We now conclude, from part 1 and part 2 and part 3, considering the article Atheism Groups Grow on College Campuses, from which we are gleaning certain issue of interest. Now we come to the segment wherein we consider whether the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society is as it is claimed below:
“This is not a group of angry atheists. It’s a group of very exuberant atheists,” said faculty sponsor Hector Avalos…”Their primary aim is not to destroy the faith of Christians on campus. It’s more live and let live.”
Let us consider the content of their website as a clue to their true purpose. Home page, top, front and center is what? A photo of the Society with Mr. Belligerent Militant Atheist himself, Richard Dawkins.
They sell a t-shirt with the club’s name on the front and this on the back, “The deepest sin against the human mind is to beleive [sic] things without evidence.” As they explain it, “The quote is from Thomas H. Huxley, friend of Charles Darwin, and creator of the term agnostic.”
Indeed, he did and this is rather interesting coming from an Atheist and Agnostic Society. You see, the popular modern day definition of atheism, at least when it is proclaimed to those who would challenge atheism, is to claim that atheism is merely a lack of belief in god(s). Granted, even the celebrity New Atheist types positively affirm God’s non-existence but that is generally only to friendly audiences who applaud their every bit of malarkey—see Some celebrity New Atheists who positively affirm God’s non-existence
However, when you consider the Definition of “Atheism” you will note that the very reason that Thomas H. Huxley coined the term agnostic (lack of knowledge) is that he saw that on the one hand, there were theists who positively affirmed God’s existence and on the other hand, there were atheists who positively affirmed God’s non-existence. Thus, he sought to coin a term for a middle position and one that considers both theists and atheists as lacking enough evidence either way.
Thus, it must be interesting when the atheists of the group claim that they simply lack a God believe due to what they consider to be a lack of enough evidence. The agnostics must be thinking, “And what are we, chopped liver?”
The only blog to which they link is John Loftus’ Debunking Christianity which is merely an anti-Christian support group if there ever was one (and one that Mr. Marcus has been taking apart).
Some of the podcasts to which they link are also anti-Christian support groups such as The Non-Prophets, Freethought Radio, The Atheist Experience, etc.
Their “Selected Individual Writings” include works by Dan Barker (who has but one out of tune note to play, I’m an ex preacher who stated, “Darwin has bequeathed what is good” and who claims that rape is not absolutely immoral) and Keith Parsons (who, for some odd reason, thinks that a good debate tactic is to repeatedly yell out, “I will not believe!!!”).
Their book store lists the usual suspects, the very celebrity atheist who have done a great job of giving atheists a bad name: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens. Seems that the ISU Atheist and Agnostic Society have contracted the DHDH meme (also see “Inception” the movie and the meme – the New Atheist cover is blown).
One of the website’s articles is titled Faith the Bedrock of Bad Ideas that Religion Rests Upon. Sadly, the term faith has been mis-defined by atheists as belief without evidence when, in reality (at least from a Judeo-Christian perspective) faith is a logical conclusion.
The fact is that we are all metaphysicians because, form the most fundamentalist young earth creationists, to the most self-assured positive affirmation of God’s non-existence, all worldviews / philosophies are premised upon axioms that are not evidenced nor proven but are assumed, they are intuited and presupposed.
What greater faith (of the belief without evidence variety) is there but atheism itself?