Posted: Jun 08, 2010 3:40 am
So I was listening to the Janet Parshall show on the drive home and was hit by yet another idiotic comment; this time it came from a caller instead of the person being interviewed: today it was (Peter Hitchens; WTF? I guess his brother got all the brains.)
Anyhow, the caller posed the question: "Why can't atheists see that they worship each other and in an indirect sense that they worship Satan?" The caller said that it was so clear to him, that he couldn't imagine why atheists couldn't see it too.
From the moody radio website:
If you'd like to listen you can here. The part that I mentioned above happens almost precisely at 40 minutes into the show.
Here is my transcription of the question and Hitchen's response:
Peter makes some statements about Christopher's position about 10m 30s into the show that, to my mind illustrates his ignorance regarding that he places the burden of proof on the disbeliever: regarding Christopher's position he says, "there's also a very firm belief that there's absolutely no need for the nonbeliever to show that his nonbelief is justified. He says the default position of the human mind should be that there is no god, and because there is no evidence of it, and therefore he is not required to provide any proof of his proposition, he can just assume that it is so and anyone who disagrees with him is obviously blindingly wrong."
I think he's honestly pushing his book and this show seems to be by believers for believers and lacking objective reason. I still don't know why believers think that nonbelief is a meaningless void where atheists would dread getting out of bed in the morning; patently ridiculous, IMHO. I was reluctant to call it a Christian stroke-fest, but I don't know of a better way of describing it.
Anyhow, the caller posed the question: "Why can't atheists see that they worship each other and in an indirect sense that they worship Satan?" The caller said that it was so clear to him, that he couldn't imagine why atheists couldn't see it too.
From the moody radio website:
Hour 2 - Peter Hitchens
Peter Hitchens is a conservative British author, broadcaster, journalist and currently a regular columnist for the London Mail on Sunday. He is also the brother of prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens. Peter has recently returned to the Christian faith and assails several of the favorite arguments of the anti-God battalions and makes the case against fashionable atheism. Peter reveals the reasons why an honest assessment of Atheism cannot sustain disbelief in God. In the process, he provides hope for all believers.
If you'd like to listen you can here. The part that I mentioned above happens almost precisely at 40 minutes into the show.
Here is my transcription of the question and Hitchen's response:
Jeff from California: "My comment has to do with the fact that I see all of mankind as being designed by God to worship. Now those that are atheists end up worshiping themselves or indirectly, Satan, and everybody in between that and us triune God believers; the one god, the triune manifestation; all of us, all of those in between, they're all busily worshiping whomever they choose, but in the end, we all worship, and the atheists seem to miss that point. They don't see that they're worshiping themselves or indirectly, Satan; and uh, I, I just uh, it always has amazed me that they can overlook something that seems so completely obvious to me."
Peter Hitchens: "Well... well I think I'm not sure they overlook it, I think they rather enjoy worshiping themselves. I think that has to be part of the explanation of that, and indeed worshiping each other. They are certainly taking in each other's washing quite a lot; they all promote each other's books and support each other's efforts. But also they do, as I say, tend to have extraordinarily high opinions of themselves; and I don't think they find this particularly irksome, or worrying, or embarrassing, or disturbing; you and I might agree that they ought to, but to believe you would have to accept in a fairly powerful way, the Christian teaching about humility, and this is one of the things which they don't accept; and which don't like, and they will repeatedly claim that they are just as good as Christians; and in no doubt in terms of 'helping old ladies to cross roads ' type things they are. There are other questions where it isn't so, where they simply aren't moved by the same principles or the same desires, and they do, they do, as you say, worship themselves, and they also worship power."
Peter makes some statements about Christopher's position about 10m 30s into the show that, to my mind illustrates his ignorance regarding that he places the burden of proof on the disbeliever: regarding Christopher's position he says, "there's also a very firm belief that there's absolutely no need for the nonbeliever to show that his nonbelief is justified. He says the default position of the human mind should be that there is no god, and because there is no evidence of it, and therefore he is not required to provide any proof of his proposition, he can just assume that it is so and anyone who disagrees with him is obviously blindingly wrong."
I think he's honestly pushing his book and this show seems to be by believers for believers and lacking objective reason. I still don't know why believers think that nonbelief is a meaningless void where atheists would dread getting out of bed in the morning; patently ridiculous, IMHO. I was reluctant to call it a Christian stroke-fest, but I don't know of a better way of describing it.