Merry Atheistic Nothingness By Bradley Abramson , Op-Ed Contributor

For more than half a century the city of Santa Monica, Calif.,  allowed local churches to place nativity scenes in one of the city parks during  the Christmas season.

However, this practice was stopped after Christmas 2011 when Santa Monica  atheist Damon Vix secured a permit to place an atheist display near the nativity  scene – for he constructed not a “celebrate atheism”  display, but one that disparaged and attacked Christianity.

Thus ended the long history of the City of the Christmas Story, as Santa  Monica had come to be known, and thus began the realization of what everyone but  atheists already know – namely, that atheism is a nihilistic and dangerous  philosophy incapable of making any positive contributions to either individuals  or society.

As a result of Vix’s attack on Christianity and Christmas, the city banned  all holiday displays in the park beginning in 2012. Tellingly, this is an  outcome which Vix and his fellow atheists certainly find satisfying, as the  purpose of the atheist display was never to celebrate atheism but rather to  mount an attack on religious beliefs in general and on Christianity in  particular.

Unlike the Nativity display, which simply celebrated the birth of Jesus  Christ and denigrated no one else’s belief or unbelief, Vix’s display did not  celebrate any positive attributes of atheism, any praiseworthy contributions  atheists have made to society, or any great moments in the history of atheism.  Rather, Vix’s display consisted solely of a banner calling Jesus Christ a “MYTH”  and comparing him to Poseidon and Santa Claus.

According to atheism, there is no God. Consequently, there is no meaning to  (let alone any explanation for) the existence of the universe or the life that  exists in it. Nor is there any transcendent basis for moral judgments, leaving  us in a world where the actions of a murderer are no more immoral than the  actions of a saint; indeed, there is not even any basis to trust in reason  itself, since reason presupposes a meaningful universe, which atheism denies.

While atheism has neither created nor provided human society with anything  other than despair and the unparalleled mass murders perpetrated by the  atheistic totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, Christianity has for  thousands of years taught and spread the Judeo-Christian precept of loving your  neighbor as yourself; created and maintained schools, hospitals, orphanages, and  charities; and provided the theological underpinnings necessary for the  recognition of values that have kept the human race from descending into the  abyss of self-destruction, including the sanctity of life, the equality of man,  unalienable human rights,  and limited government.

In banning the Nativity display, Santa Monica has inadvertently advanced, in  a very tangible way, the false and dangerous philosophy of atheistic  nothingness. Where for a few weeks every year there used to be an illuminated  celebration of the Good Shepherd, the Prince of Peace,  God with us, the Light of the World – there is now nothing, but empty space and  darkness.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/merry-atheistic-nothingness-86422/#510wqjl1rZIHOjOu.99

3 Comments

  1. Atheism is not a philosophy. If you disagree, I challenge you to tell me what the philosophy says. Just, pre-emptively, atheism does not say that there is no God, and it isn’t nihilism. Atheism is simply the description of the people that have not been convinced a god exists.

    Second, why do you assume that the city should endorse religious expression in a public space?

    Thirdly, it’s a park; how depressing can it really be?

    Fourth, what step are you making that means ‘the universe was came into being without intent’ follows to ‘there is no purpose’?

    Atheism has brought us nothing, I agree (in fact, it has brought us precisely nothing, not even the massacres of the 20th century). But it has brought us nothing because atheism is not a thing. It’s like saying ‘not playing golf hasn’t brought anyone any joy’. Perhaps not, but non-golf activities (like rugby or tennis or cooking or a long walk in the countryside) have brought joy. In the same way, non-religious institutions (like scientific bodies, the American constitution and government, medical research, humanism) have brought us something.

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