The militant secularists and atheists have declared war against the rest of the world. But given that the overwhelming majority of mankind both now and in the past have been religious, have been theistic, and or have recognised that there is more to reality than just the material world, these militants are in a very small minority.
Nonetheless they have started a war, so they can expect to get a bit of resistance along the way. And this is not just some arcane debate here. Worldviews have real consequences and we have seen the consequences big time of the misotheists.
Last century alone millions upon millions of people were killed by regimes which were committed to these materialistic ideologies. And now they are working overtime in the West to impose their agenda on everyone else. They really are fightin’ fundies. They are evangelists and crusaders for their reductionist worldview.
Fortunately there are a few voices being heard, who will not allow them to get away with all this. While the Christian church should be doing its best to withstand the militants and to proudly proclaim their faith, often they are not. Thus it is amazing to find this Muslim woman saying what Christians ought to be saying.
One report begins this way: “A Muslim member of the House of Lords told Vatican officials today that Europe must beware of growing ‘militant’ secularism and become ‘more confident’ in its Christianity. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, a political appointee to the House of Lords and chairman of the Conservative Party, led a delegation of British ministers this week on a visit to the Vatican.
“‘For me one of the most worrying aspects about this militant secularization is that at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant. It demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes – denying people the right to a religious identity because they were frightened of the concept of multiple identities,’ she said.
“In a speech today to future Vatican diplomats at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy in Rome, Warsi quoted Pope Benedict’s speech at Westminster Hall in 2010, warning against an ‘intolerant’ and ‘militant’ secularization that is taking hold of British and other European societies.
“‘Too often there is a suspicion of faith in our continent. It all hinges on a basic misconception – that to create equality and space for minorities we need to erase our religious heritage,’ she continued. Referring to the many cases in recent years of secularists suing or harassing Christian believers, Warsi warned that Britain is sliding into a totalitarian mindset, ‘when signs of religion cannot be displayed or worn in government buildings; when states won’t fund faith schools; and where religion is sidelined, marginalized and downgraded in the public sphere’.”
She is of course exactly right. But the only troubling thing here is why are Christians not saying this? Why does it take a non-Christian to get enough courage and conviction to stand up and say what needs to be said? Why are the churches so silent on this?
A second example of a fightback also comes from the UK. While the militant atheist heavyweights seem to so often get a free ride as they dish out their nasty attacks on all things religious, they are sometimes properly called to account. There was a great piece in yesterday’s Telegraph in this regard.
It is a great read, and I here present the first half of the article to you: “Which of us hasn’t groaned when the Rev Giles Fraser, former canon of St Paul’s, pops up with his Thought for the Day on Radio 4? Dr Fraser is the archetypal 21st-century vicar, as predictably Lefty as he is drearily on-trend. That ‘former’ prefix is because, you’ll recall, he resigned after welcoming the Occupy protesters to his cathedral. And since leaving St Paul’s he has, in a form of caricature made flesh, become a Guardian leader writer. But I take it all back. Giles Fraser, you are now my hero.
“In a discussion on the Today programme yesterday, Dr Fraser skewered the atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins so fabulously, so stylishly, and so thoroughly that anti-religion’s high priest was reduced to incoherent mumbling and spluttering.
“The two men were debating some new figures produced by Prof Dawkins’s think tank, the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. (A typical Dawkins touch: not just any old Foundation for Reason and Science but the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.) The statistics purport to show that most people who identify themselves as Christian turn out, when questioned on what they actually think, to be ‘overwhelmingly secular in their attitudes on issues ranging from gay rights to religion in public life’. Dawkins’s conclusion is that these self-identified Christians are ‘not really Christian at all’.
“If you were trying to come up with a definition of misplaced intellectual arrogance, you could not do better than having the planet’s most famous atheist issuing diktats on who does and doesn’t count as a proper Christian. Prof Dawkins then announced, triumphantly, that an ‘astonishing number [of Christians] couldn’t identify the first book in the New Testament’. The transcript of the next minute or so only hints at how cringingly, embarrassingly bad it was for Dawkins.
“Fraser: Richard, if I said to you what is the full title of The Origin Of Species, I’m sure you could tell me that.
Dawkins: Yes I could.
Fraser: Go on then.
Dawkins: On the Origin of Species…Uh…With, oh, God, On the Origin of Species. There is a sub-title with respect to the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.
“It was a golden minute of radio. But as well as being hilarious, it was hugely symbolic. In The Daily Telegraph yesterday, Baroness Warsi highlighted the militant secularism on the march in Britain. But as Dr Fraser revealed, the atheist army is led by an embarrassingly feeble general. The arrogance and intolerance of the atheists, exemplified by Prof Dawkins, is their Achilles’ heel.”
Quite right. It is always great to see the false gods come crashing down to earth. They are ever so smug and cocksure. But if you think Dawkins got a hiding here, just wait till he really gets a good grilling – when he stands before his maker and gives an account of his foolishness.
As always, we must pray for these deluded folks, and hope that God will break through these tough nuts. But while we by all means pray for these guys, that does not mean we have to just lie down and let them roll all over us. I presented here two folks who are taking them on.
We need many more like them.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/intolerant-militant-secularism-has-europe-in-its-grip-british-muslim-barone?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=45abaa6271-LifeSiteNews_com_Intl_Headlines-02_14_2012&utm_medium=email
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9082059/For-once-Richard-Dawkins-is-lost-for-words.html
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