Gun-toting atheist Craig Stephen Hicks stands accused of shooting to death three young Muslims in North Carolina.
Hey, that's what atheists do, right?
Wrong.
I'm very aware of the rush by religious believers to tie Hicks' atheism to
his motivation.
I'm also well aware that atheists are often guilty of using the same
tactic.
Should extremists within the respective religious and
non-religious worldviews serve as examples of logic carried to conclusion? Do we own the
extremists in our chosen view?
Prominent atheist Richard Dawkins asked:
How could any decent person NOT condemn the vile murder of three
young US Muslims in Chapel Hill?
Let's all agree.
Can we also agree that extremism is not an argument against a particular
worldview?
I'm with you here. If we were going to judge a movement by its worst extremes, we should at least balance our view by equally considering the best extremes. But better is to look overall.
ReplyDeleteI think it is best to judge a viewpoint on its merits, but I think how its proponents behave is a relevant part of that, but only a part.
On its merits. That is it. Extremists do little but distract us from the our task, yet still we allow ourselves to be distracted. Proselytizers will go on using extremists as arguments.
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