Let’s face it; we’re used to being generally despised; it’s so unsurprising, in fact, that when I fell upon this site, www.christianfaithandreason.com, I practically glossed over the familiar rhetoric of atheists are deluded and wrong. Had I done so, I would have missed the opportunity to read an article by the obscure author of Letters to a Christian Nation: Counterpoint. Although the title may sound like a cheesy B movie, the meat of the tome is that atheists are doing the world (specifically the Christian one) a giant disservice by bashing religion.
What could be wrong with a healthy skeptical attitude towards religion, you say? Well, how about Europe’s disastrous population problem? With the advent of modern contraception, nonreligious folks are having fewer and fewer babies, while Muslims, not bound by enlightened attitudes regarding population control, breed like rabbits. Slowly but surely, he argues, Western society will inevitably breed itself into the minority, allowing the dangerously backward ideas of Islam to permeate the world.
Not to say Dr. Metcalf is wrong about the dwindling populations of westerners (i.e., white people), or even his statistics on the growing Muslim population in Europe. My big question here is this: What does this have to do with atheism? Well, since the title of his article is Atheist Diversionary Tactics, one can only assume he blames the lack of religiosity for this frightening trend. You see, in his world, a population explosion of westerners (people who generally share his skin color and outlook on monogamy) would mean a good thing. Never mind the notion that the Earth couldn’t handle it; this is a war of ideologies. And if there are more Muslim soldiers than Christian ones, their particular mythology might not survive.
I feel compelled to remind Dr. Metcalf that atheists are opposed to every fantasy prone religion, and for us, color isn’t the issue here. The general attack on Christianity in the US is not a product of atheists ganging up on them for no reason; it is because the growing influence and power of fundamentalists who believe their Holy book should teach science and dictates laws. Unlike Metcalf, we’re not comfortable with that idea.
What seemed deliciously ironic was that one individual commented succinctly over Mr. Metcalf’s decidedly irrelevant rant concerning both atheists and Muslims in general. He stated:
[A]ny democractic [sic] republic which includes Muslims must include them as citizens if it is to representative. This involves a certain level of cultural exchange and understanding, which enable all people to contribute to civil society. This level of understanding is important whether one is Christian, Muslim, or Atheist– we face many crises as a species, and these divisions do not serve us well in the search for answers. Mr. Metcalf’s ‘Us vs. Them’ polemic rings hollow on this and another level. He stands zero chance of communicating with the people he so viciously attacks. So what’s the point?
Couldn’t have put it better myself!