The ironically titled Friendly Atheist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is not a very nice place, according to Thomas McDonald. I'm the first to say that atheists can be thoughtful, most are probably good people, and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The ironically titled Friendly Atheist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Is not a very nice place, according to Thomas McDonald. I'm the first to say that atheists can be thoughtful, most are probably good people, and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daffey Thoughts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-03T20:35:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Griffey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html\",\"name\":\"The ironically titled Friendly Atheist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-03T20:35:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-04-03T20:35:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\"},\"description\":\"Is not a very nice place, according to Thomas McDonald. I'm the first to say that atheists can be thoughtful, most are probably good people, and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The ironically titled Friendly Atheist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/\",\"name\":\"Daffey Thoughts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7\",\"name\":\"Dave Griffey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dave Griffey\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The ironically titled Friendly Atheist","description":"Is not a very nice place, according to Thomas McDonald. I'm the first to say that atheists can be thoughtful, most are probably good people, and","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The ironically titled Friendly Atheist","og_description":"Is not a very nice place, according to Thomas McDonald. I'm the first to say that atheists can be thoughtful, most are probably good people, and","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html","og_site_name":"Daffey Thoughts","article_published_time":"2013-04-03T20:35:00+00:00","author":"Dave Griffey","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dave Griffey","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html","name":"The ironically titled Friendly Atheist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-04-03T20:35:00+00:00","dateModified":"2013-04-03T20:35:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7"},"description":"Is not a very nice place, according to Thomas McDonald. I'm the first to say that atheists can be thoughtful, most are probably good people, and","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The ironically titled Friendly Atheist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/","name":"Daffey Thoughts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/9de3f33a0818ebc53727444b649c82a7","name":"Dave Griffey","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/546cf1ab64797c201cc8ad19185f2e57?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Dave Griffey"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/author\/dgriffey"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2805"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1978,"date":"2013-04-03T20:35:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T20:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html"},"modified":"2013-04-03T20:35:00","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T20:35:00","slug":"the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2013\/04\/the-ironically-titled-friendly-atheist.html","title":{"rendered":"The ironically titled Friendly Atheist"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Is not a very nice place, according to Thomas McDonald<\/a>. \u00a0I\u2019m the first to say that atheists can be thoughtful, most are probably good people, and there are some fair\u00a0critiques\u00a0of religious thought, including\u00a0monotheistic\u00a0thought as proclaimed by the Christian faith. \u00a0Fair enough.<\/p>\n

With that said, the\u00a0laughable, ludicrous, and\u00a0downright\u00a0evil\u00a0movement sometimes known as \u2018modern atheism\u2019, \u00a0that has arisen since 9\/11, is both stunning and alarming. \u00a0Too many Christian,\u00a0religious\u00a0believers, and Catholics in particular seem to think by reaching out across the aisle and singing the praises of such atheist advocates as Dawkins, Harris or the late Christopher Hitchens, we can show how\u00a0sophisticated, loving, and above it all we\u00a0really\u00a0are.<\/p>\n

Look, as a former educator, I must admit there are some kids you just can\u2019t reach. \u00a0I\u2019m not saying they are unreachable. \u00a0Everyone is potentially reachable. \u00a0But there are some *you* won\u2019t reach. \u00a0There are some no school could reach. \u00a0There are some that nobody short of God Himself could reach. \u00a0That\u2019s just a fact.<\/p>\n

We look back and shake our heads that people tried to compromise with, or negotiate with, the Nazis. \u00a0Everyone\u2019s favorite baddies. \u00a0Of course we shake our heads because we know now, in hindsight, that neither Hitler nor the regime\u00a0he founded had any intention of compromising, of negotiating, of giving up its dreams of conquest or empire. \u00a0There simply was nothing anyone could do to prevent what Hitler attempted to accomplish. Nothing. \u00a0Nothing this side of heaven. \u00a0That much is clear. <\/p>\n

That happens. \u00a0The modern atheist movement<\/a> is very much a movement of people like those unreachable kids. \u00a0Or Nazis for that matter. \u00a0It isn\u2019t based on\u00a0intelligence\u00a0 rational thought, reason, or any such thing. \u00a0It\u2019s certainly not based on friendliness, goodness, tolerance or anything close. \u00a0Sam Harris saw to that when he called for an end to religious tolerance and the eradication of the religions he doesn\u2019t like. <\/p>\n

Many atheists have followed suit. \u00a0Buttressed by an absolutely vacant and impotent news media, and an academic culture that is at best neutral, and at worst\u00a0empowering\u00a0the entire \u2018death to religion\u2019 movement,\u00a0atheists\u00a0are free to think anything they want<\/a>, no matter how smack down stupid, and believe it to be right. \u00a0I\u2019ve seen atheists declare that they need not prove anything,\u00a0apparently\u00a0since religious people have the burden of \u201cproving\u201d God, an atheist can say just about anything on a host of subjects and\u00a0supply\u00a0not the least amount of\u00a0evidence.<\/p>\n

And the gurus of modern atheism, like the late Hitchens or such deplorable anti-religious bigots as the small-minded P.Z. Myers<\/a>, seize upon this lack of\u00a0accountability\u00a0to say and do\u00a0things\u00a0that would spell the end to anyone\u2019s career if they were done or said about any one of a thousand other demographic groups. \u00a0Just what makes the religious community in such need of a dose of Viagra when it comes to this new atheism movement is beyond me. \u00a0We can call it what it is: pure evil.<\/p>\n

Pure evil because it peddles the lowest common\u00a0denominator\u00a0of human decadence,\u00a0narcissism\u00a0and hedonism, while adopting a contempt for human life and dignity that would shame the aforesaid Nazis, all while basing their reasoning on such lame, vapid, and\u00a0unbelievably\u00a0asinine reasoning that, in any other time in history, I\u2019d like to think would result in being laughed off any stage in the\u00a0kingdom.<\/p>\n

As it is, being a nation of Juror Number Sevens, what they say goes\u00a0largely\u00a0unnoticed. \u00a0Meanwhile, time and again I run into Catholic apologists and public figures who seem to want to bend over backwards, extend a hand of friendship, and find the best possible light through which to interpret the bilge, bigotry and pure evil they are witnessing. \u00a0Nice to see Mr. McDonald call it what it is. \u00a0There is a time folks. \u00a0I\u2019m not saying pick up the rack and thumbscrews, but I am saying it might be time to stop with the buddy-buddy, and start calling a spade a spade. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"