This short essay will address the first: LIFE.
God gives man life. Each man's life is his own, a gift from the Creator that no other man has the right to take.
This is so obvious it might seem silly to say it. But there is a necessary element in this argument that is under assault everywhere in our country that will undermine the very "right to life" of humans: the existence of God. It is under vicious attack by Atheistic "Humanists".
"Humanists" deny God’s existence. Every American atheist was brought up in a Christian country, in which he learned everything he knows about morality. He learned Christian morals by default. It is the moral code that underpins our entire culture, its traditions, and its laws. And having been immersed in Christian morality his entire life, his entire notion of good and evil is informed by the Christian moral code.
But, having decided to deny God, he also rejects Christianity.
But he doesn’t rethink or reinvent his morality. He believes he is a good person, and he calls his moral code: Humanism.
In other words, he rejects Christianity, but because he knows no other, retains Christian morality, but renames it “Humanism”.
Then he compares the clone called "Humanism" with the original, Christianity, and lo! he discovers that his "Humanism" has developed the identical moral code as Christianity. He therefore concludes that God need not exist for people to be moral, nor is religious “superstition” necessary!
As obvious as this is, our "Humanist" doesn't understand what he's just done. He's a Liberal; not a thinker. He doesn't realize that atheism could never arrive at the same moral code as Christianity. Christian morality is based on the existence and belief in God. He's not thought through what an atheist “moral code” would be.
He has not considered that with his idea of man’s brain, his clever, accidental machine that is not the creation of a God of compassion, justice, or reason—might have no access to or understanding of, the concepts of compassion, justice or reason.
Worse, our "Humanist" refuses to follow his own logic. He wants a "moral code" that allows him to do whatever he wants, without consequences, but fails to realize it also authorizes others to do whatever they want to him, without consequences.
The unalienable Right to Life can only exist as a right if endowed by a Creator.
Abortion, so beloved and defended by "Humanists" proves the argument irrefutably: The minute they got rid of God, "Humanists" started murdering babies.
As their “moral code” evolves away from its Christian matrix, we get a glimpse of what a it looks like. The moment they stopped considering a new life as a gift from God, they saw no reason not to kill it if it's “inconvenient”.
Their pretense that "Humanism" results in a moral code equal to Christianity’s is betrayed by the very first thing they embraced once they got ride of God: The Murder of the Inconvenient.
So far it’s just babies in the womb. Who’s next?
The Gunslinger
Great "little" essay! Much as I appreciate Christopher Hitchens' talents,I've wondered why no one has debated him on these points you made so well (Atheists brought up in Christian tradition...)"Ego" is in the mix,of course,but I always suspect "Humanists/Atheists" of a more reflective bent secretly wish to be "converted",or rather convinced,but mealy-mouthed "Religious Figures" offer them no more than easily-knocked-down opponents,tied as they are to corrupt institutions.Straw men.C.S.Lewis would've been formidable debater in this for cut-thru-the-bullshit,but you are here now,and carry on,on this subject.Marvelous!
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DeleteHumanist are certainly existing on the currency of their Judeo-Christian heritage.
ReplyDeleteThe altruism of man may be obvious when it comes to issues of murder, but is more difficult to apply when it comes to honesty, integrity, and honor in business and other human relationships. If one can benefit from a lie, why not lie? Certainly, if carried to the obvious conclusion, chaos erupts, i.e. Enron, and the consequences of corruption unfold and fall on the heads of both the good and bad. I would never want to live in a world solely dependent on the altruism of man.
The other problem, as you stated, that if our rights are not inalienable, then the State can arbitrarily grant them or remove them. The humanist has no good answer to this problem, as the State has no authoritative definition of good or evil. To the humanist, the latter cannot exist (in their minds).
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DeleteOK, I'll take the bait; I love a good fight. You wrote,
ReplyDelete"God gives man life. Each man's life is his own, a gift from the Creator that no other man has the right to take."
Yet you've advocated killing, specifically Muslims. Why you are so sure Christians are the only group who are moral? Right Now, SHOW ME GOD! Produce God, right this instant. Prove a supreme being, who knows all, feels absolute love, absolute hate, absolute fear, absolute joy and whose wrath is immeasurable, is a Christian. If your proof is a book, written by imperfect, petty, greedy and self absorbed HUMANS. I argue you have FAITH, not proof. Part of what drives people away from conservatives is this type of religious rhetoric. Like so many other religious zealots you've forgotten that politics and religion aren't supposed to mix. Let me remind you of a few crimes Christians are guilty of, slavery, and murder, bearing false witness, incest, genocide and larceny. All were committed in the name of a Christian God.
BTW, I'm NOT a humanist. I'm also not blinded by my religious convictions.
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DeleteOK, Gren, here you go:
ReplyDelete1) I didn't say that only Christians are moral. I said that in this country, atheists assimilate the moral code based on Christianity—then imagine it's the result of "Humanism."
