Five Hallmarks of the Fundamentalist Atheists
By Bob Kellemen | Founder and CEO, RPM Ministries
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Posted 3:25 pm on November 11, 2011
On Thursday here at EDC I posted Fundamentalist Atheists. I have since thoroughly updated that post and you can read it at my ministry site at: Five Hallmarks of the Fundamentalist Atheists.
I don’t normally “post about a post.” But, most people rarely scroll down anyone’s blog to re-read old posts. We all want “fresh” and “new.”
Well, the updated version of Five Hallmarks of the Fundamentalist Atheists is quite fresh and new. I’d encourage you to consider re-reading it.
Why? I originally penned it more for a Christian audience. Any speaker/writer communicates with his/her audience in view. But this post also attracted a non-Christian audience. Had I had this audience in view, I would have communicated differently—especially avoiding “in house” language that Christians “get,” but that others could not be expected to “get” without a boatload of additional context and explanation.
I also would have been more clear in emphasizing my point: I was wanting to “defend” Christians against the attacks of “fundamentalist atheists” like Dawkins and Hitchens. I was saying, “the five accusations they make against Christians, they are actually guilty of when they write against Christians” (the “pot calling the kettle black”). I was not saying that all those who doubt are “guilty” of those five hallmarks. Without clarifying that point, I could see where someone who disbelieves could have taken some offense at my words—clearly not my intent.
Thus the updated version. I suspect that my updated version of Five Hallmarks of the Fundamentalist Atheists will still not “sit well” with those whose a-priori worldview is markedly different from mine. But I have tried to be responsive to feedback I’ve received and responses I’ve heard. My convictions are the same. Hopefully my communication of them is more clear and compassionate.
You can decide, if you choose to read (or re-read) Five Hallmarks of the Fundamentalist Atheists.
Tags: apologetics, atheism, belief, Christianity, doubt
Robert W. Kellemen, Ph.D., LCPC, served for over a dozen years as Chairman of the Master of Arts in Christian Counseling and Discipleship Department at Capital Bible Seminary. He is now Professor-at-Large in that Department. In his three pastoral ministries, Bob has equipped 100s of lay people as biblical counselors and spiritual friends. In his role as Founder and CEO of RPM Ministries (http://www.rpmministries.org), Bob is known for his Christ-centered, comprehensive, compassionate, and culturally-informed approach to equipping local churches for biblical counseling and spiritual formation. Bob is the Executive Director of the Association of Biblical Counselors’ Center for Church Equipping. He also serves as the Launch Director for the Biblical Counseling Coalition. Bob is the author of Soul Physicians, Spiritual Friends, Beyond the Suffering, Sacred Friendships, and God’s Healing for Life’s Losses.
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