Can Atheism Stop Islamic Aggression?

[Mojo2]

Can Atheism Stop Islamic Aggression?

This quote is from the mid-point of this fascinating article.

And the "Barbarians" he refers to can include (and likely points the finger at) Islamists. Who else fits this description?

"...a religious fundamentalism combining hatred of the other, the pursuit of power and contempt for human rights."

In one respect the new atheists are right. The threat to western freedom in the 21st century is not from fascism or communism but from a religious fundamentalism combining hatred of the other, the pursuit of power and contempt for human rights. But the idea that this can be defeated by individualism and relativism is naive almost beyond belief. Humanity has been here before. The precursors of today’s scientific atheists were Epicurus in third-century BCE Greece and Lucretius in first-century Rome. These were two great civilisations on the brink of decline. Having lost their faith, they were no match for what Bertrand Russell calls ‘nations less civilised than themselves but not so destitute of social cohesion’. The barbarians win. They always do.

The new barbarians are the fundamentalists who seek to impose a single truth on a plural world. Though many of them claim to be religious, they are actually devotees of the will to power. Defeating them will take the strongest possible defence of freedom, and strong societies are always moral societies. That does not mean that they need be religious. It is just that, in the words of historian Will Durant, ‘There is no significant example in history, before our time, of a society successfully maintaining moral life without the aid of religion.’

I have no desire to convert others to my religious beliefs. Jews don’t do that sort of thing. Nor do I believe that you have to be religious to be moral. But Durant’s point is the challenge of our time. I have not yet found a secular ethic capable of sustaining in the long run a society of strong communities and families on the one hand, altruism, virtue, self-restraint, honour, obligation and trust on the other. A century after a civilisation loses its soul it loses its freedom also. That should concern all of us, believers and non-believers alike.

Chief Rabbi: atheism has failed. Only religion can defeat the new barbarians » The Spectator

Can Atheism Stop Islamic Aggression?

The answer is, NO.

"The barbarians win. They always do."

 

[Coyote]

Moved from Politics to Religion.

 

[DriftingSand]

I know atheists who think Christianity is a greater threat than Islam. How they reach that conclusion I haven't a clue. One guy (a coworker and friend) seems really intelligent where current events are concerned but he falls off the deep end where Christianity (and religion in general) is concerned. I'm thinking he had a bad experience as a kid but I don't really know.

 

[PaintMyHouse]

The plan of the Atheists is to let the dogmatic theistic religions slaughter each other, trying to prove who is the One Truth. The plan of Agnostics is to make popcorn, and watch as that happens...

 

[Mojo2]

The plan of the Atheists is to let the dogmatic theistic religions slaughter each other, trying to prove who is the One Truth. The plan of Agnostics is to make popcorn, and watch as that happens...

That shows, PERFECTLY, just how short sighted they are.

They won't be able to stop Islamists from forcing their harsh rules and prohibitions on America.

Only the non-Muslim religionists are able to stop the Islamists.