Karl Rove Is An Atheist: More Evidence and Implications

President George W. Bush, Karen Hughes and Karl Rove in the conference room aboard Air Force One. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It seems that there is tremendous interest in the possibility that Karl Rove is an atheist. The recent post in which I quoted Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, as saying that Rove "is not a believer" generated great interest. In this post, I'll consider other evidence that confirms Hitchens' statement and discuss the implications of Rove's atheism.

Hitchens on Karl Rove and Bush

We start with Christopher Hitchens. What exactly did he say, and what was the context of his statement? During an interview with New York Magazine, Hitchens was asked whether he thought an openly atheistic candidate would ever be elected in the United States. He answered in the affirmative and was then asked whether anyone in the Bush administration has ever disclosed atheism to him. He replied,

Well, I don’t talk that much to them—maybe people think I do. I know something which is known to few but is not a secret. Karl Rove is not a believer, and he doesn’t shout it from the rooftops, but when asked, he answers quite honestly. I think the way he puts it is, “I’m not fortunate enough to be a person of faith.”

Moderate Religion: Culpability and Possibility

Richard Dawkins talking at Kepler's bookstore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most atheists believe that religious extremism is a problem. Many religious moderates in America agree with us, especially if we are discussing Islamic extremism. However, most American atheists are more focused on Christian extremism because we encounter it more frequently, see countless examples of it throughout our society, and marvel at the reach of its influence in the highest levels of our government. Unfortunately, fewer Christian moderates have been willing to stand against their extremist brethren within Christianity. What role are moderate Christians to play, if any, in our opposition to Christian extremism?

The culpability of religious moderates in facilitating religious extremism was a central theme in both Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion and Sam Harris' The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason. In fact, this theme seems to have been an important part of what made both books unusually controversial. The point to emphasize here is that moderates are not accused of simply contributing to extremism through their inaction. Instead, they are described as actively contributing to the problem of religious extremism.

Secular Humanist First, Atheist Second

Happy human, a secular humanist logo made in blender quick. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am an atheist, but I am also a secular humanist. In fact, I sometimes feel like I am an atheist in part because this is where secular humanism led me. Technically, I suppose that would not be a correct assertion. I realized I did not believe in gods prior to learning about secular humanism. I suppose it would be more accurate to say that my connection to atheism is largely rational while my connection to secular humanism is both rational and emotional. That is, I have a certain fondness for secular humanism that I do not have for atheism. Does that make sense?

I focus this blog on criticizing religion and other forms of irrational belief, with Christian extremism spending the most time in my crosshairs. And while I have focused on atheism more than humanism, it is time to give secular humanism more of the attention it deserves.

The Christian Easter Story: Hear it Again for the First Time

An Easter Cross (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A recent post from Mike's Weekly Skeptic Rant (update: blog no longer active) has me thinking. For those of you who were indoctrinated in the Christian religion as I was, how many times do you think you've heard the Easter story? I'll bet I've heard the tale about the trial, the crucifixion, and resurrection of Jee-zuhs at least 40 times during the years I spent at church, Sunday school, with religious family members, etc. Now think about how it would sound to you if you were hearing it for the first time now.

Part of what makes religious indoctrination so powerful, explaining why the vast majority of Americans continue to believe in all sorts of crazy things, is that it starts early in life before children have the capacity for certain kinds of critical thinking. I'm not saying that vulnerable adolescents and adults never embrace religion; that they do is obvious. However, the real power of the religious belief system is that it has managed to convince parents that they are doing their children a favor by indoctrinating them in this web of superstition.

April Fools Day: The Real Christian Holiday

Christmas is generally celebrated by Christians as their most important holiday; however, it has always seemed to me that Easter is more central to their doctrine. After all, everyone who ever lived was born, but only Jesus is claimed to have been resurrected (technically, that is not true but we hear far more about Jesus today than any of the others). I'd like to suggest that there may be an even more important day for Christians, one which is unfortunately not recognized as such by most believers. That day is today - April 1st, appropriately referred to as April Fools Day.

Both Christmas and Easter have their roots in replacing pre-existing pagan holidays with Christian celebrations as a way of stamping out paganism. In the United States, modern Christians celebrate Christmas as being the birthday of Jesus and as an excuse to wallow in the excesses of materialism. Easter seems to receive far less attention. While it is supposed to be about the resurrection - and thus the divinity - of Jesus, it now seems to be more about bunnies, eggs, and chocolate. Still, it retains an important meaning for some of the more devout Christians.