Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Properties Relevant to Causing Harm

In response to a series of posts on the proposition that evidence-based faith is not a morally acceptable justification for policies that deprive others of life, health, or liberty, a member of the studio audience choose to write:

I think that it might be more relevant to consider the irreligious people out there -- particularly the atheists -- who are calling for the sacrifice of my life, health, and liberty. The twentieth century is a catalog of atheist regimes regularly calling for such sacrifices on the part of religious people.

The purpose of such a quote is hate-mongering. There is no reason to make such an assertion other than an interest on the part of the person making it to promote an unfounded hatred and fear of atheists and, as such, to put atheists – as a group (regardless of the merits of any given individual) at a political and social disadvantage. It is, in short, an instruction to the reader to think of atheists as dangerous and morally inferior to "religious people".

To see this, we need to simply look at the fact that the author choose to identify these people as atheist. Is there, perhaps, some other quality that these people have in common?

One is that they were heleocentrists. Every regime that the author mentioned is one in which the leaders believed that the Sun was at the center of the solar system. And, yet, the author does not see fit to warn us of the injustices committed by heliocentrists. He does not think that we need a warning of the degree to which heliocentrists are disposed to take the life, health, and liberty of others.

Another quality that these twentieth century regimes have had in common is that their leaders all tend to be male. Yet, the author does not think that there is just cause to warn us against male leadership – against the fact that when males rule a country that our life, health, and liberty is at risk.

The reason for choosing atheist as the identifying characteristic, and not heliocentrism or being male, is because the author does not have the bigot’s interest in promoting fear and hatred of heliocentrists or males.

Indeed, we may assume that the author himself fits in both of these categories. His interest is in promoting hatred and fear of atheists. That explains why the author idenfitied atheism as the defining characteristic. This is the hatred and fear he sought to nurture with his argument.

The only avenues of escape for this author would be for the author to state that being an atheist is somehow relevant to the disposition to deprive others of life, health, and liberty, while being a heliocentrist or a male is not. When, actually, of the three, being male is more relevant to the disposition to deprive others of life, health, and liberty than either of the other two.

Yet, even recognizing this fact that males are more strongly disposed to take the life, health, and property of others than females, we still insist that it would be unjust to judge all males accordingly. People do not bring up the argument that violent crimes are almost exclusively commited by males is reason to hate and fear all males. Even though the premise is true, people recognize that morality still demands that each individual be judged on his or her own merits, and that the moral male is not to be condemned merely because one can point historically to great evils committed by other males.

Yet, even given this – even given the fact that a stronger link can be drawn for maleness than for atheism, and that with respect to males we do not allow the historical fact that males have committed great evil to be proof that all males must be judged culpable - the author of the above quote sought to make atheism the defining characteristic. He sought to portray the atheist as the person to be hated and feared, rather than the heliocentrist or the male.

Why is that? What desires lie in the heart of the person who would do such a thing?

What lies in his heart is an interest in promoting the unfounded hatred and fear of others – to promote their social and political denigration through whatever means necessary, regardless of whether reason or morality supports that position.

As I said, no other theory better explains the observation that the author sought to make atheism the identifying characteristic, when other common elements exist, some are more relevant than atheism, and in the cases that are actually relevant we recognize the injustice of making the type of argument that the author sought to make against atheists.

6 comments:

Doug said...

"The purpose of such a quote is hate-mongering."

This is simply untrue. I was no more hate-mongering than our host was by his long series of posts essentially claiming that religious people like to use a vacuous "faith" (whatever that means) to limit the life and liberty of others.

The significant different between his long post and my short comment was of the quantity of historical injustice that they represent. In the twentieth century, the suffering of religious folk at the hands of the irreligious has been many, many orders of magnitude beyond the suffering of the irreligious at the hands of the religious!

Alonzo Fyfe said...

Doug

I was no more hate-mongering than our host was by his long series of posts essentially claiming that religious people like to use a vacuous "faith" (whatever that means) to limit the life and liberty of others.

Actually, I never made such a claim, of course.

More importantly, in the first post of this series, I made a point of condemning those atheists who make the invalid inference from premises about "a religion" to conclusions about "religion".

In previous posts where I have criticized this move I have not held back from calling atheists who make such a move bigots, because the only motivation for making such a mistake is to promote an unjustified hatred and fear of all people who are religious based on the harms done by those that the author is referring to.

Doug said...

Thank you, Alonzo, for the clarification. On my part, having lost many relatives in the Gulag ostensibly for the thought-crime of belief in God, I request that you appreciate that my invocation of those events is neither bigoted or hate-mongering...

I never intended it to reflect on you, but hoped that you would reflect on it, and perhaps acknowledge the sad but undeniable fact that those things which are admissible in courts of law are subject to the prevailing ideology of the time. I abhor injustice (without reference to its secular or religious source) as much as you do.

anton said...

In the twentieth century, the suffering of religious folk at the hands of the irreligious has been many, many orders of magnitude beyond the suffering of the irreligious at the hands of the religious!

Doug, please don't forget that many of the despots of which you speak gained power because the "religious" had been conditioned to "believe" in their leaders, or were "distracted". Hitler, for example, was overwhelming elected to office by a Christian population who saw him leading them out of their economic ruin. Karl Marx stated that "religion is the opiate of the masses" and history has proven the validity of his observation. Many US Americans still claim that George Bush was chosen by God . . . and look where that got them!

Alonzo Fyfe said...

Doug

On my part, having lost many relatives in the Gulag ostensibly for the thought-crime of belief in God, I request that you appreciate that my invocation of those events is neither bigoted or hate-mongering...

Actually, I will not do this. The fact that one was a victim (or knew victims) of bigotry does not give one the right to acts of bigotry against others.

However, also note that I will not end what has been one of the major themes of this blog - that atheists who make the unjustified leap from premises about "a religion" to conclusions about "religion" are also hate-mongering bigots.

This includes (but certainly is not limited to) the practice of saying that "religion" was responsible for 9/11 and that all religion is to be condemned, instead of saying that "a religion" was responsible for 9/11 and condemning only those who, for religious reasons, backed or cheered 9/11.

This is a position that I have no intention of surrendering unless and until one can prove that I am mistaken.

It is the view that the person who cannot distinguish between "a religion" (e.g., violent Islam) and "religion" - and the person who cannot distinguish between "an atheist" (e.g., Stalin) and "atheists" are both hate-mongering bigots.

Doug said...

funny: you are imputing to me arguments and motives that bear no relation to any reality.

By invoking history, I was NOT in any way, shape or form judging any atheists but the perpetrators themselves.

I WAS, however, using history to demonstrate that lack of religion is by no means an assurance of impartial judgment, or freedom from oppression.