Friday, December 5, 2014

Friendly Atheist Takes On Bill Donohue

...and proceeds to concede the truth in Donohue's assertions:
"But let’s get to the heart of his statements.

Are atheists actually less happy? In some cases, like on Twitter, yes.

Are atheists more likely to die young? In some studies, yes.

Are atheists disproportionately insane? Not really. He’s probably taking out of context research that suggests religious people have better mental health."
So Friendly concedes the facts. But he looks for excuses:
In all of these cases, though, Donohue purposely ignores the elephant in the room: None of these things happen because people are atheists. It has everything to do with the social aspects of it.
Really, Friendly? And your facts covering this are...?
Atheism correlates with all those awful things because religious people tend to have things like stronger communities and more hope (albeit false hope) and people to turn to when they’re depressed. Atheists have to essentially fend for themselves or create alternatives that are nowhere near the scope or size of what religions provide."
First excuse: Atheism is a failure at providing any support for its believers. Did Donohue deny this? No. Does it refute the charges? No. But let's forge ahead:
"Similarly, when atheists speak about their beliefs publicly, it’s usually in response to events that make us upset or angry — so we come off as more defensive (i.e. unhappy). Christians, on the other hand, tend to talk about their relationship with God when they’re writing blog posts or books. (These are huge generalizations, of course, but you get the idea.)"
Translation: Atheists are angry; period. That's what they write about because that's what they think about because that's who they are. Angry. So what's next?
"So back to the point: Donohue is doing what he does best: Lying to make himself look better. He takes general pieces of information, siphons off all the necessary nuance, and pretends that the evidence suggests atheists are inherently immoral, unhappy, and insane."
And what do we have, then? What Donohue said is admittedly correct, therefore he is a liar.

If Donahue needed any further evidence of Atheist irrationality (insanity) he need look no further than Friendly, the Atheist.

1 comment:

Phoenix said...

From the American Journal of Psychiatry:

Religious Affiliation and Suicide Attempt

RESULTS: Religiously unaffiliated subjects had significantly more lifetime suicide attempts and more first-degree relatives who committed suicide than subjects who endorsed a religious affiliation. Unaffiliated subjects were younger, less often married, less often had children, and had less contact with family members. Furthermore, subjects with no religious affiliation perceived fewer reasons for living, particularly fewer moral objections to suicide. In terms of clinical characteristics, religiously unaffiliated subjects had more lifetime impulsivity, aggression, and past substance use disorder. No differences in the level of subjective and objective depression, hopelessness, or stressful life events were found.