DuMaurier:
There’s an old saying: “Misery loves company”
I wonder if these atheists realize just how much they seem like raving lunatics.
Oh well, just let them get it out of their system. They’re like teenagers that need to rebel before they become mature.
When discussing atheism, many religionists adopt the following procedural rule: if all else fails, psychologize. If you cannot defeat the atheist in the realm of ideas, become his therapist: sympathize with him, inform him of his buried psychological problems that lead to his rejection of god. And, above all, assure him that fulfillment and happiness await him at his neigborhood church.
A philosopher speaks of “the natural desire for god,” which, if not fulfilled, “leads to utter fustration.” Another philosopher asserts that, if men decide not to believe in god, “in sofar as they are intelligent they are saddened by their decision,” because a godless world “would be strikingly short of joy.” Fulton Sheen tells us happiness “is an ascension from what is inferior within us to what is its superior, from our egotism to our god.” One theologian has gone so far as to state that the phrase “the godless man” involves a contradiction.
For instance:
“To be a man is to fear god” . . . . God, who is the Author of nature, is integral to the nature of man. Therefore, the man who does not fear god somehow does not exist, and his nature is somehow not human. On the other hand, there he is. That is the problem.
To be an atheist is suddenly to be less than a human being–to be an enigma, a walking paradox, a psychological problem. As one theist puts it, “Unbelief is an interruption in development.” Mental health, asserts a psychologist, “demands good interpersonal relations with oneself, with others, and with God”–which, observes Thomas Szasz, “neatly places all atheists in the class of the mentally sick.”
These assertions deserve little comment, but it is interesting to note the appaling standard that is used in assessing the relationship between atheism and happiness. If the atheist is unhappy, this is attributed to his lack of belief. By relating happiness to an intimate connection with god, the “happy atheist” is defined out of existence.
