Comments on: Ditchkinsing?

By: Ray Ingles

Ray Ingles — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 02:51:16 +0000

Mary – The Nazi’s weren’t atheist. We just had a long talk about that here: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2010/08/31/chaput-on-the-worlds-two-biggest-lies/

By: Mary

Mary — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:26:34 +0000

Atheists know what true atheism means. When they claim that religions cause the most slaughter and you cite Communism and Nazism, they instantly denounce them as religions.

By: Mike Melendez

Mike Melendez — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:45:41 +0000

@ Frank Imossi: True atheists? I have no idea what that means. An atheist is someone who does not believe in God. Everything else is decoration, there being no central atheism authority. Unless, of course, one claims it for oneself. Perhaps you mean you prefer Professor Pera’s atheism as he lives it?

I don’t think I’m being pedantic here. Catholicism has a Pope and a Magisterium that dates back a couple of millenia. Evangelicals point to Jesus’ teachings directly. What is it atheists would point to? Atheism is not a definition but a declaration of what one is not.

By: Frank Imossi

Frank Imossi — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:46:13 +0000

The Ditchkin boys are not true Atheists. They are basically political and need to assassinate the idea of God in order to give their ideology the absolute monopoly it needs to survive even for a moment in the hearts and minds of humans. A true Atheist has no problem with religion or its progenitor, spirituality. The way of life of the real Atheist is to live and let live and has nothing to prove to self or others. The one true Atheist I have experienced is Marcello Pera, a former professor of the philosophy of science and an elected President of the Italian Senate. Professor Pera is co-author with Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope) of the book “Without Roots”. The book deals with the problem of the discarding of the Judeo-Christian religious principles that made Western culture so exceptional and dynamic when compared to the stagnant, destructive, cultures based on other religious principles or ideologies. The Ditchkin boys are no more than sophomoric compared to Marcello Pera.

By: Ray Ingles

Ray Ingles — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:34:01 +0000

Not everyone agrees with you about "Ditchkins", even among those who sympathize with your position: "By insisting on the absurd conceit of 'Ditchkins'—by insisting on theorizing his opponents as inherently simplistic enough to be reduced in this way—Eagleton commits precisely the offense he accuses atheists who mock believers of: he doesn’t give the other side the basic respect it deserves as an interlocutor. In a book that is largely about the importance of fostering and building on that respect, this is a damning mistake."