If literary critic Stanley Fish deconstructed anything, one might expect him to deconstruct Christianity. Instead Fish uses his unquestioned rhetoric skills to deconstruct atheism. Fish takes up the argument, advanced by Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, that belief in God is a kind of evasion. We avoid the responsibilities of this life by putting our hopes in another life. Religion makes us do crazy things.
Fish takes as an example of the Harris-Hitchens-Dawkins critique the behavior of Christian in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Christian becomes aware that he is carrying a huge burden on his back (Original Sin) and he wants to get rid of it. Another fellow named Evangelist tells him to "flee the wrath to come." Evangelist points Christian in the direction of a shining light. But Christian can't clearly see the light. Still, he begins to run in that direction. Bunyan describes his wife and children who "began to cry after him to return, but the man put his fingers in his ears and ran on, crying Life! Life! Eternal Life!"
For Harris, Hitchens and Dawkins, this is precisely the kind of crazy behavior that religion produces. Here is a man abandoning his duties and chasing after something he isn't even sure about. Fish writes, "I have imagined this criticism coming from outside the narrative, but in fact it is right there on the inside." Bunyan not only has Christian's wife and children imploring him to return, he also has Christian's friends struggling to make sense of his actions.
Fish comments, "What this shows is that the objections Harris, Dawkins and Hitchens make to religious thinking are themselves part of religious thinking. Rather than being swept under the rug of a seamless discourse, they are the very motor of that discourse." Citing the atheists' portrait of religion as unquestioning obedienece, Fish writes, "I know of no religious framework that offers such a complacement picture of the life of faith, a life that is always presented as a minefield of difficulties, obstacles and temptations that must be negotiated by a limited creature in the effort to become aligned with the Infinite."
Fish's conclusion: while religious people over the centuries have dug deeply into the questions of life, along come our shallow atheists who present arguments as if they first thought of them, arguments that Christians have long examined with a seriousness and care that is missing in contemporary atheist discourse. We can expect our unbelieving trio to react with their trademark scorn, but Fish has scored a telling point.
Reader Comments ( Page 17 of 17)
241. The atheist is the antipathy of peace and love? I see most organized religions today being the antipathy of peace, and it is possible for an atheist to love. I love my family, my girlfriend, my daughter, and my friends. I find true happiness in them, and the life I have created for myself. I know one day that this will all end, and that is why I try to make the best of it.
I once tried religion, because my mother forced it upon me when I was a child. I even believed myself to be a christian. These were truly my unhappiest years. I would pray to god every day, and ask him why I was going through such hardships, but my words fell on no ears. Then, one day, I realized there was nothing out there that could help me, but myself. Once I came upon this revelation, I became truly happy, something you say cannot exist in a man without god. I see myself, not as a god, but simply as one of 6 billion wandering this earth trying to find purpose and meaning in their lives.
clud at 1:32AM on Jul 15th 2007
242. And as for you Rennie, my sources are more reputable, because the person who made them looked at all possible sources before making a very well educated estimate. To take one single estimate as the truth is a bit silly when nobody really knows the truth.
clud at 2:12AM on Jul 15th 2007
243. The critical problem with atheism is its inherent limits. By definition having ruled out the possibility of the transcendent as a potential venue for inquiry it is limited to the capacity of what any person or group of person's may observe in the empirical sense of the word. Anything else is "irrational".
The problem is that the answer to the question "Why?" will never be anything more than the person asking it and in the end that's a very small answer for a very large question.
John the Fierce at 3:00PM on Jul 16th 2007
244. Clud wrote:
There you go again. Just because others don't indulge in your inaccurate and boorish presumptions of intellectual superiority does not mean we haven't done our homework.
In fact, you are a fine example of the description below:
Dinesh writes: "Fish's conclusion: while religious people over the centuries have dug deeply into the questions of life, along come our shallow atheists who present arguments as if they first thought of them, arguments that Christians have long examined with a seriousness and care that is missing in contemporary atheist discourse.”
RennieS at 5:23PM on Jul 17th 2007
245. I don't remember anyone saying that all atheists are/were bad. Unlike the prevailing notion that all religionists are, somehow responsible for so much bad as to condemn all of them.
Now, as for the 'not killing in the name of atheism', true, but the fact remains that they killed BECAUSE of their atheism.
Deny it and decry it.....truth is truth.
Anita Brown at 3:26PM on Jul 18th 2007
246. Rennie, stay in there. You make more sense than
all the atheists put together.
You back up every thing you say with reliable sources and stand on scientific and historical principles proven through knowledgable authors.
Much of the 'science' written in our kid's text books has been disproven long ago. Haekel's embryo's for one.
I was thinking the other day that if we PRETEND THAT THERE WAS NO SUCH THING AS A LIE, there would be no such thing as atheists, evolutionists nor far left wingers.
Some day we will be outa' here and we will leave the whole thing to them for a while. Bet they won't like it!!!!!!!
Atheists have educated themselves right out of
reality, facts, truth, and common sense.
They are good for a lot of fun argueing with them.
God bless them for that.
Anita Brown at 3:45PM on Jul 18th 2007
247. Throughout the whole world we observe that the PURPOSE or the reason for the creation of ANYTHING
is determined before it is designed and built.
