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Where Are The Good Samaritan Atheists?

Frida Kahlo. The Little Deer.
(Frida Kahlo. The Little Deer. Source)

1) Introduction

If you were infected with a serious disease, like AIDS, you would probably avoid getting into excessively intimate contact with people around you, to avoid spreading your disease. On the other hand, if you discovered a cure to a serious disease, you would do the exact opposite! You would try to get into contact with as many sick people as possible, in order to cure them.

Sometimes I get the impression that Atheists behave as if they themselves had a serious spiritual disease. If Atheism were true, then Christianity would be false. Christians would be seriously ill, and Atheists would have a wonderful cure! So why don't we see more Atheists who behave like the Good Samaritan?

2) Atheists have no excuses for crossing over to the other side of the Internet

In the parable of the Good Samaritan, many people see the injured man lying in the ditch, but they just cross the road:

A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.
[Lc 10:29-37]

This priest and this Levite at least had some excuses. The violent thieves could have been still lurking in the area, ready to pounce on the next traveler. The injured man could have been crazy and bitten anybody who tried to rescue him. And of course, there is always the issue of time: who has the time to rescue all those who need rescuing?

But we are not on some road in Palestine two thousand years ago. There is the Internet! Violent "Christians" (a contradiction in terms if there was ever one) cannot attack good Atheist Samaritans by crawling up their network connection. Atheists cannot be bitten by an e-mail. And talk about time! One of the wonders of the Internet is that you can write a text describing the solution to a problem, stick it on a web site, and that solution will be there for anybody who needs it, anywhere, anytime! (Well, strictly speaking, that would require the implementation of many of my long-term projects, like a universal language, a simple yet powerful computer for all inhabitants of planet Earth, and free high-quality distance schooling. But you get the idea.)

And even if this specific Christian refuses to listen, all the other visitors of that web site will see the arguments of the good Samaritan Atheist.

3) More compassion for beetles than for Christians?

The irrationality and logical incoherence of Atheists is all the more visible when you consider how many Atheists are heavily involved in ecology and the defense of the environment. They spare no effort to save the belugas, save the pandas, and even the most obscure and apparently unimportant little wildflower or beetle.

But when it comes time to take five minutes to help a Christian, some of these Atheists start to look more like red-necked, beer-swizzling and cigar-smoking hunters. Christians seem no more than deer meat targets for their archery practice.

4) Conclusion

I don't bite.

I don't slander.

I don't censor opponents.

If Atheism is a cure, I'm very sick.

Are you willing to make a reasonable effort to help your neighbor?

I am!

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