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I suppose you might expect an actor who played a demigod to be down on atheists, but God is Not Dead star Kevin Sorbo demonstrated in a recent interview that he completely fails to understand them. Just as his film suggests, Sorbo seems convinced that the main motivation for atheism is anger with God. He gets as far as realizing that it's illogical to be angry with something you don't believe in, but totally misses the point that this is a strawman constructed by religous folks intentionally designed to make atheists look silly and has little to do with unbelievers in the real world.
As I posted awhile back, atheists are as diverse a group as any other. There is a small, vocal minority of "fundamentalists" who do seem to be angry at religion in general and think any form of spirituality is stupid. But most are just regular people who want to be left alone and have their rights respected. This is true of Christians as well. The majority of believers don't spend all their free time whining about how oppressed they are, which means that Sorbo's numbers are way off. Christians make up about 85% of the US population, not 90%. And it's really only the Poor Oppressed bunch who care very much about whether nativity scenes are put up, which reduces the percentage further.
See, I would agree with Sorbo here on the nativity scene issue if what he was proposing was that Christians could put up nativity scenes on public property and members of every other religion could do the same, including atheists who want to erect secular displays. The thing is, though, that's not what the Poor Oppressed Christians want. They want to be able to put up their displays while banning everyone else's. That's what atheists and members of minority religions find offensive. When the Poor Oppressed crowd won't play nice, the only other legal option is to keep anyone from playing at all.
So to the Poor Oppressed Christians who still don't get it, I'll be clear. Most atheists aren't angry to begin with, and the rest of them aren't angry with God. They're angry with you.
“I’m a Christian myself and had to play an atheist. I see the anger of these (atheist) guys on TV and it’s like ‘wow, how do you get so angry at something you don’t believe in?” Sorbo said.
Earlier this year, Sorbo discussed self-professed atheist Bill Maher, calling him “angry and lonely,” before adding, “I did Politically Incorrect a couple of times, and all I can do is feel sad for the guy, because I think he is a very angry and lonely man. Comedy comes from anger anyway. You know, what are you going to say when a guy talks like this?”
In his most recent comments, Sorbo also expressed frustration with atheists who protest localities displaying nativity scenes on public property during the Christmas holidays. “It’s funny how they can get nativity scenes pulled down because they say it offends them but they’re offended by something they don’t believe in,” Sorbo said.
“What offends 90 percent of the country is that they take down nativity scenes but apparently the majority doesn’t have a voice in the country anymore so what are you going to do?”
As I posted awhile back, atheists are as diverse a group as any other. There is a small, vocal minority of "fundamentalists" who do seem to be angry at religion in general and think any form of spirituality is stupid. But most are just regular people who want to be left alone and have their rights respected. This is true of Christians as well. The majority of believers don't spend all their free time whining about how oppressed they are, which means that Sorbo's numbers are way off. Christians make up about 85% of the US population, not 90%. And it's really only the Poor Oppressed bunch who care very much about whether nativity scenes are put up, which reduces the percentage further.
See, I would agree with Sorbo here on the nativity scene issue if what he was proposing was that Christians could put up nativity scenes on public property and members of every other religion could do the same, including atheists who want to erect secular displays. The thing is, though, that's not what the Poor Oppressed Christians want. They want to be able to put up their displays while banning everyone else's. That's what atheists and members of minority religions find offensive. When the Poor Oppressed crowd won't play nice, the only other legal option is to keep anyone from playing at all.
So to the Poor Oppressed Christians who still don't get it, I'll be clear. Most atheists aren't angry to begin with, and the rest of them aren't angry with God. They're angry with you.
1 comment:
Because we all know the best thing to do with someone who is "angry" is to make a film for general release that ridicules and demeans them. Right, Mr.Sorbo? Is that the kind of Christian love and understanding you support?
As an atheist, I can attest that the vast majority of atheists are not "angry with god". That's a fallacy. But it makes sense coming from people who cannot conceive a reality without a god.
No, what atheists tend to be angry about is the concerted campaign of religious infiltration where it doesn't belong...like civil government, public schools, science curriculums, etc. And that's not being angry with god. That's being angry with zealots who purport to know the will of god and have an agenda of forcing their religious dogma on everyone else. And if you can't understand THAT anger, you're very much a part of the problem.
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