The irreducible complexity gives that entity the ability to live, sustain viability, and fulfill its purpose. If a non believer thinks otherwise, I want to know what he might leave out of any living thing and still have that viability and sustaining of life. Also the functions required to fulfill its
purpose on this earth.
If you know how to name the parts of a simple cell,
what CAN be eleminated and still have viability and fuction? Leave out the cell membrane....dead.
Go ahead, name something. Yet you decry Behe for pointing out that fact.
Without going to any school, the beaver knows how to build a dam, a bird knows how to build a nest, a
butterfly knows how to migrate to mexico without a map or compass, a bee knows how to make honey and build a geometricly perfect comb, and so on for thousands of other animals and insects.
The laws of probilities show us the astounding
non chance of even the smallest of life coming into existance through random chance.
Forming the most basic type of protein molecule classified as living is composed of about 400 linked amino acids plus protons, neutrons, and electrons. Golay says that the chance formation
of even the simplist replicating protein is 1 in 10 to the power of 450. There are too many words to go further. This is just one example.
We find it mathmatically impossible for even the most elementry life to have arisn by chance.
There must be a GREAT INVENTOR somewhere.
This is science in all its truth and structure.
It cries to the universe, "There is a God!"
Anita Brown at 4:32PM on Jul 18th 2007
248. Clud said
To take one single estimate as the truth is silly when no one really knows the truth.
Very true .
Anita brown said they kill because of their atheism deny it and decry it--- truth is truth.
What makes this the truth ? No one has proven any part of it and no one will. Just as no one will ever prove any thing from your bible,since not one word of it is eye witness facts. It is 100 percent after the fact ,handed down information which can not be proven . Common sense tells you that 50 percent is mathematically and physically impossible. And the remainder is questionable. I challenge you to prove me wrong about it. You see i know your bible probably as well as you do. I go into everything with an open mind in order to reach my decision. You cant make an honest decision on anything unless you know the facts from both sides. I expect i will get the same reaction from you that i got from Rennie. I put a few questions to him and a while back and he droped his tail and ran like a rabbit.
Let me bring up one more thing, believers keep talking about killing , mass murders and such by atheist , because of atheism or in the name of atheism.that is a big crock and you know it. Let me remind you of the Salem, Massachussets witch hunts where thousands of innocent people were hunted down and killed by the churches (and numerous other incidents in the past similar to this) We cant blame these things on you because you are a believer, no more than you can blame the murders you speak of on the atheist. Fact is it is all due to Ignorance, greed And the attempt to force ones beliefs onto another. Im not trying to change what you believe. I am simply trying to get you to show me the same consideration . Think what you want to of me But quit banging on my door and trying to force this on me.
Be objective, have an open mind, study both sides and rule out the impossible, see then what you have lift. maby then you will at least understnd why i believe the way i do.
mack H at 2:16PM on Jul 19th 2007
249. To Anita;
Your post 246 is absolutely eloquent and oh-so-true!
RennieS at 2:44AM on Jul 22nd 2007
250. mack H said;
"What makes this the truth ? No one has proven any part of it and no one will. Just as no one will ever prove any thing from your bible,since not one word of it is eye witness facts. It is 100 percent after the fact ,handed down information which can not be proven ."
Wrong. No eye witnesses alive today to American Civil War, but I'll bet you have faith in the fact that there was such a thing. Using your criteria, is that wise? As I stated in an earlier post, while it is true that not all sociopaths are serial killers, and not all atheists are mass murderers, it is also true that all serial killers are indeed sociopaths, and all tyrannical, communist, atheistic dictators are mass murderers.
Also, your ax cuts both ways regarding eye witness accounts. Shouldn't you say the same regarding the theory of evolution? Despite the astounding advances in science, absolutely no one has been able to offer any credible theory regarding how life began, as there is no such thing as self-replicating DNA outside of living cells or a "creator" in a laboratory. Theory of evolution absolutely depends on proving spontaneous replication is possible, despite the fact that so far science has only proven it is impossible.
RennieS at 3:14AM on Jul 22nd 2007
251. Mack H wrote;
"Let me bring up one more thing, believers keep talking about killing , mass murders and such by atheist , because of atheism or in the name of atheism.that is a big crock and you know it. Let me remind you of the SalemMassachussets witch hunts where thousands of innocent people were hunted down and killed by the churches"
Mack, please tell us how 20 deaths via Salem witch trials turned into THOUSANDS of deaths. I can't wait to hear how your public school text books lied to you. Or did you just pluck that figure out of thin air?
RennieS at 3:26AM on Jul 22nd 2007
252. Mack....My answer to you is too detailed to go into now. I wllsay this, you have made my life a lot more interesting. Thanks.
Rennie....Thanks for your encouragement and above all thanks for your awesome answers.
Some people here think we have the power to force them to believe as we do.
They surely do know how to charge one's battery.
I could pound on my chest and give the Tarzen yell.
Cough, cough, cough.
I resprct anyone's right to believe anything they want but claims not backed up and refusal to look into actual archeology and ancient sctipts, proven to be authentic, is below my respect meter.
Seems that most everyone has left this blog.
I hope not...they are so much fun.
Anita Brown at 12:28PM on Jul 22nd 2007
253. Well Anita, this is getting too much like shooting fish in a barrel! I believe it is time to move on and find something a bit more challenging. Keep up the good work, and best of luck to you in your endeavors!
RennieS at 3:36PM on Jul 23rd 2007