Christianity isn’t the faith that comes to mind as a “religion by the sword” – that is, unless you’re a Richard Dawkins.
Outspoken atheist Richard Dawkins [1], along with Robyn Blumner [2], the executive director of the Richard Dawkins Foundation, recently penned a piece for TIME entitled, “Atheists Aren’t the Problem, Christian Intolerance Is the Problem [3].” In response to former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee’s speech at the Values Voter Summit, Dawkins accused some Christian conservatives of “religion by the sword” and deemed the conference attendees a “Jesus-loves-us debauch of Homophobia, Intolerance and Militarism.”
To begin his piece, Dawkins noted Huckabee’s speech [4] at Family Research Council’s (FRC) Values Voter Summit [5] on Sept. 26. He linked to a comment [6] made by Huckabee during his address:
“Some of you are frustrated and even upset and angry about America, and I get it. And I say to you, the answer is as simple as it is that the answer to the phones in our hearts that God is ringing. When we register people to vote, when we get them to the polls to vote, when we hire the people that will take our values to this city, and when we fire the ones who refuse to hear not only our hearts, but God’s heart.”
Ever the logical man, Dawkins bashed Huckabee’s “warped intolerance” by demonstrating his own “tolerance:”
“That nonbelievers somehow deserve to be discriminated against is a view widely shared, particularly among Christian conservatives who seem to think ‘religion by the sword’ is an oldie but a goodie.”
“This latest bit of hate was offered up – where else? – at the 2014 Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. The ritual hookup between Christian conservatives and Republican presidential aspirants is a right wing, Jesus-loves-us debauch of Homophobia, Intolerance and Militarism, a trifecta easily remembered by the acronym ‘HIM’.”
Get it? Oh these academics are so clever!
Continuing his rant, Dawkins pointed to “Duck Dynasty’s” Zach Dasher for suggesting atheism contributed to Sandy Hook – comments which Dasher later clarified [7].
“Had Dasher bothered to find out about atheism, humanism and the nonreligious, he would have come to understand just how precious this community views life,” Dawkins explained. That’s pretty funny, coming from a man who’s argued it's “immoral” to let Down Syndrome babies be born [8].
He also cited studies to show “the proof that secular people are good, care for others and build healthy societies.”
“Which way the causal arrow goes is an interesting question,” he said, before asking, “does secularism foster healthy caring, or does religiosity die away in societies where people care for one another?”
According to Dawkins, “atheists, humanists and freethinkers believe they have one life and one chance to do something meaningful with it.” As a result, “with no supernatural arbiter to fall back on,” these “nonbelievers know it is up to them and them alone to promote justice, compassion and a fair society.”
Also taking to Twitter, Dawkins asked [9], “Why makes Christians like Huckerbee so un-"christian"? Or is it that they are too Christian?”
And aren’t “humanists” supposed to, you know, like humans?
— Katie Yoder is Staff Writer, Joe and Betty Anderlik Fellow in Culture and Media at the Media Research Center. Follow Katie Yoder on Twitter. [10]