Atheists: No God, no reason, just whining

From Charlotte Allen in the LA Times:

I can’t stand atheists — but it’s not because they don’t believe in God. It’s because they’re crashing bores.

No doubt this will offend a lot of atheists, but those she mentions – and others – never seem to mind hurling insults at Christians.  As I have said before, I’m really glad these folks have come out in support of intolerance; these days, it’s a rare item.  As G.K. Chesterton said, “Tolerance is the virtue of a man with no convictions.”

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5 Responses to Atheists: No God, no reason, just whining

  1. I have a lot of bad days, too.

  2. I’ve never supported tolerance, actually.

    Me neither. Fuzzy-headed liberal BS, IMnsHO.

    Love and acceptance I’m in favor of…

    Me too. On a good day. On a bad day, righteous indignation.

  3. me says:

    There was a typo in the Chesterton quote, now corrected. I’ve never supported tolerance, actually. Love and acceptance I’m in favor of… tolerance is a poor substitute.

  4. It seems odd that you would approvingly cite an instance of “intolerance” (i.e. criticism) in support of tolerance.

    PZ Myers rebuttal: Why is Charlotte Allen so mad at atheists?:

    What, exactly, is the greatest crime of modern atheists?

    We’re boring.

    I can’t actually argue with that. It’s true. We’re all just ordinary people — your neighbors, your friends, your relatives. I know atheists who are accountants, real estate agents, schoolteachers, lawyers, soldiers, journalists, even ministers (but don’t tell their congregations!). Our leading lights are college professors, scientists, philosophers, theologians and other such pedantic, scholarly riffraff. For entertainment, they read books, and if they want to do something ambitious and dramatic, they write books. I’m one of them, so trust me, I know — we don’t exactly live the James Bond lifestyle. Calling us boring is a fair cop. …

    She should drop the pretense that the objectionable part of our character is our lack of excitement. What really annoys Allen is that in our books, blogs and media appearances, we challenge religious preconceptions. That’s all we do. It’s admittedly not exactly a roller-coaster ride of thrills, but it does annoy the superstitious and the fervent true believers in things unseen and unevidenced. We are also, admittedly, often abrasive in being outspoken critics of religious dogma, but it’s also very hard to restrain our laughter and contempt when we see the spectacle of god-belief in full flower.

  5. Steve Martin says:

    “I can’t stand atheists — but it’s not because they don’t believe in God. It’s because they’re crashing bores.”

    That is rich! And in so many cases, quite accurate.

    I think they might be tied with the super-pious for the title of ‘biggest bores’.

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