"No One Cares" (Hedges)

[Paul Rigby]

Is it possible that Hedges forgot to insert a 'tongue-in-cheek' emoticon signifying a smidge of cynicism?

Like the SBT, or the OCT of 9/11, the theoretic possibility exists - but is it likely given everything else we know?

Is there other evidence of Hedges hedging?

http://www.daylightatheism.org/2008/03/c...ilist.html

Earlier this month, I chastised the theologian John Haught for falsely claiming that atheism leads to nihilism. Now the journalist Chris Hedges has launched his own attack on modern atheists, and the bizarre part is that he attacks us for possessing precisely the opposite failing: because, in his eyes, atheism does not lead to nihilism, and he considers this far more dangerous.

Hedges is one of the last people I'd expect to feel this way. He's written books with titles like American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America. So far, so good - but now he's veered off in a totally unexpected direction by publishing a new book, I Don't Believe in Atheists. If his introductory essay is any guide, the entire thing is one mad, fuming geyser of accusations and insults. I haven't the slightest idea what could have given him the motivation for this spitting, furious rant.

Despite numerous sweeping condemnations, Hedges' essay fails to offer any quote, citation, or any other evidence that atheists actually hold the views he accuses us of holding. In his distorted portrayal, today's atheists have "a naïve belief... in [humanity's] innate goodness and decency", "fail to grasp the dark reality of human nature [and] our own capacity for evil", and "support the imperialist projects and preemptive wars of the United States". Worst of all, we believe in "moral and material progress" - the holding of which belief is "an act of faith", "a form of the occult", and causes its holders to "inevitably turn to force to make their impossible dreams and their noble ideals a reality", "inflict[ing] suffering and death in the name of virtue and truth".