Overcoming Antagonistic Atheism

Jeff Nall's article "Overcoming Antagonistic Atheism to Recast the Image of Humanism"

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I think it's very important that we don't fulfill Jerry Falwell's sicko wet dreams (see the article.)

That was an excellent article. Atheists need to help us Christians produce a more rationale Christian practice that is in accord with what the Scriptures actually say. Otherwise, you'll continue to have the Jerry Falwell types practicing wealth, power, and privilege within a severely paganized form of false Christianity that some have rightly recognized as Satan's counterfeit Christianity designed to deceive the masses. See http://www.tomorrows...item=1140203084.

My mother is a devout Christian. Yet through the use of advanced biotechnologies she will soon be delivering twins at the age of 54. Suddenly science isn't such a scary topic for her anymore...

Address human needs and technological progress is unstoppable.

Otherwise, you'll continue to have the Jerry Falwell types practicing wealth, power, and privilege within a severely paganized form of false Christianity that some have rightly recognized as Satan's counterfeit Christianity designed to deceive the masses.

Why when other people are behind something bad, you have to dehumanize them and somehow imply that they are being controlled by Satan? Is Satan messing around with their biological circuits, or sending demons, or what? If there were no Satan, would Christianity all naturally tend towards purity overnight? Is the Satan-less tendency of the masses to become Christian?

That rhetoric, the "Satan's counterfeit" rhetoric, operates from a universal human bias known as fundamental attribution bias, "the tendency for people to over-emphasize dispositional, or personality-based, explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing situational explanations." It is a tendency frequently observed in a wide variety of contexts. Which also begs the question, why did God create us with fundamental and pervasive psychological biases, that can easily be measured, and when people examine the result, acknowledge it as bias?

The attribution bias is what caused us to view the streams and trees as sentient agents, because we were too dumb to understand how they worked otherwise. Then we understood how they worked, and stopped anthropomorphizing them. But should we be Satanmorphizing other human beings? Some branches of Christianity use this rhetoric, some don't.

Why when other people are behind something bad, you have to dehumanize them and somehow imply that they are being controlled by Satan? Is Satan messing around with their biological circuits, or sending demons, or what? If there were no Satan, would Christianity all naturally tend towards purity overnight? Is the Satan-less tendency of the masses to become Christian?

I would say Jerry Falwell, and others practicing a false, exploitative Christianity, do what they do as a result of both flawed character and Satanic influence as the Scriptures point out. Satanic control and demon possession are mentioned frequently in the Bible. No, even with Satan's removal, man's flawed character needs to be changed with a right education of God's law and Christ's teachings and with the help of the Holy Spirit.

That rhetoric, the "Satan's counterfeit" rhetoric, operates from a universal human bias known as fundamental attribution bias, "the tendency for people to over-emphasize dispositional, or personality-based, explanations for behaviors observed in others while under-emphasizing situational explanations." It is a tendency frequently observed in a wide variety of contexts. Which also begs the question, why did God create us with fundamental and pervasive psychological biases, that can easily be measured, and when people examine the result, acknowledge it as bias?

Basically your asking why didn't God create us with perfect character able to withstand all negative situational influences or Satanic influences. I can't answer this with any certainty, just my opinion. I suspect God may have been barred from this option by certain laws that govern His creative processes. Genesis 6:6 clearly records that God's heart was filled with pain because He had made man. He my not of had anyother option.

But should we be Satanmorphizing other human beings? Some branches of Christianity use this rhetoric, some don't.

Satan's negative effect on humanity is plainly set forth in the Bible. But you're right, demonizing people is not a good thing to do. I refrain from doing this to people I'm in regular contact with. An Internet discussion about major political or religious figures who are obviously corrupt and exploitative is a different matter all together. I frown on what the major political and religious figures are doing because it misleads ordinary people to believe what they do is a true practice of Christianity authorized by the Scriptures when it isn't.