Sticks and stones may break bones, but … “Your words hurt me!”
say atheists
by Calvin Smith
Published: 16 February 2010(GMT+10)
“I’ve been doing science for 30 years; don’t you think it offends
me when you say you don’t believe in evolution?”
Photo from stock.xchng
Some atheists want ‘free speech’—but not when it ‘hurts’!
They will often claim offence as a way of shutting down Christian witnessing.
I nearly fell out of my chair! I had been asked by an atheist group (the Center
for Inquiry) to come down and speak at a meeting they were holding to discuss
their recent promotion of a bus advertising campaign on the Toronto Transit line
declaring “There is probably no God, so relax and enjoy your life.”
They apparently wanted a “religious” view represented so had invited
me.
After the initial pre-determined questions to the panel members were asked, the
audience (all atheists except for one to my knowledge) were invited to ask questions.
The (biologist) gentlemen’s question (above) was issued to me after I had
declared I was a creationist.
Free thought (but not for all)!
The group’s mission statement reads: The mission of the Center for Inquiry
is to foster a secular society based on science, reason, freedom of inquiry, and
humanist values. There were “free thought” posters displayed
all around the facility so I was flabbergasted to hear the man state he was offended
by the fact that I didn’t agree with him!
‘I’ve been doing science for 30 years; don’t you think it offends
me when you say you don’t believe in evolution?’
I said “Sir, you don’t believe the same things I do, and I’m not
offended by that. If you choose to be offended by what I don’t
believe I have no control over that. And to be honest sir, considering the intellectual
environment we are in here today (the fact that I was invited specifically to provide
opposing views!) I think it’s rather pathetic that you would even make that
comment.” His fellow atheists actually agreed and the crowd seemed embarrassed
for/because of him and he sat down.
It was a lively session and afterwards (even though they did not agree with my position)
several people came over, shook my hand and made comments like “You had good
arguments”, “We should have you back” etc. Many of the group represented
what I would consider honest intellectuals that enjoyed the challenge of open, honest
debate. However (like the gentleman mentioned above), this is not always the case.
He seemed to be indicating that the mere fact of me disagreeing with him
was hurtful and offensive.
Another example occurred recently when one of our Australian CMI speakers was engaging
in a discussion with an atheist from France after delivering a creation talk. Towards
the end of the conversation, the atheist was defending the morality of non-Christian
religions. When the CMI speaker asked; "So who was it who burnt all those cars in
the riots in French cities in recent years?", the atheist became super-defensive,
saying it was nothing to do with their religion but because of their poverty, lack
of education and employment opportunities, and of the mistreatment at the hands
of white Frenchmen.
But when the CMI speaker countered, “Then what about the wealthy/middle-class
well-educated 9/11 hijackers, what was their excuse?” The atheist’s
reaction was interesting. “When you speak about Islam in this way, it hurts
me!” “I feel so hurt" said the atheist.
Why so hurt?
Why the declaration of “hurt” and “offence”? Perhaps to
put Christians on the defense and to stop them from being effective against (by
giving answers) what the world is teaching. Douglas Wilson points this out in his
excellent response to the atheist Sam Harris’s “Letter to a Christian
Nation”. In “Letter
from a Christian Citizen” Wilson notes that Harris starts off his
anti-Christian diatribe by pointing out some of the most hostile responses to his
book The End of Faith came from Christians. “The truth is that many
who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously,
intolerant of criticism”.1
Wilson believes Harris does this as a tactical matter to “soften” up
his Christian readers: “You opened your book this way because you knew (quite
accurately) that Christians generally would be upset by it, would be put on the
defensive, would be sorrowful over what some have done to you in the name of Christ
… ”2
“The Christian Church has a problem with this kind of person in our midst.
We are embarrassed by it, believing it to be inconsistent with what Christ taught
… ”3
And of course, it is, but Christians cannot be held responsible for what another
that professes Christ has done. However, disagreeing with someone is not
the same as being offensive. But the world has seemed to have caught on to the fact
that many Christians are so sensitive to being “offensive” that they
have equated “disagreement” with “offense”. (This is a reversal
of the fallacy of
equivocation, where one word is used in two different ways; here, the fallacy
is giving two different concepts the same meaning.)
So if a non-believer cries “I’m hurt”, many Christians will stop
disagreeing with them. It’s a great (even though it is phony) debating tactic,
and if it is effective, why wouldn’t atheists use it to their advantage? After
all, if there is no God, evolution must be true, and then “survival of the
fittest” becomes the only true “natural” law.
