Thread by @PnictogenHorses

I am not an #atheist

my daughter Alyx Woodward is, however—she's also the daughter of a *god*, but has ambitions of proving—somehow—either that Loki does not exist, or can be reduced to a superfluity, a mere error term in an equation somewhere, perhaps. gods *annoy* her.

~Mona

I'm not an atheist but neither am I religious. I feel no particular need to act upon my spiritual beliefs, which are at any rate quite vague. I may be a unicorn, but I'm also rather practically minded; I leave religious matters to Chara and Kris and their various friends.

~Mona

I will tell you, however, that I have little respect for #atheism, the way it's currently done.

its loudest exponents are shallow, superficial, ignorant (and profoundly racıst) men like @michaelshermer and @RichardDawkins, who show no clear understanding even of science.

~Mona

more to the point, however, I do not think that the @michaelshermer / @RichardDawkins style of "New #Atheism"—the #evangelical form of modern atheist, you could say, devoted to abrasive posturing and publicity—is any use. it's a worthless instrument against #Christianity.

~Mona

it's to be borne in mind, though, that the racısm which pervades "New Atheism" causes its bıgoted exponents like @RichardDawkins and @SamHarris to be remarkably *mild* towards #Christianity. they're fiercely antisemitic and Islamophobic, but Christians are their allies.

~Mona

there's so little real political difference between a right-wing "New Atheist" like @michaelshermer, and a right-wing evangelical con-artist like @dalepartridge or @PastorMark, that they might as well be allies: they both hate all the same targets, like LGBTQ+ persons.

~Mona

there's a deeper reason for the essential *futility* of @SamHarrisOrg / @danieldennett style "New #Atheism", however. it's a simple reason—and it betrays the great similarity between New Atheism and evangelical #Christianity:

they can't acknowledge that God is a *force*.

~Mona

one can reject the divinity of the #Christian God, but accept at the same time that "the Christian God" is a meaningful concept of *some sort*, an abstract and structured entity. one can *study* the God of #Christianity without accepting that there's anything godly in him.

~Mona

@RichardDawkins may be said to have attempted some rationalization of God or belief in God, with his coinage of "meme", but so far as I know Dr. Dawkins has never followed up on his speculative hypothesis about "memes"; one suspects that he never meant the idea seriously.

~Mona

I don't think @RichardDawkins or @SamHarrisOrg or any of this "New #Atheist" crowd really wants to *study God*.

they wish for "God" and "religion" to be regarded as meaningless things, mere noise, not worth any serious attention or analysis—in other words, it's *heresy*.

~Mona

by designating *all theology* as meaningless rubbish, not worth anyone's time, @SamHarrisOrg, @RichardDawkins, &c. have done the equivalent of declaring theology to be _heresy_—a forbidden topic that humans should avoid, because it might "infect" them, with memes I guess.

~Mona

again one suspects that Dr. @RichardDawkins came up with "meme" simply as a clumsy rhetorical trick—with his "meme" concept (for which he's never bothered to seek any physical confirmation or theoretical proof) he was able to compare "religion" to mere disease or sickness.

~Mona

#Christianity and #Christian ideologies have used the *same analogy* in reference to heresy—harsh and destructive persecutions and pogroms against "heresy" were routinely justified in terms of "curing" a spiritual sickness or rot by amputating the diseased "heretics".

~Mona

when @elonmusk (beneficiary of viral #marketing) blithers about leftism or wokeism being a "mind virus", he's really doing the same thing these old #Christian persecutors did when they justified the violent massacre of heretics.

"woke" is simply a way of saying "heresy".

~Mona

needless to say...for purported #atheists like @michaelshermer and @RichardDawkins to be adopting the same intellectual tactics as #Christian inquisitors is...not a good sign for #atheism.

for one thing it's a sign of fatal intellectual cowardice.

~Mona

if @RichardDawkins had any real confidence in the strength of his "meme" idea, if he really thought that he could somehow *refute* religious belief with a mechanistic explanation in terms of infectious and self-replicating ideas, then...he'd be doing THAT.

but he isn't.

