Revelations From A "Rationalist"

I was reading a hit piece against Bill O'Reilly and Christianity on the Salon.com blog. It was the typical smear piece bashing O'Reilly, with a bit of Ann Coulter thrown in, and which took a moment to link a tired old study from 2012  to paint all Fox News viewers as ignorant.

But there closing paragraphs from the author, Jeffrey Tayler, are worth noting as they exemplify the snark and condescension of the Atheist Left:

"The one thing both O’Reilly and Coulter do get right is that there is a war going on, but it’s not between hapless Christians and “vicious” atheists. It is between rationalists who seek to live in ways they reason to be best, and the faithful cleaving to fatuous fables and Paleolithic preachments inscribed in ancient books that should be pulped, or at best preserved as exhibits for future students majoring in anthropology, with minors in mental derangement."

So now we have Atheist relabeling themselves as "rationalists", suggesting that believers are irrationalists.

Ironically, the philosophical definition of a "rationalist" is one who believes that truth is a priori as well as empirically understood. Rationalists often argue in favor of the existence of God.

Sadly this self-proclaimed "rationalist" suggests "pulping" religious books, after his criticism of Christians for similar acts in the past:

"Few need reminding that the Vatican formalized the suppression of free speech with its infamous Index Librorum Prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books), which included the works of the Enlightenment’s key luminaries and many other intellectual giants, and which was abolished only in 1966."

The difference here is that the Vatican finally recanted its position. If there were to be a public burning of Bibles, I get the feeling Mr. Rationalist would show up, roast marshmallows, and pass out s'mores.

He finished with this:

"O’Reilly and Coulter, we who care about doing all we can to make this life better for humanity will continue to speak up against the unreason you propagate.

The gloves are now off."

Mr. Tayler, if you care about making your world a better place for humanity, might I suggest you get off your bottom, go to a 3rd World country, and help dig a well so that the locals can have clean, infection-free water. There you will be joined by individuals who were motivated by "fatuous fables and Paleolithic preachments inscribed in ancient books that should be pulped". I'm sure those missionaries will be more than happy to talk with a "rationalist" like you about the "mental derangement" that convinced them to give up a normal life and sacrifice themselves to a worthy cause.

The gloves are off? Big deal. Jesus showed us how to deal with people that slap your face.

Slap away.
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