PZ Myers recently noted that Atheism is as “intellectually rigorous as it has ever been” which means not at all. Of course, jumping into statements and counterstatements without defining terms leads to breakdowns in communication.1
Thus, just what does PZ Myers mean by “Atheism”? Well, he elucidates—at least his sect/denomination—within the statement, “My concern is that we have lost the heart of the cause and all the New Atheist movement is about is saying that God doesn’t exist and that’s not enough…The New Atheist movement was established on the basis that there is no God and that is not really something that reaches out and grabs people. I think we have squandered the effort to develop a deeper meaning.”
This is why he made my list of Atheists who positively affirm God’s non-existence…without evidence, of course as he affirmed, “God doesn’t exist…there is no God.”
Now, that they have “lost the heart” because it was that “God doesn’t exist…there is no God” goes to show that their movement is a failure—period. This is why neo-pop-Atheists (the Newer Atheists) have decided to play games with definitions so that they can abscond from the bothersome task of actually having to provide evidence.
Yet, we see that for PZ Myers this is a PR marketing campaign which seeks converts as he seeks something “that reaches out and grabs people” and so since the only demonstrable result of his movement is an utter marginalization of Atheists in general then “we have squandered the effort.”
Yet, he referenced seeking “a deeper meaning” which is quite the quandary for a reductionist, materialist, naturalist: he find himself in sleeping in a bed of his own making.
One aspect of the deeper meaning, which Atheism guarantees does not exist, is “If there is no God, we need a better foundation for morality, we need human interactions and atheists just haven’t grasped that yet.” Well, Atheists have grasped a foundation for morality (even if it is not a better one) and that is to crusade on college campuses, claim that morality is an arbitrary result of evolution and that thus, youngsters can feel free to do as they please: get that you who just escaped from mommy’s apron strings?
Myers further notes, “What is happening is that a number of us are falling away and it’s because the New Atheist movement doesn’t give us that peace.” Well, I would imagine not since Atheism would generally assert that we are accidentally and temporarily existing hairless apes and so offers no explanation for yesterday, no reason for today and no hope for tomorrow.
He also notes, “Some people tried to start a new movement called Atheism Plus, in an effort to combine concern for our social needs and it got shattered by the New Atheist as it was seen as repelling.” In part this is because you can call a pig a princess but a mere name change does not augment reality. When Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing something over and over again and expecting the same result he surely did not mean that, conversely, sanity was doing something over and over again but pretending that it is different and expecting the same result.
PZ Myers also stated, “The New Atheist movement was driven by the September 11 attacks, but now it’s evolved into something else that says, ‘we hate those people with foreign ideas,’ and this is not what atheism is all about.” Well, if that is not what Atheism is all about then why has Atheism always been about exactly that?
Sorry PZ but you shot yourselves in the foot, played the martyr card, shot it again, allowed it to get infected and just because the doctor recommends amputation does not mean that the solution is to decide to call the foot a hand.
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