I really enjoyed watching the video below of a British atheist named Pat Condell. Supposedly addressed to "angry Christians," the video is actually more illuminating about atheists. Condell is ostensibly chastizing Christians for burning with inward rage and for secretly wanting people to burn in hell. Actually, I don't know a single Christian who fits this description, although perhaps there are some.
What is obvious for all to see is what a smug, self-satisfied character Condell is. On his website he boasts, "Hi, I'm Pat Condell. I don't respect your beliefs and I don't care if you're offended." Religion has its uses, he concedes. "I turn to it whenever I want my intelligence insulted." Ordinarily I wouldn't pay much attention to this guy, but in a strange way I think his attitude mirrors that of the big-name atheists like Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. If the televangelists are guilty of producing some simple-minded, self-righteous Christians, then the atheist authors are guilty of producing self-congratulatory buffoons like Condell.
Only Condell doesn't know he is a buffoon. He regards himself as super-sophisticated, a man of knowledge. Yet consider his argument in the video that Christ probably didn't exist. Condell says Christ's historicity is based on "hearsay." But all historical evidence is "hearsay," including the evidence for the existence of Voltaire and George Washington. In reality there is more evidence for Christ's existence than there is for the existence of most of the figures of the ancient world. Do you believe that Socrates existed? Alexander the Great? Julius Caesar? Think about this: we only know about Socrates because of Plato and Xenophon, and there are only a couple of sources for Alexander and Caesar. The documentary evidence for these men is limited to very few manuscripts which are sometimes dated centuries later. Yet no historian doubts that these men existed.
By contrast, Christ's existence is attested not only by the writers of the gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, who wrote in the first hundred years after Christ's death, but also because of Jewish, Greek and Roman sources, such as Josephus, Suetonius, Pliny, and Tacitus. There are innumerable early manuscripts of the gospels and they have been assiduously compared to establish their authenticity. The early church and its martyrs who risked death rather than renounce Christ all suggest that there was a man behind it all, a man who was crucified and who was believed by his disciples to have risen. Whatever you think of the miracles, no serious historian questions the historicity of Christ.
Next month my book What's So Great About Christianity hits the shelves, and atheists are going to find that they no longer have the public field to themselves. In fact, I'm scheduled to debate Christopher Hitchens in New York city October 22. So far Hitchens has been foraging around around the country beating up pastors who are unaccustomed to dealing with spear-chuckers like him. Mine is a book that will empower believers and challenge unbelievers. It meets skepticism and atheism on its own intellectual ground, which is the ground of reason and evidence. Michael Shermer, editor of "Skeptic" magazine, says of my book, "It takes the debate to a new level. Read it." And here is my old debating rival Stanley Fish, a noted scholar who hardly shares either my theology or my politics: "The great merit of this book is that it concedes nothing. Rather than engaging in the usual defensive ploys, D'Souza meets every anti-God argument head on and defeats it on its own terms. Infinitely more sophisticated than the rants produced by Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens, What's So Great About Christianity leaves those atheist books in the dust." If you are ready for the challenge, preorder the book here.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 62)
1. So, Dinesh, I've read several defenses of faith and Christianity recently. I am not an atheist, all of these arguments fall far short of rational or logical proof. I'll be interested i rading yours. I do have one question, though I have not read any of your specific comments on the subject of "intelligent design."
Why are Christians so opposed to evolution? Why can't God have created evolution? I'll look for your answer on that.
John Nestico at 3:20PM on Sep 26th 2007
2. hah hah hah - another lame plug for D'Idiot's book.
Well, obviously he has not hung out with some of the more ridiculous God-Nazis that are happy to tell people they are hellbound and smile at you because they know they will get their heavenly reward for .
Like the Church in Texas that was all set to give a Gulf War vet a funeral as a war hero (y'know, the kind that shoots people dead) until they discovered he was...gasp...a homosexual. Then they slammed the doors shut in the family's face.
Or Ann KKKoulter, who claims that "Liberals" can't be Christians. Or our illustrious Chimp In Chief, who claims he talks to God and then strips US citizens of their rights while allowing Chistian Bizpigs to make poor people poorer (like the Enron crew and MCI/Worldcom faith based fraud Bernie Ebbers). And let's not forget tyrants like Amahadinejad, who thinks his God can kick your God's butt.
Good Christians all, they claim. Thanks to them - and smug self righteous turds like D'Idiot - athesim looks better and better to people each day.
