Believers' Arrogance
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
21 May 2024
" I Often Wonder, How A Person's
Monomaniac Belief In Two Abstract Concepts Like God And Religion Can Make Him
So Zealous As Well As Zealot As To Cast Aspersions On Those People Who Don't
Believe In God And Religion. It's All the more Strange When You Realize That These
Staunch Believers Can Even Abuse and Kill Those Who're Godless and Faithless. In
Short, Religious Belief Gives Birth to Enmity and Permanent Bitterness. Belief In
God and Religion Also Concocts Silly Theories to Run Down Atheists and
Apostates."
Peter William Atkins, famous British chemist who
famously said, “It is not possible to be intellectually honest and believe in
gods."
The
aforementioned famous quote struck me to see a hardcore Muslim gentleman's
near-vitriolic and ad hominem attack on a venerable octogenarian on the issue
of apostasy. He's quoting and citing silly psychological findings to buttress
his ramshackle arguments and dilapidated theories.
See how
much time these unwavering zealots waste on defending their weak and shallow
ideas. They should know that psychology, esp. behavioural psychology is still
an evolving discipline. All psychological theories are open to getting
scrutinized. Sigmund Freud's over-emphasis on sex was criticised by his student
and friend C G Jung.
Likewise,
Paul C Vitz's Theory of Defective Father has innumerable loopholes. This
is one of the most persistent and toxic arguments wielded by (some of) the
religious community to diminish, discount and marginalize atheism and atheists.
It’s an
argument that starts by assuming that the religious position toward god is
true, consequently making the atheist's position and stance wrong.
Now, since
atheism is de-facto wrong, what reason could there be for the atheist to be so
wrong? By framing the question this way, it discounts any argument that the
atheist arrived at non-belief through rational thought. It’s not asking “does
god exist?” But it is asking “what’s wrong with someone that does not believe
in god?” It is an inherently arrogant position.
Remember,
Dr. Vitz’s teaching and research is focused on the integration of Christian
theology, especially Catholic anthropology, with psychology. It's obvious that
his Catholic Christian background and upbringing will influence all his
theories. It's worthwhile to mention that he was an atheist until his late 30s.
Now, he's a devout believer who postulates and propounds his subjective
viewpoints through the prism of Catholic Christianity.
The
gentleman, who's assiduously quoting Vitz to bolster his point on the forum of
NAI is himself a pathologically obstinate Muslim who naively thinks, along with
his trusted cohorts and acolytes, that Islam is the only true faith that has
always existed as Allah's Deen and didn't emerge in the 7th-century! Thanks for
enlightening the benighted mankind with your profound theological expertise.
Alhamdulillah.
I often
pity these ideologically fixed and unmoved people who miserably lack
flexibility in their views and approaches to truth. It's inherently absent in
their books and brains that they could also be wrong at times.
Lastly,
this 'certifiable imbecile' didn't pick up a random quote to prove his point.
----
A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul
is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He
has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/believers-arrogance/d/132355
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