Just when you think the anti-atheist bigots have blamed atheists for everything under the sun, they manage to outdo themselves. Star Tribune columnist David Lebedoff is claiming that, get this, atheists are responsible for the economic downturn. Here we see one of the numerous examples of bigots making claims against atheists that are so ridiculous they make themselves look foolish. Sure, his commentary is a bigoted and hateful screed against a significant population of people of which I am a member, but it’s so ludicrous I can’t even bring myself to feel the least bit peeved about it.
As for the actual content, the article is based around the same basic tired old attack bigots always levy against the nonreligious: there is no other basis for morality than religious belief, and therefore those without religion are immoral, being able to do whatever they like without any conscience. That’s news to me and the many others like me who have no religious faith, yet have quite a strong sense of right and wrong.
From the article:
If you only go around once, then the main thing is to have fun. If you start by admitting that from cradle to tomb it isn’t that long of a stay, then life is a cabaret, old chum, and so, by the way, is Wall Street. There is a bumper sticker favored by some of the recently rich that proclaims “he who dies with the most toys wins.” This is indeed the moral philosophy of those who believe that death is the final closing bell. Materialism, hedonism and Stairmasters are what people do until the clock stops ticking.
I’m not going to go through a whole debunking of this claim. The entire history of the fields of ethical studies, philosophy, and reality show this claim to be untrue on its face – morality is not the exclusive domain of religion by any means. To then take this argument and use it to claim we are therefore responsible for the economic collapse – without one shred of evidence to show that a large percentage of those in economic fields who are responsible are actually atheist – is ignorant, hateful, ridiculous, but also quite sad.
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