~Mona

instead one is taken with the sensation that @RichardDawkins and @danieldennett and the rest of these dreary celebrity #atheists wish simply to stamp "VOID" on the concept of God and "religion", and run away before anyone can ask questions too difficult for easy answer.

~Mona

oh, they pick villains to attack in public, but they're all intellectual weaklings and comedy sideshow figures like @aigkenham, the celebrity "young Earth creationist" who likes doing publicity events alongside #atheist celebrities. both benefit from the arrangement.

~Mona

because that's another thing about @michaelshermer-style "New #Atheism": it's about 99% public relations, so they don't really *mind* posturing alongside a #Christian celebrity. they're helping spread the "mind virus" but still, no publicity is bad publicity, is it?

~Mona

that's roughly why I think modern-day #atheism is a joke—really it's just a branch arm of #Christianity, a pack of designated villains who have the conceit to think that they're the stars of the show. these "atheists" are too *afraid* to study God or religion very closely.

~Mona

ultimately the superficial @michaelshermer-style #atheist wants to believe a logical fallacy: they want to think that their vocal rejection of a concept means they've somehow gained full understanding of it.

obviously that's false…perhaps to Michael, it's not so obvious.

~Mona

I am *not* an atheist but I do reject #Christianity and the #Christian God; the cult of Jesus has been objectively one of the most destructive forces the world has ever known, a perpetrator of genocide, a friend to tyrants and police-states. it *must* be taken to pieces.

~Mona

and the only way to do that is by gaining a full understanding of Christianity and the Christian God, from a perspective *outside* its intellectual framework. my friend Chara (at @KrisAtLarge) has an insider's perspective—valuable, but also limited, unavoidably biased.

~Mona

#Christianity dominates "the West" and thereby all Earth—the obnoxious assertion of Western cultural supremacy, aided by the unequalled rapacity of Christian civilization for pillaging other nations and erasing their cultures, has spread #Christian values to every shore.

~Mona

even people who claim they've rejected the Christian God still adhere to a value system that was cemented into the Western mind through centuries of Christian indoctrination. "woke" is mere meaningless heresy to a @michaelshermer, because he's a "Christian #atheist".

~Mona

that's a self-declared atheist who nevertheless exhibits the same behavioral and cultural patterns as hardcore #Christians—because these cultural patterns are *all round us*, at all times. Western entertainment and media are saturated with crypto-Christian values.

~Mona

hucksters have done a land-office business in filing the serial numbers off #Christian intellectual and theological concepts, and reselling them as something secular. the Alcoholics Anonymous "twelve step" program is, for example, a secularized come-to-Jesus narrative.

~Mona

the popular Joseph Campbell "monomyth" is a #Christian narrative—it's a stultified, oversimplified heroic narrative rooted in mediaeval Christian chivalric romances, like the "Matter of France" (about the paladins of Charlemagne) and the "Matter of Britain" (about Arthur.)

~Mona

Western popular entertainment is overflowing with Chosen Ones—retooled Christ narratives.

@jk_rowling's execrable #HarryPotter books follow the pattern, for example: Potter is the benefit of great prophecies, walking a path chosen for him, and he suffers for our sins.

~Mona

it's important therefore—imperative to the survival of humanity—that we gain full intellectual *and* emotional understanding of #Christianity and the #Christian God.

if we wish to reject these things fully we need to be able to *see through them*, not just run from them.

~Mona.

the posturing of @michaelshermer and @RichardDawkins and the "New #Atheist" crowd is of no value in this fight to understand #Christianity.

beneath their shallow public images, their superficial rejection and ridicule of "religion", these men cling to #Christian values.

~Mona

Mr. @elonmusk, in his way, clings to #Christian values—he's done some atheistic posturing himself, and no doubt he tells people he's "too smart" to be religious, but I think it's rather easy to tell that Mr. Musk's public statements have almost no bearing on actual truth.

~Mona

in any case it wouldn't do well for Mr. @elonmusk to be too *loudly* atheistic these days—too many of his allies are #Christian bıgots, who have joined the #ElonMusk cult for one very important and fundamental reason:

secretly they hope he's the Second Coming.

~Mona Drafter

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