Away with the Atheists!

Those steeped in the Early Church Fathers will recall that title exclamation is one that Polycarp is supposed to have uttered at the request of his Roman persecutors. Polycarp was willing to utter it, because he was a monotheist, not an atheist, despite the contrary propaganda set forth by the pagans and, according to the same reports, the Jews.

There were, of course, atheists then as there are now. There have been atheists throughout much of history, whether they were open atheists, closet atheists, or simply de facto atheists. To combat atheism today, there is a new blog "Atheism is Dead" which takes over anti-atheist role of an earlier, less-seemly-title blog, which I'll simply refer to as "Atheism Lacks Positive Value."

There are two major underlying problems with the blog:

1) While it appears to be run by Christians, and while there are many Christian apologetics materials on atheism on the blog, the blog itself is open to anyone who wants to criticize atheism, even Wiccans. That doesn't seem wise to the present author, any more than it would be wise to start a blog addressing the problems with Roman Catholicism and leave the blog open to Wiccan or Unitarian criticisms of Catholicism. The primary reason to reject atheism (or Catholicism) is the truth. The other criticisms - the criticisms that would be raised by, for example, Wiccans - are bound to be secondary criticisms.

2) The title of the blog, while optimistic, is plainly wrong one at least one level. If Atheism were dead, one would not devote an apologetic blog to its destruction. Atheism is not dead in the sense of having few or no adherents.

On the other hand, Atheism is a dead faith. It is a religion of death, that surely leads its adherents into the pits of Hell. There is no salvation for atheists as long as they remain atheists, but only judgment.

In any event, for now the site does have some redeeming value in that it provides at least some good, Christian apologetic materials demonstrating the error of Atheism. Furthermore, although discernment will be needed, given the open nature of the blog, it may be a handy resource if you ever find yourself debating an atheist.

Praise be to the true and living God!

-Turretinfan