Demolish arguments
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 makes it clear that Christians are
not about using the weapons of the world to reach out to the lost, but that God
wants the “soldiers for Christ” to demolish arguments against God. (Note
that you cannot demolish your opponent’s arguments without disagreeing with
them at some point!)
Do not be tricked into inaction if someone decides to be offended by what you stand
for.
I had another atheist engage me after a talk claiming he took offence because some
Christians in the audience had chuckled at a quote I had shown from Richard Dawkins.4 He said Christians shouldn’t
laugh and mock people. My point was that 1) I do not have control over what others
do (I had not laughed) and 2) people weren’t mocking him (to attack or treat
with ridicule, contempt, or derision); it was simply amusing what Dawkins said,
so why not laugh? It just seemed like an emotional tactic to make me feel bad as
he wasn’t able to counter my arguments.
Trying not to be offensive when debating is a biblical principle:
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all—
Romans 12:18. But we are to give answers for our faith (1 Peter 3:15) as long as we do so with “ …
gentleness and respect … ”
So beware the tactic of people crying “hurt” to shut you down. (This
strategy has become so effective that it sometimes has Christians arguing more with
one another than with the enemies of the Gospel, which ironically can cause great
hurt to the body of Christ!) Do not be tricked into inaction if someone decides
to be offended by what you stand for.
Readers’ comments
James H., Australia, 16 February 2010
It is a variation on “the fallacy of equivocation”, but, it also falls under “ad hominem” attack, as in: “you offend me!” … therefore … “you’re a hateful person”. But … let’s turn it around … how many times have secular humanists and atheistic evolutionists viciously attacked and smeared Christians & Christianity in general, often on the flimsiest of pretexts? Isn’t that “offensive”? They can’t have their cake & eat it too! My response to such “ad hominems” would be, quite simply, to say: “well … if you’re ‘offended’ by someone simply disagreeing with you or, even, vigorously disagreeing with you, then, you must have pretty ‘thin skin’ and, perhaps, you shouldn’t be in the business of making public pronouncements and debates to begin with!” Calvin Smith responds:
Hi James, thanks for your message. Yes, it does seem that ad hominem attacks often accompany the “I’m offended” line. Here’s a good example that I received recently:
Calvin Smith is an uneducated moron who enraged me to the point of spazmatic destruction. He knows nothing, his facts are skewed as are his views on the world. He made me hate the christian faith just that much more.
Blessings,
Cal Smith
Photo by Zoe Margolis, Wikipedia
I just want to point out something else here. Atheists (like the above) point to hurt where we have not insulted them personally, but consider the following:
In most English speaking countries, one only has to switch on the TV for a day or so, and you are likely hear the name of our God said ten thousand times in vain, with all it’s colourful variations! This is something which causes REAL hurt and offense to many Christians, but guess what, nobody cares! In fact, in September last year, atheists even organized an International Blasphemy Day where they held competitions as to see who can be the most blasphemous! I think the contradiction is quite thick.
It is indeed only a tactic of secularists, to cause Christians to be divided.
Paul H., United States, 16 February 2010
Click image for larger view
Concerning the buses that carry the sign that says, “There is probably no God, so relax and enjoy your life,” I would like to paste a neatly printed rejoinder that says, “Relax! This probably isn’t true, because when contemplating the end of life (like those in foxholes) there are probably no atheists!”Calvin Smith responds:
HA HA! Yes, indeed, if there was no God there could be no atheists!
CMI web editor replies:
Readers might enjoy the creatively regenerated pic at right of another correspondent’s pet cat “Misty”, and the fruit of a dyslexic signwriter? (Thanks to John and Richard Allen, New Zealand, for submitting this as their riposte to the atheist bus project.) |
Related articles
Further reading
References
- Letter from a Christian Citizen, American Vision
Inc., 2007, page 3. Return to text.
- Ref. 1, page 4. Return to text.
- Ref. 1, page 5. Return to text.
- “Evolution has been observed. It’s just that it
hasn’t been observed while it’s happening.” December 2004 Interview
Bill Moyers ‘Now’ transcript at: www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript349_full.html#dawkins
Return to text.
| They say you can’t go home again. I don’t know where that came from, but it can’t be true. Creation.com is my home page and I go there every day. How about you? Support CMI.  | | |
|
