Baldness is not a Hair Color

"Baldness is not a hair color," sounds like a joke. It is. It is also a lesson in the ignorance rampant among many of those who wish to criticize and attack atheists. In Elad Nehorai's recent post, "Atheism is a Religion ," (I'd link to it but the cowardly bastard took it down) his ignorance is only matched by his insincerity. If he actually cared at all about us "dear atheists" he'd have paid more attention to what we actually write, say, or argue.

The title alone is a clear demonstration of his lack of thought. The basic construction of the word "atheism" literally makes it impossible for it to be a religion. Theism is a religious belief system. The prefix "a" means none or without. "Atheism" is therefore "without a religious belief system." How is it even possible to have a religion without a religious belief system? This is not to say that atheists do not have beliefs. Idiots like Nehorai frequently jump from one stereotype/myth to another even if they contradict each other. Even if we could convince him atheism is not and cannot be a religion he would probably then insist we believe in nothing and have meaningless lives. The notion that we can follow a belief system that has little or nothing to do with being an atheists never seems to occur to people like him. For example, I happen to be a humanist and since not all humanists are atheists it is possible that I would have ended up believing in humanism even if I wasn't an atheist.

Almost immediately this pinhead has the nerve to question atheists ability to reason, use logic, and think scientifically. He never seems to realize that his main point is almost entirely dependent on his own lack of critical thinking. He conflates two distinct statements (one is actually a false statement) and then offers them as proof.

"Let's look at the arguments atheists make: they say there's absolutely no evidence for the existence of G-d, and that the burden of proof is on believers, etc., etc.... Do you really believe that your argument is based around science, around logic, when you say that there is absolutely no chance there is an intelligent design behind the universe?"

The first statement is correct and even Nehorai admits to its validity. The second part is not only false it  exposes him as a hypocrite on top of being an ignorant bigoted asshole. I am unaware of any atheists unwilling to concede to their own fallibility as a human. I don't believe I am wrong about God but I have no problem admitting that there is a very, and I mean very, remote chance I could be wrong. At no point does Nehorai even hint at being willing to concede he could be wrong.

In the end this is not about the false assertion that "atheism is a religion." Deep down I think even a fool like Nehorai realizes that it a bogus claim. I'm pretty sure he and others like him feel the need to perpetuate this myth because they know they cannot use actual reason, logic, or science to defend their beliefs. Facts are not on their side. Since they cannot win in a legitimate debate/discussion that have to attempt to rig the argument. They have to distort and misrepresent our arguments to salvage their own.