Misused and Abused: Nihilism

A number of the critics of the "new atheists" seem to think that atheism either automatically leads to nihilism or else is a synonym for nihilism. Neither is the case. Nihilism is an attitude in which all philosophical and ethical systems of belief are rejected whereas atheism is simply the lack of theism (system of belief related to god or gods). How do you jump to the conclusion that a lack of belief in God means a lack of belief in anything?

Yet, fools like John F. Haught in his horrid little book God and The New Atheism make statements like,

“Go all the way and think the business of atheism through to the bitter end; before you get too comfortable with the godless world you long for, you will be required by the logic of any consistent skepticism to pass through the disorienting wilderness of nihilism. Do you have the courage to do that?”

Chock full of bullshit and idiocy. It never occurs to him that it is nearly impossible to be a skeptic and simultaneously be a nihilist. Skepticism is not simply a matter of being contrarian. It amounts to caring enough about what is and isn't true to demand evidence before committing to a belief. It also eludes him that even if it were true that atheists like me "long for" a godless world rather than simply acknowledge it that the statement implies another self-contradiction. Why long for anything if nothing matters?

Yet, year after year there are at least a few narrow minded assholes who find the need to slap the nihilist label on atheists. There may well be a few atheists who happen to be nihilists as well. There are also probably a few theists who end up becoming nihilists. So what?