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 61 of 62)
901. God isn't life, or alive in that purpose, he only grants life.
anonimo at 7:32PM on Oct 9th 2007
902. But life can only come from life. Therefore, god must be alive.
Knight_of_BAAWA at 7:39PM on Oct 9th 2007
903. Who says life can always come from life?
FranzKafka at 7:43PM on Oct 9th 2007
904. and yes, just gotta break out 2 names on this one
FranzKafka at 7:44PM on Oct 9th 2007
905. keepitreal said so.
Knight_of_BAAWA at 7:50PM on Oct 9th 2007
906. Knight
Evolution is not about were God came from.It is however about Darwin's theory, and how he presumed life on earth to have beguin. I know it is beyond
your reasoning, But you don't have to make your self appear so Irrational.
keepitreal at 7:51PM on Oct 9th 2007
907. Well hes just not good at explaining, wat he should've meant was something along the lines of...
If God isn't real, then explain where the material that was used in the Big Bang came from, or any material in general. You could say it all came from atoms, or even protons, or even quarks and antineutrons; but then you still have to answer for where that matter came from. But anyway, life is said to just come from inherently unliving things, like 5 or so nucleic acids.
FranzKafka at 8:00PM on Oct 9th 2007
908. Rather than indulging you xians in your circular arguments, how about telling us why you can't agree on much of anything even amongst yourselves. Why doesn't your 'god' give you a simple syllabus so you can have just ONE church?
Captain Negative at 8:13PM on Oct 9th 2007
909. Rather than dodging the question by asking something stupid that deals with human fallability, how about you prove that you know what you're talking about.
FranzKafka at 8:19PM on Oct 9th 2007
910. Well Capitan,
Why doesnt your non- religion all agree. Complications. Politics. Personal differences. And just plain lies. Thats pretty much the reason with every disagreement, all or one, or whatever mix of the above.
Michelle at 9:39PM on Oct 9th 2007
911. keepitreal,
You're the one who said life only comes from life. And if god created us, who created god?
Knight_of_BAAWA at 9:40PM on Oct 9th 2007
912. I cant leave it at that number. Myaaa!
Michelle at 11:36PM on Oct 9th 2007
913. KNIGHT
God is life, And the life is within his self, He is the source of all life.
You say were did God come from, Were did the wind come from? You don't know were it come from or were it went, But you know it passed by. That is the same with God, you know when he come's to you. It is more than a belief it is knowing in truth when he revel's Himself to you.What I am telling you goes against all logic,But it still remain's the truth.God will not force His self on no one.
keepitreal at 12:11AM on Oct 10th 2007
914. If life can only come from life, god must have come from some other life, keepitreal. That's the way it works. Denying your premise only makes me laugh at you.
Knight_of_BAAWA at 1:06AM on Oct 10th 2007
915. Why does God have to come from some other life?
Why is it so difficult for you to believe that God is the source of all life? You continue to propose that their is some higher life form other than God.
Did you ever consider that it all started with Him and there is no other beyond Him. That would settle your delemma.
keepitreal at 4:26PM on Oct 11th 2007