In reading "An Atheist Manifesto" by Sam Harris, I am struck with the realization that I spend too much time on this blog focusing on arguments made against the Restoration by sectarian Christians. The fact is that, though these are the primary authors of anti-Mormon propaganda, I view the growing movement against theist religion in general as a more serious issue.

Why did I say "theist religion?" Isn't "theist" a redundant modifier for "religion?" No, it's actually not. I say that because there are many religions in the world that have nothing to do with spiritual or theological matters - and Sam Harris ascribes to one of those. Just as people form religions around ideas regarding the ultimate meaning of life, the existence of higher powers, and the fate of human identity after death, people like Sam Harris form religions around personal philosophies that, though claiming to be rational and scientific, are actually based in various preconceptions and prejudices that are not scientific at all.

Objectivism
A prime example is Ayn Rand's "Objectivism" - a religious movement that, due to its focus on self-sufficiency and pseudo-noble hedonism, carries an apt amount of hubris in its very name. Among its condescending assertions such as "A is A," we see a religious movement that even has its own litany and innovative lexicon. For instance, Ayn Rand thinks that, being the end of all things (which she asserts), she has the right to redefine terms however she wants. Sacrifice, she says, is "the surrender of a greater value for the sake of a lesser one or of a nonvalue." Now, naturally, if that were the true meaning of "sacrifice," she would be right in saying that sacrifice is a vice. However, looking up sacrifice in an actual dictionary shows it to mean the exact opposite.

Atheists, specifically those who march under the Rand banner, frequently claim that the belief in God is the source of all conflict and madness in the world. However, I cannot help but think of Ayn Rand's protege Leonard Peikoff and what he said one day while talking to Bill O'Reilly. In response to the attack by Islamic extremists on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, Peikoff insisted that the United States should immediately launch a nuclear attack and basically turn every person from Morocco to Pakistan into chalk on the sidewalk. Despite the anger he carried against the Muslim world at the time, though, the very Catholic Bill O'Reilly told Peikoff that he was crazy.

(If you're a conservative and Bill O'Reilly is telling you that you are crazy, you just might be crazy.)

Other Atheist Religions
There is no such thing as a scientific movement. As soon as something becomes a movement, it is a religion. As soon as people start going on marches, waving banners, and trying to "convert" others to "the cause," they are showing themselves to be more akin to the pilgrims heading to Mecca than to researchers in a lab.

And that's okay.

Being a religious person, I don't think that religion is an inherently bad thing. The problem is that so many advocates of capitalism, communism, transhumanism, environmentalism, industrialism, and all of those other isms try to present themselves as absolutely scientific and not religious at all. They only do this because they do not want their own religions to be identified with the religions that they do not like. Why are transhumanists so intensely passionate about their ideology? Why do many environmentalists practically worship trees? For the extreme nihilist, what is the point of using so much time and energy to tell everyone that there is no point?

Conclusion
Though they claim objectivity and a world view based completely in science, most atheists are actually very religious people. And, as religionists who are full of hubris have always done, many of them are waging a holy war against those whom they have deemed to be heretics.