Aggressive Atheism

Last updated on: May 7, 2007 at 6:08 pm by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Aggressive Atheism 2007-05-07T18:08:00-05:00 Fr. Dwight Longenecker

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Atheists’ Mockery at ABC’s “Face Off” on God’s Existence

NEW YORK, May 7, 2007 — A 100-year-old Baptist church in the heart of New York was the venue Saturday for an ABC debate on the existence of God. Actor Kirk Cameron and best-selling author Ray Comfort “faced off” against two atheists from the “Rational Response Squad,” in a debate moderated by ABC Nightline’s Martin Bashir.

“We were delighted ABC gave us the opportunity to present our case,” said Comfort, “but we were taken aback by the aggressive nature of the debate. The audience was evenly divided between believers and atheists. The believers were very polite and quiet, while the atheists were extremely vocal. ‘Nasty’ is an appropriate word. We felt life a couple of goldfish in a pool of hungry Piranhas, and were getting a sense of what the early Christians must have felt in a Roman coliseum.”

In the debate, Comfort presented proof for the existence of God, while Cameron offered evidence to show that the theory of Darwinian evolution is unreasonable and unscientific. They pointed evolutionists to www.IntelligentDesignVersusEvolution.com, where they’re offering $10,000 to anyone who can provide a genuine, living transitional form supporting evolutionary claims. The debate also addressed such questions as “Who made God?” and “What about the heathen in Africa who’ve never heard about God?”

“The atheists made it very clear they didn’t like what we said,” Cameron explained. “They were full of mockery and sarcasm, belittling the many great scientists and intellectuals who recognize the existence of a Supreme Being. But the average American isn’t viciously anti-God. In fact, polls show that more than 90 percent believe in His existence. Our hope is that the program will cause people to think deeply about the evidence presented, and challenge them to consider this most important issue of life.”

While Comfort and Cameron will have to wait until Wednesday to see what the public thinks of the debate, they report that they’ve already received encouraging email from one audience member who commended their presentation: “Good job last night! Although I received my invitation to the show via the atheist camp, I must confess that I was impressed with the two of you (and that I was embarrassed by at least two atheist audience members, whose hostile questions bordered on heckling-I admired your calm and courteous responses). …I find the ‘Design means there was a Designer’ argument to be perfectly logical. I just have yet to come across convincing evidence that this Master Designer of the Universe inspired the Judeo-Christian Bible.'”

Another encouragement, Comfort added, was that both mothers of the two atheists in the debate are Christians-one of whom was in the front row of the audience. Comfort stated, “Both sincerely thanked us for our stand, and said that they were earnestly praying for us.”

The entire debate will be streamed on http://abcnews.go.com/abcnewsnow on Wednesday, May 9, at 2:00 p.m. EDT (11:00 a.m. PST) and an excerpt will be aired that night on ABC’s Nightline.

Contact: Mark Spence, 562-920-8431, Ext 304, [email protected]

Remember that verse from the Bible…’the devil stalks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” Elsewhere the Scripture says that Satan ‘goes to and fro upon earth.’

I’ve had a theory for some time that the Spirit of Atheism that haunted Eastern Europe during the Communist regime has now moved West. The mark of the beast is that it was not just agnosticism, but aggressive atheism. This was the sort of atheism that would spit and snarl and howl with rage. This is the atheism that mocks and derides God and all things holy. In fact it isn’t really atheism at all, it is inyerface rebellion and hatred of God.

It reminds me of the time I got involved in a religious discussion with an English student who didn’t engage with the question of God’s existence at all. He avoided all reason and all rational discussion and simply snarled, “I hate God.”

Well, there we are. It’s with us folks. Recognize it for what it is. It’s big, it’s dark, it’s nasty and it bites. Furthermore, we might see the intellectual expression of it in your Richard Dawkins, Philip Pullmans, Hitchens etc. but there is a darker and even nastier side to it. For every intellectual aggressive atheist you can bet there are two dozen ignorant, boorish and thuggish atheists lurking in their shadow. These are the atheists who won’t argue with you at all. They’ll wear the uniforms, carry the nightsticks and drive the police wagons. They’re ‘Agent Smiths’ who will wear the trench coats, man the listening devices and send in the boys. They’re the guys who will drive the ambulances that take off the believers to mental hospitals.

OK, once again, I’m exagerrating to make my point aren’t I….aren’t I?

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