Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Poking Giant Holes in Atheism’s Dogma

By: Phil Brennan - NEWSMAX.COM

"What’s So Great About Christianity?" by Dinesh D’Souza, Regnery, 344 Pages

If you have a son or daughter either in college or about to enter the halls of academia get your hands on this extraordinary book and give it to your offspring with instructions to read it from cover to cover.

There is no better way to inoculate a young man or woman against the virus of atheistic brainwashing epidemic on America’s campuses than Dinesh D’Souza’s new book, which carefully and calmly goes about the job of not only exposing the emptiness and lies of the atheistic materialism fervently embraced by a great number of academics, but also shows how effective Christianity has proven to be in combating its deleterious effects on our culture.

According to D’Souza atheism is losing and Christianity is winning. “God has come back to life,” he writes. “The world is witnessing a huge explosion of religious conversion and growth, and Christianity is growing faster than any other religion. Nietzsche’s proclamation ‘God is Dead’ is now proven false.”

The recent spate of books defending atheism and attacking religion reflects the near panic among atheists over the resurgence of Christianity. D’Souza’s book is nothing less than a massive refutation of the various allegations in such books as "God is Not Great: Why Religion Poisons Everything" by journalist Christopher Hitchens.

Also in D’Souza’s sights are Sam Harris’s "Letter to a Christian Nation" and, especially, "The God Delusion" by Oxford biologist Richard Dawkins, who gets a royal drubbing in the book.

Step-by-step, chapter-by-chapter, the author calls on innumerable sources to refute secularism’s myths -- such as what he calls the “fable” of Galileo’s treatment at the hands of the Vatican.

After explaining just what it was that got Galileo in trouble with the Church -- noting that Arthur Keostler had written that his defense was so “patently dishonest that his case would have been lost in any court" -- D’Souza deals with Galileo’s allegedly harsh punishment.

“Contrary to what some atheist propagandists have said, Galileo was never charged with heresy and was never placed in a dungeon or tortured in anyway," the author writes. "After he recanted Galileo was released into the custody of the archbishop of Siena, who housed him for five months in his magnificent palace. Then he was permitted to return to his villa in Florence.”

The author barely conceals his contempt for the incredible arrogance of scientists Daniel Dennett and Richard Dawkin’s descriptions of themselves as “brights” because “they think they and their atheist friends are simply smarter that the community of religious believers.”

His treatment of Darwinism, as opposed to the scientific theory of evolution with which he has no quarrel, is devastating. Darwinism, he insists, furnishes the “brights” with ammunition they think refutes intelligent design. He goes on to demonstrate that their ammunition is composed of duds.

Among his other disclosures:

-Contrary to secularism’s claim that Christianity ushered in the “dark ages” and destroyed the Greco/Roman classical world, the Christian faith is “the very root and foundation of Western civilization.” and was “responsible for many of the values and institutions secular people cherish most.”

-He cites western art, science, the idea of limited government, the idea that the ordinary human being has inherent dignity and value rather than that accorded by society, the importance of the family and romantic love and even the concept that consent of both a man and a woman was a prerequisite for marriage.

-Rather than being an enemy of science, as alleged by secularists, Christianity provides the explanation that the universe is rational, that it operates according to laws. “Without the ‘irrational, belief that we live in an ordered universe,” D’Souza writes, “modern science is impossible.”

Western man, he adds, got this “faith in an ordered, unified and accessible universe,” from Christianity.

“Christianity reinvigorated the idea of an ordered cosmos by envisioning the universe as following laws that embody the rationality of God, the creator,” he explains.
As the old Baltimore catechism declared simply, proof of the Divine origin of the world lies in its “order and beauty.”

The universe is not eternal, it had a beginning, despite atheism’s contention that it has always existed. Writes D’Souza, “The finding of modern physics that the universe has a beginning in space and time … [the Big Bang event] is one of the most important scientific discoveries ever made. It provides, for all who take the trouble to understand it and reflect upon it, powerful and convincing evidence of an eternal, supernatural being that created our world and everything in it.”

After discussing the validity of miracles, the dismal record of atheistic regimes that butchered tens-of-millions of human beings in the last century alone, the absolute necessity of a moral law and the motivations of many atheists based on their lower instincts, D”Souza explains just what is so great about Christianity.

“In a society based on self-fulfillment and self-esteem, on looking out for yourself and advancing yourself, Christ calls us to the heroic task of self-emptying. He must increase and we must decrease. This we do by allowing his empire an ever greater domain in our hearts,” he concludes. “Goodness and happiness flow from this.”