2) I'm okay with war—soldiers "offering" their lives. By engaging in war, a soldier in effect gives his enemy permission to kill him...if they can.
I'm also okay with execution—people "forfeiting" their lives for acts they know to be evil.
But I'm not okay with Murder or Slavery—people "taking" lives they have no permission or moral claim to.
3) "Religious Zealotry" LOL. Gren, I'm not even a Christian. I don't believe in the divinity of Jesus.
I don't believe the Bible is the Word of God. I think the Bible is the chronicle of a people's relationship with their God.
But fair is fair. And the (Judeo) Christian ideals (not necessarily their every act), is, when examined without prejudice, a much happier, better, high-minded, hopeful, beneficial, code of behavior than ANYTHING arrived at by atheists...
...and in general, most other religions...if you examine and judge the other religions of the world by their CULTURAL RESULTS, Christianity wins by a landslide.
Islam created the sewer that is the Middle East.
Hinduism created and maintains the wrenching poverty, ignorance and caste system of India, et al.
We don't really need to talk about the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans, do we?
Atheism created Mao's China, Stalins Soviet Union, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Kim Jong Il's North Korea, and Castro's Cuba.
Christianity created Western Europe, America and the rest of the Anglosphere.
If it's true that you can judge a tree by its fruit, it's clear the "Christian" tree is the best.
This has nothing to do with "religious rhetoric", it has to do with being willing to admit the facts as they are, not as one wishes them to be.
For example:
I have been "pro-choice" since Roe v Wade. I dearly want there to be a logical and reasonable argument in defense of abortion rights.
But, the fact is, every road I go down, except for the false one of vanity, selfishness and "convenience", leads me to the conclusion that there is no defense for abortion under most circumstances.
I don't know where you got the idea that "religion and politics are not supposed to mix". That is a secular humanist atheist notion.
And it's a newly invented concept that does not in any way reflect either the intention of the Founders or the spirit of the Constitution.
The Founders, to a man, said precisely the opposite loudly and clearly...that without religion, faith and high moral standards, a free America cannot survive.
I guess they were religious zealots.
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DeleteUntil fairly recently religion was the government and the government was religion.
ReplyDeleteThere's more to this argument than our limited senses can comprehend.
In The United States of America, religion was never government, and government was never religion.
ReplyDeleteBut...the Founders' faith "informed" their politics. That's as natural as breathing.
Our faith informs our character and our morals, and our character and our morals determine how we govern.
It's simple really.
Wilber said:
ReplyDelete"The other problem, as you stated, that if our rights are not inalienable, then the State can arbitrarily grant them or remove them. The humanist has no good answer to this problem, as the State has no authoritative definition of good or evil. To the humanist, the latter cannot exist (in their minds)."
You can't say it any clearer than this!
Yes, I agree partly GS. You can't have "now" without the past to build upon. I disagree with a lot of your conclusions, but I'll leave it at that.
ReplyDeleteGS, you wrote "I'm okay with war—soldiers "offering" their lives. By engaging in war, a soldier in effect gives his enemy permission to kill him...if they can."
ReplyDeleteAs a soldier let me assure you I do not, will not and have not given my enemies permission to kill me if they can.
On the founding fathers, in response to morality and religion Ben Franklin wrote, "I think opinions should be judged by their influences and effects; and if a man holds none that tend to make him less virtuous or more vicious, it may be concluded that he holds none that are dangerous, which I hope is the case with me". To translate; religion doesn't make a man moral.
P.S. For a person who claims to not be a Christian you sure seem to be beating the pulpit.
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DeleteGren,
ReplyDeleteThe point of this particular post is not that some humanist don't have "good morals", it's that they claim those morals have nothing to do with "religion".
In this country, there is no other source of morals. Our entire culture is based on Christian morality.
One does not have to BE a Christian to understand historical fact.
There is no "moral code" extant that is derived exclusively from Secular Humanism. And to pretend otherwise is to lie.
Christians can explain WHY they believe what they believe, because it is based on fundamental principles.
Secular Humanists have NO basis for their "moral code". They simply copied the Christian one, and renamed it.
I challenge any Secular Humanist to provide a non-theist based foundation for what he calls his "moral code".
It will be a pack of preferences and compassionate "feelings" without any bedrock foundation. It will be a set of man-made notions. Any man-made "morals" are merely "fashionable" and can be changed, altered, discarded whenever men decide they are inconvenient, or old-fashioned, or outdated.
Without a Higher Power, no set of morals, virtues, ethics have intrinsic permanence.
We may not like that, but it cannot be gainsaid.
God, by any name, is the creator of Nature, & it's laws are his.
DeleteNature's highest law is the preservation of one's kind.
----- Mighty Whitey
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DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDoes he think cleverness equals effective argument?
ReplyDeleteIf he does, he is mistaken.
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DeleteIt's only because you keep beating the same dead horse I have already buried.
ReplyDelete