Tim at 3:20PM on Sep 26th 2007
3. There are a couple of problems with D'Souza's reasons why Jesus must have been real. First, just because there are multiple copies of the Gospels (which, by the way, have quite a few differences between them) doesn't make them any more true. There are multiple copies of Shakespeare's plays, but that doesn't make the stories they tell true. Second, if he did even a little research, D'Souza would know that most respected historians discount the references to Jesus by the writer's he listed in his article. The reference to Jesus be Josephus is generally considered to be NOT written by him but added later by some other person. I am interested in taking a look at his book, though, to see if he really has any good arguements or if it's just rehashing the weak and incoherent thought processes of all other religious quacks. By what's in this article and other articles I've read by him, I truly doubt it says anything substantial.
Aaron at 3:36PM on Sep 26th 2007
4. I'm buying your book... once I can garner up enough cash from my crappy part-time job. Note: Being a college student is not good for wallet growth.
Tony Messinger at 3:49PM on Sep 26th 2007
5. Mr. Nestico above (comment #1) asks the following
He asks Mr.D Souza for his comments on intelligent design then he asks why are Christians so against evolution? and couldn't God have worked thru the evolutionary system...These are my answers to those 2 important questions:
I have met Christians who are scientists who have a RANGE of views on the process they believe God used - and uses- to form the world. They range from 24 hour days to long eons of time (as the Hebrew word for day apparently can be translated for eon of time) to those who are Christian but who believe God used the evolutionary process as described by materialist evolution scientists. I guess the answer is...there's a range of discussion (and disagreement on the exact PROCESS of creation amongst believers in God who are scientists.
As to "intelligent design" (speaking again for myself and my personal understanding), scientists who believe in "intelligent design" believe that the creation around us...whether galaxies, jungles, or even the tear duct or cell...show evidence of design and thus an intelligence behind their forming. They are not just of one faith...some might even be agnostic.
Intelligent design scientists have a range of views on evolution, usually between two main choices "macro" or "micro" evolution. Many might not realize---ID scientists range in their beliefs about who the "intelligent designer" is. Some would believe in the Christian God, some in an unnamed deity, some are just not sure who....but sense a designer's hand behind the intricate details of Creation.
and some (like Ben Stein...) might be a devout Jew who will come out soon with a film which will point out how some scientists and colleges & institutions are censoring out even the DISCUSSION of "is there a design behind the galaxy, the world, the Double Helix?"
vikingmother at 4:10PM on Sep 26th 2007
6. Here's another alternative. There was a street preacher with enough charisma to gather a small following. He ran afoul of the authorities, and was executed. His followers became a cult and started the Legend of Jesus, with virgin births, water walking, rising from the dead, water into wine, etc., -- in other words the kind of stuff which would impressive primitive mentalities.
That's as far as it would go, except, a particularly brutal Roman emperor, liking the ideas of forgiveness for all the atrocities for which he was guilty, made Christianity the official Roman religion. Then this cult really took off and is still around today.
This is a highly probable scenario since we see charismic people gathering people around them all the time -- Jim Jones, the reverand Moon, David Koresh, John Smith, and on and on and on. All of these attracted a big following, but they have never had a powerful nation make their religion the official religion, so their cults rise and fall, except for the Mormons who made their own state.
Existence or non existence -- it doesn't matter. There is no reason to believe any of the supernatural crap that goes with the story since it is entirely plausible, in fact, in light of all the other examples that we see, that the story was fabricated over time.
infidel57 at 4:23PM on Sep 26th 2007
7. We could explain creation to you,Nestico, but you wouldn't understand. Your mind is closed.
Dwight at 4:37PM on Sep 26th 2007
8. All I can say... is good luck with Hitchens on Oct. 22nd. Faith cannot argue against Fact and win, ever, especially if your saying you're approach is on an intellectual level. Faith completley disregards intelligence, it's very survival is based on ignorance. So again, good luck!
If you even make some sort of headway in using intelligence to defend faith, then you are better than most that believe.
Nick H at 4:49PM on Sep 26th 2007
9. I love reading your blogs. I'm sure your book will be great.
To the people who desire proof that Jesus is the son of God, there is no proof. There is only faith based on the fact that God loved you so much he decided to send his only son so that you could live with Him forever.
To address the question about evolution... people are made in God's image with souls. Animals are not. God's Word is clear about creation and not evolution. It even tells of dinosaurs.
Don't really want to argue with anyone just want everyone to know the truth.
