Sunday, November 11, 2007

Top Rated Atheist Video on YouTube?



Here’s another fine example of the intellectual dishonesty which runs rampant in the liberal/atheist community. This nice, candy-coated little video, which attempts to belittle the Bible while making out atheists to be misrepresented by Christians, is nothing but pure propaganda, and the video itself actually presents an incomplete picture of the issues and people it features.

First of all, the divorce rate figure quoted by the video may be accurate, but it begs the question: can a survey really assess the commitment level of a respondent who claims to be a “Christian”? And what would the numbers look like if Christianity was taken more seriously by those claiming to be Christians?

Also, even though the number of atheists is 1/10th of the believing population, atheism seems no better at keeping people together than religion. A 21% atheist divorce rate vs. a 24% Christian divorce rate is well within a margin of error that makes the figures identical.

The list of prominent atheists in Academia and Entertainment that the video presents is certainly a sugar-coated display. I’ll cite specific examples from among the lot:

Noam Chomsky: Leading Public Intellectual of 2005? According to whom? Chomsky ‘s venomous anti-American rhetoric has made him a hero to Communist thugs like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

Richard Dawkins: a brilliant scientist, but an embarrassingly bad debater on theology. His defense of atheism on the debate floor has been trashed repeatedly.

Thomas Edison: He may have been a brilliant inventor, but he was personally rude, had very poor personal cleanliness habits, and he refused to accept the idea that using AC current was a far more efficient means for electrifying houses. Edison used his political influence in an attempt to destroy Nikola Tesla, his former employee, who had invented economical AC power generators, which were far more efficient and profitable than the DC power generators that Edison was selling to cities for home electrification. Tesla eventually beat Edison at the home power game.

Steven Jay Gould: Posted a survey that eminent scientists and people with a higher IQ are less likely to believe in God. However, Gould underplayed the role one’s upbringing has in influencing religious beliefs. Most believers, regardless of IQ, were brought up in religious households.

Carl Sagan: The famous author of “Cosmos” made a fool of himself before a Senate subcommittee on abortion when he inferred that the various stages of development of a human embryo represent a microcosm of evolution, and that a fetus wasn’t really “human” during that stage. Sagan’s argument was shot down by a geneticist, who proved that a fetus is human from the time of conception.

The video mentions Ernest Hemingway: the famous author was a drunk and a womanizer, who was married 4 times and had numerous extramarital affairs. He was also suggestively homophobic. The video also neglects to mention that Hemingway became a Catholic.

The list of celebrities is even funnier.

Marlon Brando: Married 3 times, had numerous children (including 3 out of wedlock), and was quietly bisexual. He died in poor health from complications arising from his obesity.

Seth Green: Creator and producer of the quirky and often anti-Christian cable program, Robot Chicken. Now THERE’s a positive contribution to society! Personally, I liked him better in the Austin Powers trilogy as Scott Evil, the only member of Dr. Evil’s gene pool that “runs like a girl”.

Angelina Jolie: Now there’ s a piece of work. Angelina has no problem adopting kids from complete strangers across the 3rd World, but she can’t muster up 5 words to say to her own dad, Oscar winner Jon Voight. She’s been married and divorced twice, shacks up with actor Brad Pitt and had his child out of wedlock, and is covered with an assortment of tattoos. That’s quite a series of accomplishments for someone only 32 years old. What a wonderful spokesperson for family values!

Dave Matthews: Multimillion dollar recording artist and spokesperson against corporate greed in the entertainment industry. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. He’s also another mantra-spewing leftist.

The video also mentions Susan B. Anthony, founder of the Womens’ Sufferage Movement. Although Anthony developed a distrust of organized religion, she never claimed to be an atheist.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, and the 70 billion dollars the 2 of them have donated to charity, is a favorite brag of atheists, and the video highlights this. Bravo! 70 billion dollars is a lot of money. However, the Salvation Army is the second largest welfare organization on Earth, and the services they provide are exceeded only by the United Nations.

The point is, this filmmaker bashed the Bible through the murder of scripture and tried to use this in defense of some notable atheists. Ironically, many of the people this video highlights aren’t exactly stellar examples of humanity, when you look a little deeper into their personal lives. When you add that to some factual inaccuracies in this video, and read all the wonderful reviews of this little piece of work, it makes you wonder if atheists really care about the truth, or does furthering their agenda take precedent?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ad Hominem much?

Translated from Latin to English, "Ad Hominem" means "against the man" or "against the person."

An Ad Hominem is a general category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this fallacy involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of person making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or the character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim). Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument the person in question is making (or presenting).

Bad-mouthing these people has no bearing whatsoever on the fact that they're all right.

The Stoogemaniac said...

Tu quoque, Anonymous?

Thanks for your demonstration of the common atheist trait of condescension by your-copy-'n'-paste description of an ad hominem fallacy. I know what an ad hominem attack is, thank you very much.

I'd venture to guess that 95% of all comments that Village Atheists make against religious believers are obscenity-laden ad hominem attacks.

Now, let's point out 2 logical fallacies YOU just committed in your ending statement: burden of proof, and begging the question.

Has it ever occurred to you that there is a reason I post the truth behind the characters of the people that atheists like to hold up as superior to Christians?

Atheists love to bash Christians as hypocrites and fools while holding themselves up as better examples of humanity. The video in YouTube attempted to poke a finger in God's eye by bashing His Word. I'm not denigrating the accomplishments of most of these atheists. I'm just showing that NO human being, believer or atheist, deserves to be placed on a pedestal in the eyes of a holy and righteous God.

