Well, we survived another Christmas, and the atheists (agnostics, secularists, non-theists, or whatever they want to call themselves) had an even lesser impact than in previous years.
We are witnessing a dying breed, a group whose influence and reason for being is becoming less and less important.
Now, I must separate atheists into two groups. There are those who have personally made a serious decision to not believe in God and go about their everyday lives. I'm sure some of my friends are atheists. They are fine people and lead good lives.
The other group is the militant atheists. They are not content to have merely made a personal decision but also feel the need to demean, degrade and insult religion, Christianity in particular.
They pretend that their decision is based on honest intellectual reasoning, but they really have no more than vacuous explanations. If they were honest with themselves, they would admit the decision was made to escape the Christian laws of morality.
Because their arguments are really quite lightweight intellectually, they resort to nastiness. The fact of the matter is religion is rapidly growing worldwide and Christianity is the fastest growing (Islam is second).
The only real hope they have remaining for survival is the hope that they can indoctrinate students as they pass through secondary education and above.
There are two excellent books I have recently read on the subject. The first is "The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible" by Robert Hutchinson, and "What's So Great About Christianity" by Dinesh D'Souza.
It is this second book that will thoroughly convince an open-minded atheist or a person who is struggling with his or her decision of the fallacies behind atheist thought and the very convincing arguments in favor of God.
D'Souza does a pretty convincing job of dismembering the tired, old, recycled reasoning behind atheistic rationale. He has faced the leading atheists of the day in debates and won convincingly every time.
He debated a leading atheist, Christopher Hitchens, on C-Span in October and easily took apart Hitchens' "facts" and arguments. You can view this debate on D'Souza's website and decide for yourself who won.
Then he debated another atheist, "intellectual" Daniel Dennett, with the same result. View this one on Tothesource.org.
Another heavyweight, Sam Harris, will only do a written debate; and the biggest atheist blowhard, Richard Dawkins, has turned down numerous invitations to a public debate. I'm sure the last two individuals made their decisions after they saw how Hitchens and Dennett fared.
The book also covers the false facts presented by some atheists in regard to violence and Christianity. It covers the facts about deaths resulting from the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition that happened centuries ago and resulted in deaths numbering in the thousands.
Comparing that figure to the deaths caused by atheist regimes is foolish. Deaths caused by these regimes over a period of decades number more than 100 million.
The Reverend Paul Messner recently wrote a guest column in The Daily Star, and it was well-researched and factually correct.
One person responded quite childishly by taking Rev. Messner to task because he stated Hitler was an atheist. The responder claimed Hitler was a well-known Christian. This is a common statement made on all atheist websites and totally incorrect.
Instead of basing your argument using such shallow, biased sources, I suggest people read "Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives" by Allen Bullock. It is much more intellectually challenging and debunks the "Hitler is a Christian" fallacy.
Hitler also stated in "Mein Kampf" that his public statements on Christianity "should be understood as propaganda that bear no relation to the truth but are designed to sway the masses." So if you want to tear apart atheists' reasoning about religion, this book will offer everything you need. It has particularly good sections on Christianity and science, Christianity and philosophy, and Christianity and morality. It is very easy to read, accurate and a very thoroughly researched book.
It is a book that every religious person should read, as well as those having doubts or struggling to make a choice. I honestly hope my atheist friends will give an honest attempt to see if their arguments are addressed and answered intellectually.
It is a book that will make them honestly rethink their positions. It could be the most important rethinking of their lives, here on Earth and into eternity.
For those militants who are probably too closed-minded and arrogant to give the book an honest reading, I have a much simpler assignment for you. Just read Psalms, chapter 14, verse 1.
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Tom Sears is a professor of accounting at Hartwick College in Oneonta. He can be reached at SearsT@hartwick.edu. His column appears every other week.
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