It is interesting that at the same time that John Loftus is downplaying militant atheism, American Atheists’ Al Stefanelli is preaching brimstone and fire to his militant atheist choir, urging them to eradicate the doctrines of those who “want us to die.” He also states that “True Christians” commit murder, etc.
John Loftus posted the image which has been reposted at this link. The image depict the statements Militant Christian, Militant Muslim and Militant Atheist under which is, respectively (but not respectfully) photos which will be described below.
But what does this mean? Seems like the point is:
1. Militant Christians act and speak in direct violation of the Bible, in un-, non- and anti-Biblical manners. This would call into question whether they are even Christians as “you will know them by their fruit” and their fruit stinketh. Take the specific example of the group which is depicted in the photo who is a member of the Westboro “Baptist” “Church.”
The sign calls for prayer for more dead soldiers. Pray tell, how did John the Baptist and Jesus, for examples, deal with the oppressive, Pagan, Roman soldiers? They treated them like human beings. Jesus healed their family members and urged them toward moral behavior—see Luke 3:14, Matthew 8:5-13, et al.
As brother Marcus succinctly states it,
Anyone who would pray for or take joy in the death of anyone can’t be a consistent Christian. They ain’t following God!
2. Militant Muslims act and speak in direct agreement with the doctrine of abrogation which allows them to adhere to the Qur’an’s / Koran’s 109 war verses. They seek to murder men, women and children in masses whilst being cowardly enough to hide their faces (this one is holding both, a bazooka and a Qur’an / Koran).
3. Militant Atheists, again judging from Loftus’ image choices, are pompous and arrogant, ignorant of theology, history and logic, tar their lungs and pickle their livers while making a living raging against a God in whom they do not believe. The photo is of Christopher Hitchens looking as cool as ever, smoking a cigarette and partaking in adult beverages.
Now, a key question is that as John Loftus appears to be condemning militancy in general and particularly paints Christian and Muslim militancy in a bad light up against the clever and harmless chap representing militant atheism: upon what basis does John Loftus condemn well, anything at all: meaning, upon what basis beyond his personal preferences which are themselves based on plagiarizing Judeo-Christian ethics?
The laws of physics? The laws of the majority de jour? Bio-chemical reactions in our haphazardly evolved gray matter? What?
Consider photo 1. again, this is a person who represent an astonishing minority, a “church” made up of a handful of family members. Such a photo only exists due to the media’s anti-Christian nature and due, indeed, to the church’s anti-Christian behavior. This is a perfect example of that which the prophet Samuel said to King David, “by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme” (2 Samuel 12:14).
Photo 2. represent a viable threat and it is a threat against which even the most self-professed brave New-celebrity-Atheists have done 100% of nothing. Which one of the celeb atheists has toured Muslim countries giving interviews, lectures, debating, writing books, etc. against Allah, Muhammad, the Qur’an / Koran, Islam and Muslims? Which one? None. They much prefer to sit within the safety, comfort and lucrativeness of the USA and the UK—countries premised upon Judeo-Christian values—and make their living by urging young rebellious children to confuse rightful rejection of “religion” with rejection of “God” via denying absolute ethics.
Photo 3. this is nothing but an embarrassment and John Loftus better hope that his readers are much younger and even more slothful about conducting research than he.
Let us grant him, at least for the sake of counter-argument, that Militant Christian and Militant Muslim are the real threat.
Here are some facts:
The Encyclopedia of Wars (New York: Facts on File, 2005) was compiled by nine history professors who specifically conducted research for the text for a decade in order to chronicle 1,763 wars.
The survey of wars covers a time span from 8000 BC to 2003 AD.
From over 10,000 years of war 123 wars, which is 6.98 percent, are considered to have been religious wars. Moreover, half of those were involved Islam.
Now, why did he not, for photo 3., use images of, say, Bolesław Bierut, Fidel Castro, Nicolae Ceausescu, Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Enver Hoxha, Vladimir Lenin, Mengistu Haile Mariam, Karl Marx, Ho Chi Minh, Robert Mugabe, Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot (aka Saloth Sar), Joseph Stalin, Nur Muhammad Taraki, Mao Zedong, the leaders of the Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) rebels, to name a few.
His hoped for much younger and ignorant audience may not know this but—and they are certainly dogmatheistically urged to deny the facts of the matter when they find out about it—the twentieth century, not very long ago, was both the most secular and the bloodiest century in human history. And it was the bloodiest in human history because it was the most secular.
These were the true Militant Atheists who mass murdered millions upon millions, upon tens of millions, upon hundreds of millions, and here is the key, not during war time but of their very own people who where, according to their secular worldviews, nothing but bio-organisms who were either useful or not—“useless eaters.”
Youth, sloth, naivety, ignorance and a high regard for denying inconvenient truths may shrug off these facts but they are, nevertheless, facts.
For more on these issues see:
Adolf Hitler / Nazism / Communism
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