Anonymous said...

could you tell me what you mean by this section?
Steven Jay Gould: Posted a survey that eminent scientists and people with a higher IQ are less likely to believe in God. However, Gould underplayed the role one’s upbringing has in influencing religious beliefs. Most believers, regardless of IQ, were brought up in religious households

I don't see how this goes one way or the other.

If anything your comment makes it evident that religion is not something we have from birth, but needs to be taught, and I'm not sure if you believe that is a good argument one way or the other or is irrelevant.

Zoo Knudsen said...

The point that atheists are no worse than the average Christian is more important in my opinion.

Christians often claim that atheists are inherently amoral/immoral, something which is objectively false. There are amoral/immoral atheists just as there are amoral/immoral Christians. If being religious doesn't necessarily equate to superior citizenship, humanity, etc, then it exists as just one potential aid in becoming a superior citizen/human which defeats some of the apologetic arguments for the existence of "God" doesn't it?

The Stoogemaniac said...

No, it doesn't, Zoo...

But nice try.

Thom True said...

While all you say may be true. I do not make judgment one way or the other, you have missed the point of the video. Which simply is that the verse from the Bible that calls non-adherents to that particular religion are fool and none do good. No matter who is used as an example, people like you would be able to attack them because like you and all people, we are merely people.

So without acknowledging that simple fact you miss the falsehood of that verse and a basic fallacy of religions in general. The religious make claims as fact that are lies.

I accurate version of the verse would be, "Everyone acts as a fool from time to time and everyone is viewed as a fool from time to time. No one does the good they wish too and they do bad which they wish they wouldn't do. Even following a religion doesn't make a person right or wrong only the actions a person does."

So again the point of the video was not about the persons in it used as examples but that the Bible is full of errors and is is one about non-believers.

Thom True said...

While all you say may be true. I do not make judgment one way or the other, you have missed the point of the video. Which simply is that the verse from the Bible that calls non-adherents to that particular religion are fool and none do good. No matter who is used as an example, people like you would be able to attack them because like you and all people, we are merely people.

So without acknowledging that simple fact you miss the falsehood of that verse and a basic fallacy of religions in general. The religious make claims as fact that are lies.

I accurate version of the verse would be, "Everyone acts as a fool from time to time and everyone is viewed as a fool from time to time. No one does the good they wish too and they do bad which they wish they wouldn't do. Even following a religion doesn't make a person right or wrong only the actions a person does."

So again the point of the video was not about the persons in it used as examples but that the Bible is full of errors and is is one about non-believers.

The Stoogemaniac said...

I disagree, Thom, on 2 points;

First of all, the video was meant to portray a harsh judgementalism by the religious against some "wonderful" people that the film maker would have us believe religious believers would be unjustifiably prejudiced against.

I just knocked many of these people off the pedestals the film maker tried to place them on, to show the average viewer that these human beings, regardless of their accomplishments, weren't as saintly as the video portrayed them. On top of that, the film maker got some of his facts dead wrong. He should have done his homework on Hemingway, for example. And singling out dysfunctional actress Angelina Jolie? Come on.

The other point is that you stated that all religions deal in lies. I couldn't disagree with you more. If anything, I've seen Village Atheism teetering on a seesaw of intellectual dishonesty for quite some time now.

Anonymous said...

Jesus creates everyone in his image. Looking at the hundreds of thousands of babies born with birth defects, Why is your god so cruel?

:(

Another few minor questions that have been bugging me. Quite irrelevant, but since the bible claims to know everything, maybe you know the answers. Since the holy spirit is always with you, when your sleep, when your having lunch,etc It is also present with kids? Does the sprit observe them without clothes. Does this make the holy sprit a pedophile? I asked a 5 yr old, if the holy spirit was with them and they said no. Does it mean denying the holy spirit ? Will this muslim girl go to hell?

:(



I find Christianity very depressing. :(

The Stoogemaniac said...

Here are your answers, "Anonymous":

Jesus creates everyone in his image. Looking at the hundreds of thousands of babies born with birth defects, Why is your god so cruel?

:(

First of all, the Bible says that Man was created "in God's image" at the beginning. Blaming Jesus for every birth defect is just ridiculous, especially when many birth defects are caused by neglectful mothers during the pregnancy (for example, drug or alcohol abuse).

Another few minor questions that have been bugging me. Quite irrelevant, but since the bible claims to know everything, maybe you know the answers. Since the holy spirit is always with you, when your sleep, when your having lunch,etc It is also present with kids? Does the sprit observe them without clothes. Does this make the holy sprit a pedophile? I asked a 5 yr old, if the holy spirit was with them and they said no. Does it mean denying the holy spirit ? Will this muslim girl go to hell?

:(

1. The Bible doesn't "claim to know everything". The Bible is a library of inspired Books written to instruct God's people. God is the One who knows everything.

2. You've seen naked children before. Does that make YOU a pedophile?

3. I find it doubtful you discussed anything with a 5-year-old, but I'll play along with you.

You cannot deny what you do not understand. If a kid does not understand the concept of sin, and does not have a proper understanding of who Jesus is and what His Resurrection accomplished, that kid will not be judged for it. The parents, however, who knew better and denied teaching this to their children, may very well be.



I find Christianity very depressing. :(

I find Anonymous' lack of understanding even more depressing.

By the way, Anonymous, emoticons don't add any intellectual weight to your commentary. Leave the "smileys" to the kiddies.

Anonymous said...

I agree with your points about the famous atheists.

Though I still think that Chomsky has written some good material about propaganda and such.