FAIL Quote of the Day: Vox Day responds to an atheist in style

Following Vox Day’s post wherein he presented six of the strongest arguments most commonly used by atheists to criticize religion and/or to defend atheism, he received a bit of critical feedback to which he’s posted a response. Most of it is uninteresting, but I couldn’t resist taking a closer look at this particular amalgamation of nonsense issued in response to a (wingnutty) conservative atheist, the content of which you can guess from this reply:

First, I'd like to point out that I only described Richard Dawkins's biggest fans - the former RD.Net crowd - as socially maladjusted losers. Any substantial perusal of those old forums will suffice to prove my point, further supported by Dawkins's own reaction to his erstwhile fan club^[1]. Second, the connection that you are missing between freedom, capitalism, individualism, reason, and a belief in God is that the first four are heavily dependent upon the fifth.^[2] This is not controversial; non-Christians and even non-believers such as Socrates, Seneca, and Voltaire have subscribed to it.^[3] You would do well to examine the difference between historical pagan societies and Christian society before concluding that your phlogiston hypothesis is even remotely credible. Keep in mind that you still live in a heavily Christian society, where even the atheists, as Michel Onfray points out, are Christian atheists.^[4] And, as I've pointed out, it is already clear that it is not secular scientopia that is the post-Christian heir, but rather a return to paganism.^[5]

As per Vox Day’s standard, this is just packed full of fail. Let’s examine the various turds one by one:

1 – Vox truly needs to shut up before spewing ignorant crap about things he so obviously doesn’t understand. What he’s referring to, here, is the sorta-firestorm that erupted as a result of the closure of the RichardDawkins.net forum, and especially, the manner in which the forum’s death was orchestrated. It’s a rather lengthy and twisted story that’s filled with rank lies, censorship and cowardice, and it’s all chronicled in detail over at Reality Is My Religion. As for Vox’s mention of Richard Dawkins’s response to the ordeal, the summary is that Dawkins was obviously originally mislead into thinking all the outrage was a result of the forums closing, as opposed to the dishonest and cowardly way in which said closure was conducted. The professor subsequently issued a second official response in which he humbly admits he was mistaken about a few things, which effectively smoothed things over for many of those involved in the calamity.

Of course, the point is that Vox Day just further reveals how wholly ignorant he is on the subject when he responds in the manner that he did. Either that, or he is also wholly ignorant about the dynamics of Internet communities and the affection, even devotion, that so many can experience towards trusted forum boards over the years, especially a community as active as that of the RichardDawkins.net forum was.

I’d put my money on both.

2 – This is absolute nonsense. What we call freedom, capitalism, individualism and reason are social and ethical constructs, developed over time as human civilization and societies evolved. Freedom is guaranteed by whatever politics and laws govern the location you’re at, not God. Capitalism is an economic system based on personal property, derived from mercantilism. Not of a godly origin. The notion of individualism is another socially derived concept that evolved from combinations of morality and ethics, legal systems and social tides. God has no play in this. And as for reason, this is the silliest thing to attribute to God, considering how reason tends to be used to, you know, dispel the idea of God. Watch, I’ll do it right now: decades and centuries of close scientific scrutiny of our natural world has turned up absolutely no evidence of any sort of a divine or supernatural influence. Ergo, reason dictates that if something shows no signs of existing, it probably isn’t there. Ergo, following this line of reasoned logic, God doesn’t exist (and if he does, he’s either immeasurably powerless, or provides absolutely no guidance in our universe).

3 – Yes, famous historical figures believed in a concept, so therefore, it must be true. Seriously, Vox – ad populum? And he claims to be good at debates?

4 – More silliness. “Christian atheists”? The point about being an atheist as specifically that you reject Christianity – along with Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, and, well, every other religion in existence. Atheism is the antithesis of being religious; you might as well ask for a conciliation between slow and fast. Now, of course, plenty of atheists still follow some religious rituals or habits, particularly in the presence of family or whatnot, but this does not make them religious. To claim as much is absurd.

5 – To be brief: tell that to the Netherlands, or even most of Europe. You know, the areas where there exists a curious little contrast between lower rates of religiosity and correspondingly higher rates of scientific progress and general contentment.

Vox, while I thank you for providing me with such blogging fodder, the fact that you’re still an ignorant loon, an irrational crank and a generally insufferable blowhard means that you still FAIL.