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 3 of 62)
31. Yes pschiell, you deny that there isn't a god because you fear there isn't one, and you deny that death is final because you fear the finality of death.
Knight_of_BAAWA at 7:17PM on Sep 26th 2007
32. Beliefs in the supernatural, such as those endorsed by D'souza are absurd. The scientific and rational paradigm has prevailed post-Darwin and Nietzsche among thinking people everywhere. D'souza will be no match for Hitchens, much less for someone really smart like Richard Dawkins.
Having said that, spirituality or religious sentiment (not BELIEF) is in our DNA just as empathy, fear, anger and the rest of our emotional repetoire is. For a view on how atheists can remain true to their minds while expressing their religious sentiments see http://www.atheistprayer.blogspot.com
ACortázar at 8:05PM on Sep 26th 2007
33. Strange that all your articles somehow always end up plugging one of your stupid books.
derek danyal at 7:23PM on Sep 26th 2007
34. @ David S. ...#22
Exactly... I didn't even notice that, it is so obvious!!!
But Christians are willing to batter out their disdain for that old man and the atheists commenting...
... and completely ignore DD's baldfaced LIES!!! ...
... maybe they are all shifting the goal-posts on that one and imagining that DD is talking about 'knowing' in the 'Biblical' sense... lol
... oops... Ann Coulter...
pboyfloyd at 7:38PM on Sep 26th 2007
35.
These things should be called AD HOMINEM s not blogs--name calling mostly. but I checked Di Sousa's
references to mentions of Jesus--and they are solid.
He can also add to his list: Lucian;Philo;and the
Babylonian Talmud.Jesus and his sect were known and documented in the Classical period.Period
TOMMAS KOEHLER at 7:50PM on Sep 26th 2007
36. I watched the video again... and I gotta tell you Christians that you should be applauding this guy!!!
Imagine if it makes people wonder... you know... those 'lost sheep'... those prodigal sons and daughters...
... then they look at the actual evidence... decide for themselves...
...maybe read DD's post and the here on it...
... if you guys and gals think that your religion can stand up to solid reason, logic and common-sense...
... after all you must be optimists... you think that you are going to live on after you die...
... think about that logically... after you are really(times 10 to the power infinity) DEAD...
... you know.. a stiff, a corpse, a body, 'tits-up', 'game over', kicked the bucket...
... somehow, using Christian logic... you are not really(times 10 to the power infinity + 1) DEAD...
...you are just with Christ.
I wonder if you imagine it as some kind of 'rat-out' fest... you know... "He shouldn't be HERE 'cos he cheated on me!"... or "... stole from me!"...or "... murdered me!"... like that?
pboyfloyd at 8:05PM on Sep 26th 2007
37. D'souza,Christianity like any religion has its origins,tell me,Sir,and the your reading public, " what parts of Christ's anatomy were human, and what patrs were superhuman".The fact that he existed is known,the fact that he died is known-why not seek the honest answer from those of his religious community that wanted him crusified,and why? their answer might enlighten you!They are still waiting for their 'Mesiah'. You cannot empower believers or non believers by fictional fact chucking and hope that something will stick.We may be down to fairies,angels and santa claus, after all there are many who honestly believe in their existance too.This may be material for your next book,we all wait in silence.
Kevin at 8:22PM on Sep 26th 2007
38. Hitchens has a covert agenda we would all do well to remember when weighing his actions and words. Far beyond his interest in any political position is an abiding, seething hatred of any and all religions.
This obsession taints his judgment to a degree seldom observed in an otherwise rational, secular
commentator.
One would need to search the roster of rabid fundamentalists to locate an equal to Hitchen's capacity for wrath. Lurking demons must torment his sober moments unmercifully and can only be kept at bay with endless rhetorical incantations and magical ranting. His protestations fairly reek of the most profound superstitious claptrap imaginable.
Behold The Hitch: whiskey priest for the un-godly; foaming secular jihadist and holy warrior of the unholy. Take him on!
Robert Magill at 8:35PM on Sep 26th 2007
39. I'm an agnostic. I don't believe anyone alive can possibly know if there is a God or not.
But when a believer stops talking about belief and faith and starts talking about facts, proof and the Bible being "God's word", they have lost all credibility with me.
FL Chick at 8:29PM on Sep 26th 2007
40. Now how did I know that Dinesh D'Souza wrote this only by the title? Oh, because it denegrates atheists.
Brian Westley at 8:59PM on Sep 26th 2007
41. Relevant to #14, I think Dinesh actually describes a very good well researched rebuttal to the ridiculous notion that Christ may not have existed.
It is important to never put down another person based on their efforts at scholarship. It is entirely possible that another life form could show up with a minimum IQ of 3 billion and all of us would be less than ants by comparison. Any self congratulation is based on relativism. I applaud anyone that tries to make a point and think Dinesh is doing quite well, and criticism of a first grade "put down" variety is very unhelpful.
Furthering the issue of Jesus and Christianity, I find it ironic that so few scholars and intellects embrace Christianity or at least certain elements of it. I find it not a logical methodology of reasoning in my opinion to conditionalize disdain for a religion based on certain perhaps arbitrary and isolated things about it you might not like whether it be the Crusades or the denial of evolution or certain televangelists.
Remember the particular prohet/philosopher/deity/leader named Jesus Christ, a young Jewish man from Bethleham never endorsed specific modern day preachers or political agendas. What he did do in point of fact whether you treat him as Lord and Saviour or just a great thinker is lay down an amazing unparalleled philosophy for life that if followed would actually result in much better lives for all of us. By this I refer specifically among thousands of Jesus' teachings to "love your neighbor as yourself, and be kind to those who persecute you." and "turn the other cheek" when struck on the one cheek. Imagine a world that really followed these most excellent and wise teachings instead of filtering out the greatness of these ideas based on personal prejudice and dislike of particular Christians or the Christian historical experiental journey through the modern-day Western world.
friendlychap777 at 8:54PM on Sep 26th 2007
42. # 39 "love your neighbor as yourself, and be kind to those who persecute you."
Most religious teach essentially the same principles about how to treat other people. It's common morality, not Christianity. Don't give a single religion too much credit.
# 37: "But when a believer stops talking about belief and faith and starts talking about facts, proof and the Bible being "God's word", they have lost all credibility with me."
I agree wholeheartedly. I don't hate religion or religious people. Case in point: I am an atheist, while my best friend is a conservative Christian. I respect her beliefs because I understand that it is one way of believing that things are always going to be okay in the end. She respects my lack of belief because she knows that I am an intensely *moral* person, regardless of my rejection of personal religion. The Pat Robertsons of the world are the people that make me want to destroy something. Namely my television when I accidentally flip to the 700 Club.
Heather at 11:33PM on Sep 26th 2007
43. Karl Marx said that religion was the opiate of the masses and how right he was. They all preach love and kindness while they spend all of their time killing each other.
Rick at 9:05PM on Sep 26th 2007
44. What I am finding here is denigration of what or what not one chooses to or to not believe in.
To trivialize any person's beliefs or lack of belief is just childish mudslinging and he said, she said hystrionics.
Grow the hell up and try to put your anger and hatred to better use. (sarcasm intended )
rhodalee at 9:22PM on Sep 26th 2007
45. loved the chimp in charge...i would just like to be able NOT to practice religion as admantly as those that do...look into the sky...do you see him/her..oops ...thats a dying star
tina naff at 9:57PM on Sep 26th 2007