And that goldmine is also known as "reading material."

Two works of genius--one a book, and one an article--that have made my week.

The article is titled Moral Psychology and the Misunderstanding of Religion, and here is why I love it: The author goes at why the New Atheists (also known as Cognitio Defectum) are acting rather stupid toward the moral and societal effects of religion. Here are some wonderful little quotes from him:

"...the presence of passions should alert us that [Dawkins and Harris], being human, are likely to have great difficulty searching for and then fairly evaluating evidence that opposes their intuitive feelings about religion."

"The scientist ... respects empirical evidence as the ultimate authority and avoids ad hominem arguments. The metaphor for science is a voyage of discovery, not a war. Yet when I read the new atheist books, I see few new shores. Instead I see battlefields strewn with the corpses of straw men."

"Dawkins is explicit that his goal is to start a movement, to raise consciousness, and to arm atheists with the arguments they'll need to do battle with believers. The view that "we" are virtuous and our opponents are evil is a crucial step in uniting people behind a cause, and there is plenty of that in the new atheist books. A second crucial step is to identify traitors in our midst and punish or humiliate them. There is some of that too in these books-atheists who defend the utility of religion or who argue for disengagement or détente between science and religion are compared to Chamberlain and his appeasement of Hitler."


"Reading Harris is like watching professional wrestling or the Harlem Globetrotters. It's great fun, with lots of acrobatics, but it must not be mistaken for an actual contest."

"Don't dismiss religion on the basis of a superficial reading of the Bible and the newspaper. Might religious communities offer us insights into human flourishing? Can they teach us lessons that would improve wellbeing even in a primarily contractualist society.

You can't use the New Atheists as your guide to these lessons. The new atheists conduct biased reviews of the literature and conclude that there is no good evidence on any benefits except the health benefits of religion. Here is Daniel Dennett in Breaking the Spell on whether religion brings out the best in people:

"Perhaps a survey would show that as a group atheists and agnostics are more respectful of the law, more sensitive to the needs of others, or more ethical than religious people. Certainly no reliable survey has yet been done that shows otherwise. It might be that the best that can be said for religion is that it helps some people achieve the level of citizenship and morality typically found in brights. If you find that conjecture offensive, you need to adjust your perspective. (Breaking the Spell, p. 55.)

I have italicized the two sections that show ordinary moral thinking rather than scientific thinking. The first is Dennett's claim not just that there is no evidence, but that there is certainly no evidence, when in fact surveys have shown for decades that religious practice is a strong predictor of charitable giving. Arthur Brooks recently analyzed these data (in Who Really Cares) and concluded that the enormous generosity of religious believers is not just recycled to religious charities.

Religious believers give more money than secular folk to secular charities, and to their neighbors. They give more of their time, too, and of their blood. Even if you excuse secular liberals from charity because they vote for government welfare programs, it is awfully hard to explain why secular liberals give so little blood. The bottom line, Brooks concludes, is that all forms of giving go together, and all are greatly increased by religious participation and slightly increased by conservative ideology (after controlling for religiosity).

These data are complex and perhaps they can be spun the other way, but at the moment it appears that Dennett is wrong in his reading of the literature. Atheists may have many other virtues, but on one of the least controversial and most objective measures of moral behavior-giving time, money, and blood to help strangers in need-religious people appear to be morally superior to secular folk."

Did I mention that the author, Jonathan Haidt, is an atheist? Read to satisfy your curiosity.

The book is titled The Irrational Atheist by Vox Day. It strikes at the heart of this idiotic New Atheism movement by going after the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens. Here is my favorite quote from the entire book:

"I am saying that they are wrong, they are reliably, verifiably, and factually incorrect. Richard Dawkins is wrong. Daniel C. Dennett is wrong. Christopher Hitchens is drunk, and he's wrong. Michel Onfray is French, and he's wrong. Sam Harris is so superlatively wrong that it will require the development of esoteric mathematics operating simultaneously in multiple dimensions to fully comprehend the orders of magnitude of his wrongness. You make the call."

Yes, these epic (and hilarious) statements are backed up in the book.

What is the book about? It is NOT about proving Christianity to be true, nor is it even about proving atheism to be false. It is about the mindless and hypocritical teachings of people like Sam Harris (author of Letters to a Christian Nation and/or The End of Faith, one of the most hateful atheist books ever written) Christopher Hitchens (Author of God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, which basically states that every problem in the history of the world can be traced to religion), and Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion. My critique of this little gem is pretty well-known by now.). Basically, what the author tries to do is instead of proving all atheists are stupid, he wants to make most atheists ashamed to be lumped in with these idiots.

The entire book can be downloaded for free here. Or, you can buy it on Amazon.

I strongly recommend both works to anyone with any belief, but especially to my atheist friends. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a cold and need to go suffer.:D