Why Do Atheists Seem So Angry?

I sometimes see comments and questions wondering why atheists are, to some people’s eyes, very angry people. When I see those comments and questions, an excellent blog post by Greta Christina, Atheists and Anger, always comes to mind.

Yes, we atheists are often angry. We have a number of reasons why we are angry. Being angry is an honest, valid, and reasonable response to those reasons.

A few days ago I discovered something specific that made me angry. My example today is a human being known as Jim O’Neill. I think Jim is a first-class royal douchebag whom I would not deign to piss on were he on fire. I think the world would be much better off without listening to the garbage spewed forth by that particular condescending asshole. That’s just my opinion, though. Why would I feel such anger and wrath toward a person I’ve never met? It must have been something Jim wrote.

I’ll stick to just one of his most recent columns, though more than just that sample of Jim’s columns would set off an idiot alarm. It angers me that people like Jim believe the garbage that they spew. What kind of garbage? Jim appears to latch on to any idea that is in any way against the godless liberals who are ruining Jim’s country.

Jim authors a column at Canada Free Press. The masthead at their web site proclaims “…Because without America there is no Free World” The editor there is an award-winning journalist. That doesn’t make her a great editor, though. The “About Us” page nearly made me cringe.

Jim’s Column

Jim wrote a column titled “Atheism Means Never Having To Say You’re Sorry” that was published on 29 December 2010. That column is subtitled “Liberal Loons, Radical Muslim terrorists are neither radicals, Muslims, nor terrorists”. [For whatever reason, the column subtitles on the site appear before the titles.]

This column starts with a quote from Dinesh D’Souza.

“Atheism, not religion, is the real force behind the mass murders of history.” —Dinesh D’Souza

That quote is the title of an article that D’Souza published in November 2006, as well as that article’s final sentence. It also happens to be false.

I really need to make a post about this subject by itself. Many conservative Christians espouse the idea that Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong killed millions of people because they were atheists. This simply isn’t true. Atheism was not the motivation for those deaths, but religion was the motivation for many of them. D’Souza is simply lying to further his agenda. Were those millions of people killed in the name of atheism, as D’Souza claims? No.

Let’s get back to Jim. After a second quote, this one from Samuel Adams, Jim goes on a rant about liberals and politics and global warming. I thought the column was going to be about atheism. Let me skip ahead a few paragraphs.

“We the people” must take back control of America, or we will be complicit in the ruination of the greatest and most successful social experiment in human history. Contrary to the lies spewed forth by secular humanist Progressives, America is a country founded on Judeo/Christian principles, and aligned with God. It is no wonder that the atheistic Far left abhors us, and seeks our destruction.

The Stupid, It Burns - by Plognark

The United States is a secular nation. End of fucking story. Get the fuck over it. Your God™ has no place in our government. Our Constitution was written without reference to your God™, in case you hadn’t noticed. The First Amendment keeps your religion and all others out of government, and vice versa. Secularism is not a religion. It’s about time Jim and countless others got that concept through their thick fucking skulls.

It’s quite obvious that Jim equates atheists with liberals and progressives. Jim thinks it’s all a big conspiracy, and that those groups are all one and the same, doing their best to take his country away from him. This is very definitely a false equivalence, but in Jim’s mind it’s the Gospel Truth™. The country in Jim’s imagination never existed, and there’s no such thing as “the good old days.”

Reading this part had me wondering if Jim was, in fact, living in the United States:

These indoctrinated Progressives have slowly, but surely, infiltrated America’s political process, court system, and media outlets, to such an extent that they are now the de facto “establishment.” Hence the conservative movement (which represents the vast majority of Americans) has largely been forced “underground,” and finds itself fighting for its survival against a federal government that no longer represents them (or cares to).

It appears that Jim is, indeed, living in the United States. It also appears that Jim has very much lost touch with reality. Jim actually thinks that the “conservative movement” has been forced “underground”…

Dauble Facepalm - For when one facepalm doesn't cut it.

Jim actually gets around to atheism at one point:

In the race to see which conceptual framework is the bloodiest, atheism leaves religion in the dust, and Christianity itself, as an “also ran.” Bravo—way to go Far Left atheists! You must be so proud.

(I should note in passing that I don’t have anything against atheism per se; it can be a legitimate (if false) step on a quest for truth. But all too often, atheism is used simply as an excuse to pursue a hedonistic, amoral lifestyle, and/or is simply the result of willful delusion augmented by ego-driven hubris).

Certain left-wing atheistic apologists claim that because Far Left luminaries such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc., made a religion out of their anti-religious atrocities, they were in fact religious, and their murderous anti-religious regimes were actually examples of an anti-religion religion. So it’s all religion’s fault you see—especially Christianity, somehow. (Please read D’Souza’s chapter “A License To Kill: Atheism And The Mass Murders Of History” in “What’s So Great About Christianity” before emailing me on this point).

Wow. Jim is really, really misinformed about what atheism is (and about a lot of history, it appears). To trust the likes of Christian ultra-conservative apologist Dinesh D’Souza as your best source of facts about history is beyond ignorant. Dinesh has long ago proven himself to be a Liar for Jesus™.

I’m going to stop here, because the crazy has gotten way too deep. Jim really has gone off the deep end into tinfoil hat territory. If you want to read more of Jim’s insane ramblings, you can search for the information. I don’t intend to provide a link to something that awful. I will provide this for Jim, though:

Cluepon

3 comments

    • khan on 2011/01/08 at 17:42
    • Reply

    as an excuse to pursue a hedonistic, amoral lifestyle

    Where the crap can I go to attain such?

    1. I keep trying to figure that one out… These guys must be basing their ideas on someone besides us.

  1. Just wanted to point out a couple interesting posts about Heidi Rafferty.

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