A Superior Atheist (allegedly)

An Apologist asks me to comment on a quote that he attributes to Kevin Harris. The Apologist has a habit of copying quotes from websites without checking the provenance and this is another example. The quote is obviously written by someone claiming to be an atheist. Kevin Harris is a Christian Apologist – he’s the sidekick on William Lane Craig’s apologist podcast.  In fact the text is an anonymous comment that was allegedly posted on a blog, but cannot be seen. So the quote should be attributed to “anonymous” and not poor Kevin Harris. Using an anonymous (possibly non-existent) comment as the basis of an argument is somewhat pathetic. It’s the easiest thing in the world to find an opinion on a website that coincides with one’s own opinion. But that doesn’t make it right. Surely it saves time and effort to express and defend one’s own opinion? That would also avoid the embarrassment of misquoting.

Ironically, the text makes a series of spurious arguments, which are the same as those made by Evangelicals and Creationists when they rail against atheism. Whoever created this anonymous text was probably trying to be funny, or contentious, or was trolling. Or is genuinely ignorant. And it certainly fits the criteria of Poe’s Law. 

But let’s take it at face value…

#	What the alleged atheist allegedly said	My Opinion
1	We deride the Theists for having created myths and holy books.	Who is “we”? Maybe you do, but you seem unaware of the origin of those myths and holy books.  It’s fair to deride the beliefs – but it’s not fair to deride “the theists”. Those myths and holy books were created thousands of years ago. You should not deride people who are indoctrinated. Your target should be the indoctrinators.
2	We imagine ourselves superior.	Again… “we”.  You imagine yourself to be superior. That’s likely to be a psychological defence mechanism for an inherent feeling of inferiority. Ironically, it’s a trait exploited by religion.  Seems to me you are someone who needs religion.
3	But we too imagine there are reasons to obey laws, be polite, protect the weak etc.	We don’t imagine reasons – there are actual reasons to obey laws, be polite and protect the weak and usually we are not consciously aware of those reasons. Have you done any research?
4	Rubbish.	Your previous statement was indeed, rubbish.
5	We are nurturing a new religion, one where we imagine that such conventions have any basis in reality.	Again… who is “we”?  And again… have you done any research on the basis of those “conventions”? If you do you will find they do have a basis in reality.  But now that you mention it… you do seem to have a religious mentality.
6	Have they allowed life to exist? Absolutely.	“Allowed” is the wrong word. The “conventions” you allude to are a key evolutionary reason that human life exists (and other species too).  You don’t appear to know much about evolution. Are you not even curious?
7	But who cares?	Well, apparently you do!
8	Outside of my greedy little gene’s need to reproduce, there is nothing in my world that stops me from killing you and reproducing with your wife.	There obviously is something stopping you doing those things, because you don’t do them.
9	Only the fear that I might be incarcerated and thus be deprived of the opportunity to do the same with the next guy’s wife stops me.	It’s good to know the law is a deterrent in your case. You might want to ask yourself why that works for you and not for other people, when most of them are not atheists.  It’s obvious you live in the USA, and the last time I checked (2013) the incarceration rate in your country was the highest in the world (716 per 100,000 of the population). The USA has 4% of the world's population, but it has 22% of the world's prisoners.
10	Some of my Atheist friends have fooled themselves into acting like the general population. They live in suburban homes, drive Toyota Camrys, attend school plays.	Why do you think they live like that? And how do you act differently to your friends?
11	But underneath they know the truth. They are a bag of DNA whose only purpose is to make more of themselves.	That’s obviously not their only purpose, given your previous statement.
12	So be nice if you want. Be involved, have polite conversations, be a model citizen.	It’s quite difficult to be anything else.
13	Just be aware that while technically an Atheist, you are an inferior one.	You obviously feel you are superior (see line 2). I’m not a psychologist, but in my experience, that’s often a way of coping with a feeling of being inferior. I think it’s funny to assume an atheist checklist where you lose points for selecting Suburbs, Camry and Attend School play but you gain points for wanting to be a murderer and rapist and fearing the law.
14	You’re just a little bit less evolved, that’s all.	“Less evolved”. If anything reveals your lack of knowledge of evolution, it’s that comment. Are you a creationist pretending to be an atheist?
15	When you are ready to join me, let me know. I’ll be reproducing with your wife.	You want me to join you after you’ve killed me. I hereby invoke Poe’s Law.