Rod Dreher spent the summer reading about theology and Chinese medicine. Did he learn anything? Apparently not. He's back and he's just as intolerant of those who don't share his religious beliefs as ever. In a new post in The Dallas Morning News Opinion blog, he condemns summer camps for kids run by atheists. Only it's never just "atheists" for Dreher. He calls it "atheist fundamentalism" or "militant atheism" or "evangelical atheism". He describes "atheism's savage legacy" which he calls "no accident." You know where this is going, don't you? That's right: Godwin's Law, which Dreher falls victim to right in his original post. He warns us against allowing militant atheism to gain power. "[B]oth the communists and the Nazis justified their own monstrosities as 'scientific.'"
Sigh. Dreher ironically goes on to condemn "narrow-minded cant" without a hint of self awareness. There's not much to learn from Rod Dreher, who seems to have wasted his summer. He seems to have taken copious notes on everything he already agreed with, but was deaf to anything that could have opened his mind. But, serendipitously, there is something to learn in the comments.
"libba" patiently explains the obvious, that atheism is not the same as Nazism: "I am an atheist and I do not know any 'fundamental' atheists. All atheists I know are loving, giving, caring people who want to believe, or not, freely and allow others to do so as well."
"Glock21" gives us the real story on summer camps run by atheists: "[M]y experience with the Camp Quest in the Smoky Mountains this year was absolutely nothing like the 'atheist fundamentalist' indoctrination you are describing here. ..."
"Chucky Jesus" takes issue with Dreher's claim that campfires at atheist summer camps are places where kids are taught that the world is "disenchanted." He explains that atheists can be just as enchanted as any religious person: "Yes, this is not a demon-haunted world, but no enchantment through the eyes of an atheist? Hardly. Just gaze at any picture from the Hubble telescope and marvel at what the natural world offers, and no, it wasn't designed, which is all the more marvel."
"Chucky Jesus" goes on to explain what an atheist "church" is all about:
"I'm a member of the North Texas Church of Freethought, and you obviously have pre-conceived notions of what 'an atheist church' does. We don't celebrate 'non-existence' of anything, we celebrate life, the pursuit of knowledge based on reason, and yes even fine art and human expression.I see you put in an obligatory link to our church, but did you even bother reading anything of the site?
This is the description of our church at out site:
We are a rational approach to religion, offering atheists, agnostics, humanists, and freethinkers all the social, emotional and inspirational benefits of traditional faith-based churches, but without appealing to tradition or superstition. Our growing community of freethinkers provides a positive, affirming environment for leading a good life, free of the illogic and intolerance of other religions based on holy books and supernaturalism."
The only thing spoiling this reasoned response is the alias this freethinker chose: Chucky Jesus. There's a thin line between ridicule and intolerance, "Chucky Jesus."
Finally, "Santi", who sounds like he is very familiar with Rod Dreher's writings, says sardonically, "I'm extremely disappointed by this column. I was fully expecting a clear headed condemnation of Woodstock."
6 comments:
Rod must have gotten some inspiration from his summer travels. He and Trey Garrison have formed a sort of anti-Obamacare wrestling tag-team. Garrison handles the gratuitous expletives and macho posturing, while Rod stuns hapless health care reformers with Christian hypocrisy. Pretty potent pair!
Bob
Rod Dreher and Trey Garrison. Felix and Oscar. Dallas journalism's own Odd Couple.
Take Dreher's column and substitute Jew, Muslim, Black, Hispanic, or even Catholic for "atheist." Then imagine the reaction.
An editor or reporter would be summarily fired if he/she did that. We hear nothing when the same condemnation occurs for an atheist. What does that tell you about the standing of atheists in American society?
On the other hand, there are "fundamentalist atheists." There are atheists who cannot see that institutions with mystical beliefs could do anything right. That fundamentalist atheists exist is no more of a revelation than the fact there are religious nuts in the world. The danger is treating everyone in a broad category as an enemy.
Anonymous at 8/19/2009 11:16 AM, thanks for the feedback. Both of your points are good ones.
Chill, all.
Dreher is little more than conservatism's version of gossip columnist Tina Brown, albeit with a larger clitoris.
Once you dismiss Dreher's hack New York Post-inspired crowd baiting and wave away the dramatic plops and gurgles of the pseudo-sociological dry ice Halloween mist that passes for Big Ideas with him there's really not much left.
You've been punked. Or rather, his publisher and stockholders have. For every month of Dreher's comfortable income his paper could have had instead a real, idea-forging, reader-drawing columnist, liberal or conservative. Those who depend on Dreher for their revenues and incomes are the real patsies and losers here, not the passing targets of Dreher's random ejaculations.
Ouch. That was a colorful (and sexist) ad hominem attack.
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