Richard Dawkins’s (real or imagined) missteps have been nothing but good news to those who are against atheists. Dawkins, I guess the reasoning goes, is the public face of New Atheism, and so any opportunity to rip him up should be taken advantage of, to show the evils of godlessness. To the point that we get treated to patronizing, distasteful suggestions like this:
Dawkins is known for pushing his provocative rhetorical style too far, providing ample ammunition for his critics, and already I’ve seen my fellow Christians seize the opportunity to rail against the evils of atheism. As tempting as it is to classify Dawkins’ views as representative of all atheists, I can’t bring myself to do it. I can’t bring myself to do it because I know just how frustrating and unfair it is when atheists point to the most extreme, vitriolic voices within Christianity and proclaim that they are representative of the whole. So, atheists, I say we make a deal: How about we Christians agree not to throw this latest Richard Dawkins thing in your face and you atheists agree not to throw the next Pat Robertson thing in ours?
Before we get to the substance of such this selfless offer, let’s look at the awful, terrible things that Dawkins said that have brought atheophobes so much joy. As it happens, all this is about two (2) “missteps”. And what where those horrible errors that have brought shame to all atheists?
The first example, as it happens, was a simple statement of fact: the scientific underachievement of Islamic world. Love it or hate it, he was spot on. And his detractors don’t even have the excuse that he was ignoring the reality when it did not suit him: he said in the very same breath that in the centuries past the Islamic world had made great contributions to science. The only reason people were so upset was that hearing this made them uncomfortable, and they have even said so in so many words. Talk about shooting the messenger.
The second event was not all that different, in that he making a point that is essentially uncontroversial: that no all sexual abuse is equally terrible. Dawkins was talking about his own personal experience, when he was a victim of fondling as a child. He was simply saying that this is not comparable to victims being repeatedly raped. What landed him in hot water, though, was his (admittedly poor) choice of words: he described what happened to him as “mild pedophilia”. Even though Dawkins has tried to clarify what he said and apologized, we are now supposed not to talk about poor, poor Pat Robertson. Can’t we give him a break? After all, our “public face” makes gaffes too.
Except that it is a ridiculous comparison. How can what Dawkins said possibly be compared to any of these (via Debunking Christianity)?
10. “Lord, give us righteous judges who will not try to legislate and dominate this society. Take control, Lord! We ask for additional vacancies on the court.” –Pat Robertson
9. “Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It’s no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history.” –Pat Robertson
8. “I would warn Orlando that you’re right in the way of some serious hurricanes, and I don’t think I’d be waving those flags in God’s face if I were you, This is not a message of hate — this is a message of redemption. But a condition like this will bring about the destruction of your nation. It’ll bring about terrorist bombs; it’ll bring earthquakes, tornadoes, and possibly a meteor.” –Pat Robertson, on “gay days” at Disneyworld
7. “(T)he feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.” –Pat Robertson
6. “I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that’s the way it is, period.” –Pat Robertson
5. “God considers this land to be his. You read the Bible and he says ‘This is my land,’ and for any prime minister of Israel who decides he is going to carve it up and give it away, God says, ‘No, this is mine.’ … He was dividing God’s land. And I would say, ‘Woe unto any prime minister of Israel who takes a similar course to appease the E.U., the United Nations, or the United States of America.’ God says, ‘This land belongs to me. You better leave it alone.'” –Pat Robertson, on why Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered a massive stroke.
4. “Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up” –Pat Robertson, on nuking the State Department.
3. “You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war … We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.” –Pat Robertson, calling for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
2. “It may be a blessing in disguise. … Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. Haitians were originally under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon the third, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you will get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal. Ever since they have been cursed by one thing after the other.” –Pat Robertson, on the earthquake in Haiti that destroyed the capital and killed tens of thousands of people, Jan. 13, 2010
1. “Like it or not, males have a tendency to wander a little bit. What you want to do is make a home so wonderful that he doesn’t want to wander.” –Pat Robertson, giving advice on “The 700 Club” to a woman whose husband cheated on her. [By the way, would Robertson happen to have heard of a book titled-cough-“the Selfish Gene”?]
As they say, though, actions speak louder than words. Whatever hateful and idiotic things Robertson may have said, what he has done speaks more to his character. It is ironic, then, that the amazing “deal” on shutting up about him comes right after we hear that he used his charity as a cover for a diamond-mining operation in Africa. Top that, Richard Dawkins!
The reality it, the very fact that someone can compare Dawkins and Robertson without getting laughed out of the room in itself exposes the strong cultural prejudice against atheists. Dawkins, by choice or not, is the face of the New Atheist movement. Yet no one has ever claimed that he is infallible. He is bound to make missteps every once in a while, like the rest of us. (Or worse, come under fire for plainly speaking the truth.) And in doing so, he gets compared to world’s epitome of religious hatred, ignorance and corruption. Whereas in reality, it is Robertson who has claimed many times not just to be speaking for, but directly receiving communication from, the divine. Such is the reality of atheophobia.
