Hey Atheists - Put away the pitchforks & torches!

Bromby is an atheist, yet I just can't hang around other atheists. I think that the pseudo sense of superiority that most atheists feel they have over Christians is laughable. The arrogance, militance and ignorance these so called rationalists exude far exceeds those very qualities that they claim is the sole domain of the religious right.

Don't get me wrong, I've met my share fundamentalist religious twits. I strongly disagree with evangelical Christians on many issues like gay marriage, abortion rights and especially the teaching of creationism as science. However given the choice between living in a neighbourhood filled with honest, hard working church-going folk or the militant, uber-pretentious new atheists that's a no brainer.

Many of the atheists out there are philosophically lazy. I can congratulate them on the fact that I feel they've come to one correct conclusion in that reason is superior to faith. However atheists seem to stop the rational thought process there. They reason that because the religious are wrong about that critical premise of faith, the rest of their convictions: moral, political and other must also be wrong. Capitalism and conservatism are guilty by association, because these along with Judeo-Christian morals are fundamental values of the religious right. Quite often, atheists are simply amoral people who reject religion strictly because it clashes with their complete lack of values. I for one feel it is possible to be atheist and completely moral, but very few manage to strike that balance.

Richard Dawkins is the new messiah of the atheists, as people are gobbling up his new militant view condemning Christianity & religion in general. I wish I could say that I read his book, but I don't need a 500 page volume to convince me that God doesn't exist. All this book serves to do for atheists is put them in a self induced trance reinforcing their feeling of superiority and depicting the religious and unreasoning subhuman creatures and giving them permission to despise them. Scapegoat anyone? The level of indignance towards the faithful is quite unsettling. I'm asking atheists out there to chill out a little and come down from that high horse. We all have memories of some religious figure in our lives who was less than saintly, whether its some mean psychotic nun we remember from school days or an authoritarian parent of a friend. That's no reason to generalize all religious people as (ahem) devils. From my experience Christians can be really terrific, and surprisingly laid back people, while atheists can be pretty wound up and smug. To contrast with the demonic image many atheists have Bromby will also point out: Christians flirt, Christians get drunk, Christians can tell a mean dirty joke, Christians can party, Christians rock & roll (although sadly sometimes that means Christian rock), Christians definitely work hard, Christians love life and their families.

If that somehow clashes with the one dimensional portrait of a gun-toting, bible thumping, authoritarian, kool-aid drinking persona you have in your mind perhaps you need to expand your universe a little.

I may have an ulterior motive in writing this. I vote conservative - because the principles of capitalism, liberty and the free market are too valuable and rational to discard simply because it is also prized by the religious right. If you atheists are advocates of reason and objectivity as you claim to be, you should also come to the conclusion that Bromby did and become secular conservatives. If you have any questions, just drop me a line in the comments section.

-Bromby