Some atheists are getting meaner and more threatening. Trevor Logan tells about a new book, endorsed by the usual celebrity atheists, entitled A Manual for Creating Atheists, calling its author, Peter Boghossian, the “atheist version of a Westboro Baptist Church pastor.” Boghossian calls for treating religion as a public health menace, “a virus of the mind,” that needs to be systematically eradicated by the government. (Sound familiar?)
Quotations via Trevor Logan, The Pontificate of Peter Boghossian | First Thoughts | First Things (which you should read for the commentary):
I want to add my voice to the growing number of people who argue that we must reconceptualize faith as a virus of the mind, and treat faith like other epistemological crises: contain and eradicate. . . .
Just as society has established mechanisms to deal with contagions, pathogens, and infectious diseases that affect our water, air, and food supply (with objectives like ensuring that the commons are free of toxins and preventing the spread of diseases), there’s also an urgent need for large-scale interventions in educational systems, houses of worship, and other institutions that promote failed epistemologies. . . .
A key containment protocol is to financially cripple any institution that propagates a faulty epistemology, starting with the most egregious perpetrators: religious institutions.
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