I'm glad for the New Atheism

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snarflemike

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Sadly, any organization (even one guided by the Holy Spirit) gets lazy and lax when things are going its way. This was the Catholic Church, and Christianity in general, at least in the West. Whatever huge damage the New Atheism will do, I welcome at least the challenge that we learn (again) how to refute their claims and their arguments.

Thankfully, the New Atheism seems to have been born instantly lazy and lax as well, and their arguments are not by and large very serious. “Who created God?” is what passes for deep thought? Maybe that’s why so many of them are so angry. 😉

But Catholics, and all Christians, need to buckle down and re-discover the answers that the Church has known for centuries to the challenges of the New Atheists. We will come out stronger at the end. For this I am glad.
 
Actually, I prefer atheism when it is more intellectually grounded. The “new atheism” relies very much upon the principle of ignorance.

Atheists have long accused (with some justification) theists of relying on the principle of ignorance. Ancient people did not understand the sun, so it must be a god moving across the sky. After all, what else could it be?

One person has a disease, and another has the same disease, but one lives and the other dies. It must be a divine judgement. What else could it be?

I have debated “new atheists.” They have no understanding of philosophy or logic. I say to them, “the universe either created itself, or it was created by something external to the universe.” They want to claim that we don’t understand how the universe was created, so we don’t really know if there is a Door #3.

No. Philosophy and logic tell us that there is no Door #3. It is a binary decision. There never has been, and there could never be, a Door #3. Yet, they insist that there could be.

It is an intellectually vapid argument. It is the principle of ignorance, applied atheist style. You cannot reason with such people, because they do not understand the basic tenets of reason (logic and philosophy).

Give me a Bertrand Russell. I wish all modern atheists were more like him, and less like ancient people who happen to blindly worship science instead of gods.

I weep over the scourge of the “new atheism.” Old atheists understood philosophy and logic. New atheists simply turn a blind (or ignorant) eye to both.
 
I think in some sense I agree. It was the ridiculous atheists on Yahoo Answers that made me reexamine my own faith, and as a result made it stronger than ever.
 
laircy said:
I think in some sense I agree. It was the ridiculous atheists on Yahoo Answers that made me reexamine my own faith, and as a result made it stronger than ever.
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I know that yahoo answers feeling lol

I see your point OP - I think its up to use to teach and get our fellow Catholic peoples to learn what the church teaches and how to defend it!
 
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