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.
In his updated article Five Hallmarks of the Fundamentalist Atheists Bob Kellemen raises some very pertinent and profound issues arising from the subject of atheism. As I said in an earlier post truth has to be universal or there is no truth.People believe things because of their own free choice.Due to human beings inherently sinful nature they are hostile towards a perfectly righteous God.Sinner’s are angry towards God due to the guilt of their sin and their refusal to choose to believe the truth about God.In this world their is FACT and their is FICTION.The Bible is FACT.It doesn’t need to be defended. It stands for itself.To quote former US President Ronald Reagan “Facts are stubborn things”Truth NEVER changes! Blessings Andrew
Andrew, I would actually agree with your statement “truth has to be universal” Gravity is objectively experienced by all people, cultures, and religion. It is measured to very exacting degree a billion times over and it gives you the same answer every time. The same is true for all the other laws of Nature. what is not universal is peoples subjective experiences of god and metaphysics. Even within bible believing Christians there is the never ending debates,disagreements, and conflicts.. each one claiming that God tells them they are the most correct in their belief and the other denominations are flawed ( or even satanic) so much so that thousands of different conflicting denominations exist within bible believing Christianity. Science is universal, objectively experienced, observed and measured, 1+1 equals 2 everywhere around the world, no matter who is doing the calculation, if it be Muslim, Jew or Christian, 1+1 will always equal 2. Thus I will always value Science and its methodology as the best way of finding “universal truth”. So I
All, A new resource: http://bit.ly/Case4Christ Many have asked for more detailed “support” for aspects shared in the original and updated blog post. The small comment section of a post can’t possibly adequately and intelligently address people’s sincere questions. So, I dedicated many hours and collated a working list of over six dozen books from a Christian perspective that address “Exploring the Case for Christianity.” You can browse that list, with direct links to Amazon.com here: http://bit.ly/Case4Christ Bob
I’m truly impressed (not) … Bob has indeed re-written his article, but appears not to have learned anything at all, and has more or less ignored the dialog that took place. As a non-believer, I still have no idea what a “Fundamentalist Atheist” is … as opposed to say a non-fundamentalist atheist. What is interesting is that my response to his initial posting still stands, I don’t need to change it at all. If curious, you can read that here … do feel free to comment. http://www.skeptical-science.com/religion/claim-fundamentalist-atheists-angry-antiintellectual-unloving-judgmental/ If you truly do wish to engage with folks such as myself who do not believe, then selling myths about non-belief means you fail to communicate anything credible. To illustrate … Andrew in his first post claims, “Due to human beings inherently sinful nature they are hostile towards a perfectly righteous God”. … Nope, no points Andrew, from my viewpoint … zero anger towards a myth. Andrew also claims, “The bible is Fact and doesn’t need to be defended”. I hear the claim, I understand the claim, but I find no evidence to verify the claim. I could of course proceed with a long list of items to illustrate things that are not factually correct, but a far more interesting question to ask and debate about is to ponder why Andrew is confident that this is true. I’m not suggesting we debate that here and now in the comments, I’m simply illustrating the point … if you make a claim and then present no evidence … then why would any skeptical minded person such as myself give it any consideration. In a similar manner, Bob makes claims regarding what he calls “Fundamentalist Atheists”. As he describes all his hallmarks, he proceeds with various bold claims and provides not one jot of actual evidence for any of it. What am I to make of such nonsense? Perhaps I can simply observe that what is asserted without any evidence at all, can also be dismissed without any evidence at all.
David, I am disappointed as well. I was hoping for more real honesty and dialog from Bob but it seems he is just more polite and diplomatic than the average Christian. Its obvious to me his motivations are to find a few atheists to ” witness” too, to convert without real equal dialog and critical thought. No doubt he feels compelled to witness to atheists as a part of his ministry. I suppose it is a rare thing indeed for people to let go of prejudice, demonization and dehumanization of their fellow man when it is so ingrained in their culture and education. I am sure Bob is a super nice guy,I have no doubt of that but I also know that many WW2 Germans were very nice people but also trapped in a culture of hate and dehumanizing other culture and races. Its depressing that people must dehumanize another person to maintain a sense of consistency and logic in their worldview to protect it at all costs, even if it means demonizing another person into some arch-villian. Oh Well, very predictable and normal I suppose. Peace to all. Oh well, I am glad I found your site though.