If you have read atheist propaganda then you probably have heard the expression, "free thinker." Atheists often like to wear on their sleeves the banner "free thinker." They do this to claim that they are not attached to any ideology and can be free to question things and come to their own conclusions.
The term is meant to be an attack against theists who atheists see as being bound by religious rhetoric and not allowed to think freely by their ministers. To atheists, religious people are "brainwashed" by pastors or ministers and are not allowed to think for themselves. They are made to sit in the pews and listen without questioning.
Atheism is then presented as the "anti-dote" to this brainwashing by classifying it as a way of free thinking. The atheist logic here is that by rejecting God, religion and taking a position of skepticism, a person can be free to think and question without fearing the wrath of God, hell, or punishment from a religious body. The question is: are atheists "free thinkers?" My answer to this is no. Coming from an atheist background I can speak to the fact that atheists do not freely think.
The term "Free Thinker" comes from philosopher Anthony Collins who wrote the book, "A Discourse of Freethinking, occasioned by the Rise and Growth of a Sect called Freethinkers." The book attacks priests and promotes deism in the name of "free thinking." Collins was a man of the so-called "enlightenment" period. He along with John Locke and others wrote extensively on reason and questioned the events surrounding their time. Eventually, Thomas Pain(e) would follow with his own works such as "Common Sense" and "Age of Reason."
Naturally, atheists hijacked this momentum and are adopting it as their own. They call themselves the "Free Thinkers" or "Rationalists." However, they are merely repeating the same rhetoric of men before them. The atheists of today repeat the same refuted arguments as those from the past. Even on Twitter, atheists there repeat phrases from Hitchens and Dawkins only to them describe themselves as "Free thinkers." How can one be a "Free thinker" if one is repeating a phrase or argument from another?
This is where atheists fail at "freely thinking." To date, there has been no atheist who has formulated an original argument against the existence of God or strong critique of the "evils" of religion. I have even started a contest and not one atheist has offered to participate. As stated before, they just repeat what they heard before. Take Blessed Mother Teresa for example. Christopher Hitchens wrote, "Missionary Position" in which he trashes Mother Teresa and her work with the poor. He insults her as being a hypocrite and a psychopath enjoying the suffering of the sick and poor. The book is relatively short and an easy read. In the book he describes the supposed conditions at the hospices run by Mother Teresa's order and claims Mother Teresa enjoyed to watch people suffer and die while having the best medical treatment for herself.
The book seems like a shocker - an expose of this great nun right? Wrong! There are no references, citations, or bibliography whatsoever in the book. This is a mortal sin in academia! A professor will give an automatic F to any student who turns in a paper without sources. Moreover, the book is written like a work of fiction that usually does not need citations. Hitchens just writes away all these accusations expecting the reader to take his word on good faith. An academic or educated person would throw the book out as hogwash because it provides no sources or backup for his claims. However, many atheists literally believe this book and trash Mother Teresa without ever seeing any evidence of what Hitchens accused Mother Teresa of! There goes the "Free thinker" out the window along with skepticism...
Not once do they question Hitchens' accusations nor demand evidence like they do with theists regarding God. They simply and blindly accept Hitchens' work as legitimate and accurate. This is not free thinking! This is gullibility. What happened to being skeptical? How can the power of Hitchens' celebrity be enough to give credibility to his work without evidence? Is this what a true atheist does - believe things on faith? No way! Atheists are supposed to question things and ask for evidence. However, they are mute when it comes to Hitchens' work attacking Mother Teresa. Thankfully, not all atheists are naive like those found on the internet. Atheist journalist Brendan O' Neill defended Mother Teresa against Hitchens' and "new atheists" who attack her without evidence.
Furthermore, if you go on youtube and look at debates with atheists and theists, particularly Lawrence Krauss, William L. Craig, Christopher Hitchens, "Aronra," etc, they all use the same arguments to defend atheism! There is no originality in them. They simply copy something and make it their own. From the "3000 gods" argument, to the "natural processes shows no need for God," these people use the same refuted arguments over and over. It is obvious that they either read them beforehand and found it to be the "dogma" of atheism. These fallacious arguments are common among internet atheists, but are not found in academia, usually.
