Alterman: Atheism un-American?

[dArKeR]

Pot Calling the Kettle Atheist
I’ve been thinking a bit more about Tony Blankley’s attack on George Soros, along with those of Bill O’Reilly and the Republican slime machine that are apparently inspired and supplied them.  Aside from the hateful Nazi insinuations and the implications of anti-Semitism that I discussed in this piece, I did not have time to address two points.  (Being able to do so is one of the great things about blogs for journalists, by the way.) 

First, since when did it become OK to attack the presumably honest religious beliefs of an individual with whom one has political differences?  So Soros is a “committed atheist” as Blankley, O’Reilly and others never tire of alerting us.  So go**am what?  I was perusing Rick Hertzberg’s mammoth new lifetime greatest hits collection (box set would be more like it) called Politics and I share the admiration for this passage that David Remnick chose to quote in his introduction: Writing in response to some silly crack by the Bill “Blackjack” Bennett—in the days when we only intuited his hypocrisy—Hertzberg, a committed atheist demands:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

[sui generis]

1. I agree

it's been my experience that while the moonies hate the jews and the jews hate the muslims and the southern babtists hate the catholics and the catholics hate the protestants that THEY ALL HATE ATHEISTS. If there is one thing that they agree on, it is that anyone who doesn't subscribe to some form of god or higher being is not worthy of human rights.

I like this quote from Dostoyevsky:

"Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevky wrote provocatively on this burden of conscience, though in a different context, a century ago in his masterwork The Brothers Karamozov. In a famous portion of the novel referred to as "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor," Karamazov brother Ivan tells his brother Alyosha that the Church knowingly lies to the people and distorts Christ's teachings out of moral rectitude, out of charity to all those too weak to carry the burden of free choice; that mankind does not wish the freedom to decide for themselves what is good and evil but long forever to be told."

I love it. I am too weak to carry the burden of free choice or to decide for myself what is good and e-e-eevil. Or, apparently to even to speak to this ubiquitous god directly, having needs rely on countless holier people to interpret the word of the day of the lord (the lord? some kind of king? huh?) for me since I am too unworthy to possibly think for myself. Yeah right!

[struggle4progress]

2. Your first paragraph unfortunately reminds me of this old standby:

http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/natbroth.htm

:D

[sbreen]

3. hmm

if your going to bring up "Brother Kramozov" and "THe Legend of the Grand Inquisitor" you should know that Dostoyevky was writing about Russia and the West as much as he was writing about Athiesm and Faith...and for that matter the Church in any sense.

in addition, doesn't Jesus forgive the Inquisitor at the end of story...with silent kiss....

[sui generis]

4. I liked the quote -- out of context

thanks for the background though.

I do want to add that regardless of what "higher authority" one subscribes to, be it a religion, government or culture, it seems that the individual is consistently informed that he (or she) cannot know what is best for that individual. It's the same idea that not only can we not decide for ourselves what is right and wrong, but what we cannot decide what is right and wrong for ourselves. It is under that rationale that gays become "immoral" and atheists become "unpatriotic", and women who exercise control over their own bodies become "murderers".

[sui generis]

5. and ... a warm welcome to DU!

[newyawker99]

6. Hi sbreen!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Miss Authoritiva]

7. Perhaps one of the reasons why atheism annoys

pundits is that it's such an absolute. No favorable or unfavorable comparisons of degree can be made, such as: He's a much more devout atheist than she is. Atheism takes out of play the Ten Commandments, eliminating all those tasty sins of hypocrisy that gotcha journalism loves to binge on. Atheism eliminates the whole Judeo-Christian platform for all the professing, declaring, judging, and denouncing that comprises American political speech.

All you can judge an atheist by is how he actually lives his life and what he actually accomplishes.

In media terms, atheists simply are no fun.

[Torgo4]

8. Mark Twain! Un-Amercian?

HOw many of those dorks recognize Sam Clemens as one of America's greatest humorists/satirists?

Just ask them if atheist Mark Twain was an American or not?