on their own private property.

The hate mongers and propogators of paranoia in this country all to easy cite a few bad eggs as evidence of an overall fake problem that you never see or hear about very often or even when they happen, it's usually perpetrated by lies and misinformation.