Moreover, even blogs from atheists such as "Rosa Rubicondior" who was banned from Twitter relies on the same arguments others have made. "Rubicondior" takes specific science news stories and adds an atheist twist to them that the science news never intended. He then comes to the conclusion that atheism is rational and theism is not. Most of the time, he gets the science wrong and the arguments do not flow well as he tries to make atheism into a branch of science which is not what science is about. His entire blog is pure sophism. It only caters to uneducated atheists. My former professor's blog is way better, academic and caters to the educated: rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com
Lastly, even on Twitter, some atheists are quick to believe lies made against yours truly. Ever since "Rosa Rubicondior" lost his debate with me and was permanently banned, he has hated me with much passion. He has written many posts on his blog attempting to link me to many Twitter accounts and to a high school student. His friends who still use Twitter, patrol trends on Twitter looking for "Sacerdotus." They pick out random Twitter accounts and harass them claiming them to be me or a reincarnation of me. It is hilarious and disturbing at the same time. Just look at this: https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=sacerdotus%20account&src=typd
In this link, you will see the many caricature atheist accounts wondering which account on Twitter is "Sacerdotus" and identifying specific ones as belonging to me. I can feel the love guys, thanks! :-) I feel like a celebrity now with my paparazzi waiting to catch a glimpse of me. Anyhow, one or two atheists pinpoint an account and say it is "Sacerdotus" the rest jump on the boat and believe it! This is not "Free thinking" nor skepticism. A true atheist or skeptic would ask for hard evidence and not take anyone's word for it.
In closing, Krauss, Aronra, Hitchens, Dawkins, Rubicondior et. al, are not free thinkers at all. They simply borrow old refuted ideas and add verbiage to them. If these people and other atheists were "Free thinkers," they would not shut out any evidence for God, nor faith. A free thinker is not afraid to assimilate any information presented to him or her. These atheists are anchoring themselves to atheistic rhetoric and once they do that, they cease being free. A free thinker is not afraid to explore everything, including God and faith. Sitting behind a computer screen or pulpit during a debate saying God doesn't exist while not even considering the evidence for God is NOT "Free thinking." It is "Free Complacency."
A free thinker begins at "tabula rasa" or on a blank slate. He or she then builds upon that slate with logic and reason. Atheists do not do this. They start from old atheist arguments and refuse to move from there. It is the equivalent of a kid covering his ears shouting "lalalala I can't hear you." Any atheist who claims to be a free thinker is only fooling him/herself. An atheist who won't even bother to process any evidence or arguments for God is set in his/her ways just like a theist so therefore he/she cannot accuse a theist of being a "bounded thinker" for both are one and the same.
Atheists are often loquacious with religious hate and unfounded accusations, but mute on their own apologia. Atheism is not a haven for free speech, but a haven for bigotry and ignorance.
Sacerdotus - "Come now, let us reason together." Isaiah 1:18
Friday, April 25, 2014
Atheists are not "Free Thinkers"
Labels:
Atheism,
Atheist,
Atheists,
free thinkers,
free thinking,
Philosophy
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Grand slam! I was blown away by this article. Many of the things you have said I have also heard before but I have never thought of a rebuttal this good to the "Free Thinker" analogy.
ReplyDeleteAs a theist, I am kind of worried about my own confirmation bias, in my wanting to agree with your article. I don't want to lie and say I didn't like it either nor do I want to pretend my position is superior to anyone else's including atheism. In all honesty, I do believe on faith but with that said I don't believe it's blind faith but reasonable faith. My position is that I believe God is Perfect Goodness itself. Even though I believe this as a Christian I know I'm far less than perfectly good as comparison. I don't like to judge others because in doing that it seems like I'm presenting myself with a sort of pride (as if I am somehow better)? Nevertheless, I loved this article but not because you were pointing out atheist propaganda but because you defended believers. It made me feel good to see someone saying believers are also free thinkers which I deeply believe is true. Maybe not all of us but a lot of us.
I think atheist are right when they say you should question your beliefs but I also feel that some beliefs are right whether they are questioned or not. I truly believe in a higher power of goodness. I believe it's out there and we all feel it and desire it. We all want to be good and have good things happen to us.
Anyway, God Bless! Awesome article I learned many things from this....thanks.
Thank you.
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