01.08.08
A Fatal Flaw in the Argument by blog author, Margaret Johnston
When you hear members of The Faithful group saying “atheists” are bad people, condemned to eternal punishment, etc. there is one aspect of their argument that is fatally flawed. The group they are calling “atheists” are not the ones who would call themselves atheists. In most cases, real atheists are people who have taken the time to consider carefully what they believe. They may have been brought up in an organized religion, but as adults decided they do not need the supports religion offers. They would rather rely on what they can see and hear directly as opposed to accepting what they are told is true as The Faithful do. We call this group The Rational. The Faithful have no reason to fear members of The Rational group.
They are not at risk for wanton unprincipled behavior. They do not need to be converted to by The Faithful; they are not in need of being saved. These people do very well on their own without the limits imposed by the rules of a religion.
But, the ones The Faithful are reacting against, the ones they are calling evil, is a group that is totally unprincipled, people who truly do need saving. The Lawless are folks who, for the most part, never did have a religion. They may have been brought up in one, or not. But in either case, they never did submit to the laws of any church, or for that matter, the laws of society either. That is why we are calling them The Lawless. They are totally unsubmitted to anything other than their own will. These folks truly do need members of The Faithful group to reach them and convert them. They do need to be “born again” as their first birth did not seem to have a sufficiently civilizing effect on them.
If you view these groups hierarchically, then The Lawless is the lowest group and The Faithful comprise the next step up the ladder. The best thing that could happen to a “Lawless” person is to be pulled up to a “born again” position by a member of “the Faithful.”
But - higher up the ladder than The Faithful sit The Rational. These people no longer need the limits of a strict religion to define their lives. When a Faithful person tries to convert a Rational, it falls on deaf ears. The Rational person cannot understand why The Faithful person seems so determined to convert; does not see what all the fuss is about. Not all Rationals are atheists, but many are. They rely on reason to choose what they believe and for the most part, rely on their own well-internalized rules of self-governance to choose their behavior. There is about zero chance that the conversion efforts of The Faithful would ever pull these people down to a lower level.
There is another level above the Rationals - the mystics. These people mostly are religious or spiritual and we will discuss them later. But for now, the idea is that when you hear a Faithful type condemning an “atheist” what they are really reacting against is a “Lawless” not a “rational.” If only we could convince “the Faithful” of this!