Any questions, hit me at princeyenrah@netscape.net
princeyenrah at 4:39PM on Sep 26th 2007
10. Dinesh, atheism breeds a superiority complex and I don’t understand how it wouldn’t, but it’s the same thing to suggest that Christian’s believe that they are superior or “in on a secret” because they follow the word of God. People unlike themselves and those who do not follow their beliefs are sinful and ill-informed, and will not enjoy the same picturesque afterlife. Does anyone else see the correlation? You would do best not to talk as much about the atheist’s arrogant demeanor and more on the argument at hand, empirical, scientifically supported data against the word of men. It’s not necessarily about disproving the existence of certain figures in history so much about the outlandish claims of creation and the 7-day universe, women created out of a rib, and a virgin giving birth, and why they are so heavily accepted when tangible evidence suggests otherwise.
I think that the atheist point of view has more of a merit when it comes to this feeling of supremacy because they believe in what is proven by scientific, empirical date, things that can be seen, touched, and researched and are not purely found in a resource that has been translated and paraphrased in so many ways and interpreted to mean so many different things. Didn’t you feel smug and well-informed when you told your children that Santa Claus was in fact a fictional character? (Not to be-little Christianity but I believe that atheism looks at the life of Jesus in much the same way)
Also figures such as Alexander the Great and Socrates are not claimed to have performed miraculous acts of resurrection, curing the blind, or walking on water, I think those are poor examples to compare. Which is more believable, that a man claiming to be the Son of God was resurrected or in the case of Socrates, that a teacher sat down and wrote some philosophical theories?
If I claimed atheism as my own beliefs I would not question the existence of Jesus as a man talking and walking on Earth a long time ago, but I would also claim him to be just that, a man, a man ahead of his time, with amounts compassion and kindness that made him extraordinary during a time of such oppression and chaos.
Nice plug for your book by the way.
Student at 12:23AM on Sep 27th 2007
11. If I were facing a court trial, I would ask for a bench trial if there were any atheist on the jury. Atheists are incapable of evaluating evidence and coming up with valid conclusions. I would welcome a judge who posted the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. I would not hire a lawyer to plead my case. The Holy Spirit would be with me if I were truly not guilty. The Holy Spirit, according to the New Testament, would reveal to me what to say if I were required to appear in court and answer to false charges. Christians never lose. Christ has promised that. He is the source of the peace that passes understanding in a mixed up and troubled world seeking peace in alcohol and mind altering drugs, legal or illegal, whatever their choice. We Christians have all the really important things, all the things we really need. Christians aren't smug. Christians are certain about the truth they see.
Ronald B. Zeh at 4:47PM on Sep 26th 2007
12. Dinesh I love your blogs and I think your book will open eyes.
Question of Proof? There is no proof. Only faith that God loved you enough to send Jesus to die in your place so you could spend life with the true God forever.
Evolution? The Bible is clear about how God created us. People have souls, animals and plants do not. The Bible even tells of dinosaurs.
I don't want to argue with anyone. Just want everyone to know the truth.
Any questions? princeyenrah@netscape.net
Yenrah at 5:03PM on Sep 26th 2007
13. The best way to defeat a semi-credible argument is to plug a book that you want to be financially successful. I'm atheist and you're wrong.
ttttttttt1 at 4:53PM on Sep 26th 2007
14. Ummm, in response to #12: discarding proof in favor of faith is kind of silly. I mean, we are all entitled to our own beliefs, but we are not entitled to our own facts. A fact is fact, like it or not... and unfortunately for those who take the Bible literally evolution is becoming more of a fact every day (although I would argue that this actually happened when Darwin first suggested it).
I'm a Christian. I believe in God, and I strongly follow Christ's message. But just because I believe it and have faith does not make it an indisputable fact. I once had faith that Santa Claus came down my chimney gave me presents every December. But it was just my parents. The Christians once had faith that Earth was the center of the universe and that the sun revolved around it. This didn't turn out to be the case, and so Christianity adapted... and so far some churches like my own Catholic Church have done the same for evolution.
Plus, dismissing evolution kind of limits the power of God. It would be a more amazing feat if a creator were guiding an evolutionary process over timer rather than just saying poof, there it is.
Nobody has given me indisputable evidence against Christianity though, so until they do I will continue to believe it. But I'm not going to be ignorant and blind about it.
Oh yeah.... the bible never discussed dinosaurs. Ever. Dinosaurs were not known to human kind until the 1840's. The Christian Bible was written between roughly 2000BC and 1000AD.
Tony Messinger at 5:21PM on Sep 26th 2007
15. The Romans were meticulous with their historic
record keeping.No record of Jesus though.
BOB JOHNSON at 7:01PM on Sep 26th 2007