For anyone being subjected to a barrage of secularist propaganda of the kind found on campuses, this book is a potent defensive weapon. No student should leave home without it.

4 comments:

MorseCode said...

Hi Tiger,

I thought I would respond to Lady Hawk's questions to me in the other post here. I would have emailed them to her, but she has no posted email, and I wanted to make sure she saw them. Sorry if I'm cluttering up your blog. If you wish, after this, I will cease and desist:

Lady Hawk,

First of all, a wise man once said "There are no atheists in foxholes" is not an argument against atheists, it's an argument against foxholes.

That being said, you were just terribly arrogant and offensive to all the atheists who have and currently do serve in the armed forces and currently fight for your freedom.

I am a year out of school. As an actor. I spent my youth as a catholic, and was confirmed when 18. I never 'became' an atheist. I just realized that I was one. Rather than cling to faith that I actually didn't believe, I chose to be honest with myself, and am that much better for it.

Random molecules don't create free will, choice and thinking. Molecules that have been arranged into the form of a human brain through years of evolving through natural selection, which is only semi-random, do those things. Or at least that's the best idea that science currently shows us.

My morality is governed by my conscience and by learning from the past, both my own and others. I am responsible to myself, my family, my friends, and the human race as a whole, if my actions effect them.

I have read and studied the bible in catholic school and after. I continue to do so to this day. I find it important to know what many people think, and so treat it as an important work of human creation. I also have read and continue to read the Koran, the Bhagava-gita (probably spelled that wrong), the Tao Te Ching, the book of Mormon and Roman/Greek mythology.

I disbelieve god. If I thought god or gods existed, I would believe in them. Many religious people like to say that atheists 'deny' god because they believe that god exists. We don't think there is a god. I would highly doubt that there is an atheist who 'denies' god, in the way I'm sure you mean.

"Atheism" is a statement of opinion. I have no problem if you want to call it a belief. It is both my belief and my opinion that the supernatural, including a god, does not exist. I see no credible evidence for it.

That is how I live my life. By looking at the evidence. I hear people make claims, and if they give me evidence for them, I will believe it. It took me about 20 years before I realized that religion just didn't have the evidence behind it.

I think that I am ultimately responsible for my own actions and how I effect other people. I care about how my actions effect other people, but I don't believe there is an ultimate reason behind everything or that there is a god who is waiting to judge me. If that means I've made myself my own god, so be it.

Tiger said...

Clutter all ya want, 'Morse' - that's what these blogs are for. The 'Lady' can answer for herself.

And, BTW, GOD Bless and goodnight!

It's called FREEDOM OF RELIGION!

: )

Lady Hawk said...

Dear Mr Morsecode:
Why do you lower yourself to name calling when someone is sincerely interested in your soul, your spiritual welfare which you do not recognize that your conscience is the spirit of God inside you?
You are disrespectful of your elders another trait of people who "took twenty years to learn religion just did not have evidence behind it".
You need to let ideas cook in your consciousness before you respond to them.
Your illogical leap from the figurative "atheists in foxholes' to military literal ones was also beneath you. I pray you experience an epiphany, a leap of faith as great as the leap of irrationality you gave.
Do you stand out of respect for the Pledge of Allegiance to honor those who died for that flag,and for your freedoms most of whom were Christians?
You are blind to how you allowed yourself to be programmed by an evil university and mass media movement to corrupt young, intelligent people to become malleable slaves to a global marxist government.
You are predictable and you do not exist, because you are not really you but a product of a liberal assembly line.
I hope you truly search your soul for the Truth which will bring you to God, not the pea soup, everyone will-eventually-be-reborn-into-the great-cosmos Buddhism and Tao proclaims-so sin all you want to fallacies.
I will keep you (and Ms Teresita) in my prayers. She sounds like she is in a real soul-searching crisis mode.
You are the "pot calling the kettle black" calling me arrogant and offensive. At least I know I am not a god!
God bless you too Mr. Tiger!
Good night!

MorseCode said...

Lady Hawk,

You are blind to how you allowed yourself to be programmed by an evil religion and mass evangelical movement to corrupt young, intelligent people to become malleable slaves to a totalitarian theocratic government.
You are predictable and you do not exist, because you are not really you but a product of a conservative assembly line.

You are the "pot calling the kettle black" calling me arrogant and offensive. At least I know I am not arrogant enough to think the world was made especially with me in mind.

Now that we've called each other a lovely number of names, I want to thank you for keeping me in your prayers. Please, by all means, pray for me.

And I will gladly think for you.