Another broadsheet blogger rails against the atheist bus adverts, this time it’s one Gerald Warner, blogging at the Daily Telegraph. In his absurd blog article, Warner (who is described as “…an author, broadcaster, columnist and polemical commentator who writes about politics, religion, history, culture and society in general. If it is an exaggeration to say that he believes the world has gone to the dogs, it is only a slight hyperbole.”) writes in support of Ron Heather, the evangelical bus driver who had a bit of a paddy and refused to drive a bus featuring the advert. For some reason his 25 years’ service in the Royal Navy is thought relevant. I would have thought that 25 years in the services would have inclined him to do what he was told.
Bizarrely entitled “Atheists will need martyrs if they are to compete with Christians”, the article seems to be a mish-mash of poor argument, with some spectacular statements.
…the most interesting part of the slogan is the second half: “Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Since when was the message that there is no one in charge, nobody to protect us or lend succour, thought reassuring?
Well, I for one am glad that their doesn’t appear to be some supernatural being in overall control. And I do feel that the advice to stop worrying and enjoy life is good advice.
The notion that an unregulated universe, world and society are enjoyable is intrinsically nihilist. It betrays the fundamental misunderstanding of Christianity that afflicts secularists. They do not see God as comforting, but as threatening. That is because the concept of any curb on human passions, any moral sanction, is now regarded as making it impossible to “enjoy your life”. This grey hedonism is contradicted by the visible phenomenon that many of the people who most zestfully enjoy life are Christians.
I’m afraid that passage is just nonsense. Certainly, my view is that the world and the universe is unregulated by some supernatural entity. The work is however regulated by humans, I admit mostly with a heritage of strictures and instructions ultimately derived from ancient believers in supernatural entities. Onward:
Formerly, the most feared bores were fundamentalist preachers; today it is obsessive atheists of the Dawkins/Pullman/Grayling persuasion who bore for Britain.
Actually the most feared bores are the religious bloggers, like the plagiarist Clifford Longley. Longley couldn’t even be bothered to check the accuracy and veracity of a piece of text he lifted almost verbatim from one of a number of religious websites out there on the internet.
He finishes with this priceless gem:
One further observation by Ron Heather will strike a chord with many: “There would be no way buses would be able to drive around with an anti-Muslim message like that on the side mentioning Allah.” Christians have two millennia of martyrdom behind them. If atheists want to crusade and play with the big boys, are their convictions strong enough to brave a fatwah? Answers on the side of a bus…
Is Warner arrogant or what? The advert that so exercises him is worded “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Why does he think this is specifically directed at his god in particular?