{"id":832,"date":"2014-03-15T21:05:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-15T21:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html"},"modified":"2014-03-15T21:05:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-15T21:05:00","slug":"the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html","title":{"rendered":"The Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Atheism is intellectually fashionable. In the past month,\u00a0The New York Times<\/i>has run\u00a0several<\/a>\u00a0stories<\/a>\u00a0about lack of faith in its series on religion.\u00a0The New Yorker<\/i>\u00a0ran an\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0on the history of non-belief in reaction to\u00a0two<\/a>\u00a0new books<\/a>\u00a0on the subject that were released within a week of each other in February. The veteran writer, Adam Gopnik, concludes this:<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

What the noes, whatever their numbers, really have now \u2026 is a monopoly on legitimate forms of knowledge about the natural world. They have this monopoly for the same reason that computer manufacturers have an edge over crystal-ball makers: The advantages of having an actual explanation of things and processes are self-evident.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/div>\n
This is a perfect summary of the intellectual claim of those who set out to prove that God is dead and religion is false: Atheists have legitimate knowledge, and those who believe do not. This is the epistemological assumption looming in the so-called \u201cculture war\u201d between the caricatures of godless liberals and Bible-thumping conservatives in America: One group wields rational argumentation and intellectual history as an indictment of God, while the other looks to tradition and text as defenses against modernity\u2019s encroachment on religious life.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The problem is, the \u201cculture war\u201d is a false construct created by politicians and public intellectuals, left and right. The state of faith in the world is much grayer, much humbler, and much less divided than atheist academics and preaching politicians claim. Especially in the U.S., social conservatives are often called out in the media for reifying and inflaming this cultural divide: The rhetoric of once and future White House hopefuls like\u00a0Rick Santorum<\/a>,\u00a0Sarah Palin<\/a>, and\u00a0Bobby Jindal<\/a>\u00a0reinforces an \u201cus\u201d and \u201cthem\u201d distinction between those with faith and those without. Knowing God helps them live and legislate in the \u201cright\u201d way, they say.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
But vocal atheists reinforce this binary of Godly vs. godless, too\u2014the argument is just not as obvious. Theirs is a subtle assertion: Believers aren\u2019t educated or thoughtful enough to debunk God, and if they only\u00a0knew<\/i>\u00a0more, rational evidence would surely offset faith.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Read the rest here<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atheism is intellectually fashionable. In the past month,\u00a0The New York Timeshas run\u00a0several\u00a0stories\u00a0about lack of faith in its series on religion.\u00a0The New Yorker\u00a0ran an\u00a0article\u00a0on the history of non-belief in reaction to\u00a0two\u00a0new books\u00a0on the subject that were released within a week of each other in February. The veteran writer, Adam Gopnik, concludes this: What the noes, whatever […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Atheism is intellectually fashionable. In the past month, The New York Timeshas run several stories about lack of faith in its series\" \/>\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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atheism is intellectually fashionable. In the past month, The New York Timeshas run several stories about lack of faith in its series\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-15T21:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Contributor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html\",\"name\":\"The Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-15T21:05:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-15T21:05:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\"},\"description\":\"Atheism is intellectually fashionable. In the past month, The New York Timeshas run several stories about lack of faith in its series\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2\",\"name\":\"Guest Contributor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Guest Contributor\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism","description":"Atheism is intellectually fashionable. In the past month, The New York Timeshas run several stories about lack of faith in its series","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\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism","og_description":"Atheism is intellectually fashionable. In the past month, The New York Timeshas run several stories about lack of faith in its series","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2014-03-15T21:05:00+00:00","author":"Guest Contributor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Contributor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html","name":"The Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-03-15T21:05:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-15T21:05:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2"},"description":"Atheism is intellectually fashionable. In the past month, The New York Timeshas run several stories about lack of faith in its series","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/03\/the-intellectual-snobbery-of-conspicuous-atheism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Intellectual Snobbery of Conspicuous Atheism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/2869b699bf0e57982cb1f212243705f2","name":"Guest Contributor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5010a3cc274cdb37811bf24de46dc280?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Guest Contributor"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}