MSNBC Op-Ed Proposes ‘New Kind of Atheism’ Will Solve America’s Moral Woes – Movieguide

Published: August 4, 2022

MSNBC Op-Ed Proposes New Kind of Atheism Will Solve Americas Moral Woes

By Movieguide Staff

According to Zeeshan Aleem, not only are women across the country being held hostage by a conservative Christian conception of life, but the solution is a new style of Atheism.

In a new op-ed Why America needs a new kind of atheism right now,: Aleem posits that an energetic, organized atheist movement would help guard against intensifying religious extremism on one end, and the atomizing social consequences of a plunge in conventional religiosity on the other.

Aleems motion towards communitarian atheism, as he calls it, was spurred on by the recent Supreme Court Ruling that overturned the landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade.

Aleem, a former Muslim, said that his conversion to atheism enlivened him:

Some people think of atheists as rudderless and living in a cold, meaningless world. My experience was the opposite. Atheism enlivened me and spurred me to develop a broader skepticism of all manner of received wisdom. The displacement of heaven inspired me to think about achieving utopia on earth; my reading skewed in a radically left-wing direction, and I pivoted toward political activism.

While Aleem claims that his new atheism offers a gateway for many Americans to contemplate important questions, form community, and think about how to collectively better the only world we can be sure we have, mere contemplation is not enough to find purpose.

The central pitfall of atheism, even the new version that Aleem proposes, is that it lacks any moral basis that can be used to establish a purpose to live.

Movieguide founder Dr. Ted Baehr wrote on atheism:

Atheism is the disbelief or denial of the existence of God or a supreme intelligent being. Atheism is a ferocious system that leaves nothing above us to excite awe, nor around us to awaken tenderness.

Because the atheist rejects any belief in the supernatural, he must view man as an evolutionary creature with no objective basis of morality. Ethics can only be subjective and self-defined, leading to the survival of the strong and destruction of the weak.

Aborting babies in the womb, infanticide, euthanasia, and totalitarianism are common practices in an atheistic culture.

Popular podcaster and political pundit Ben Shapiro echoed this in a recent statement: It is no coincidence that the most militantly atheistic governments communist and fascist governments of the 20th century have been far more murderous and tyrannical than any religious theocracy in history. Atheism promotes a vision of mankind entirely at odds with the building of a productive society.

As the former atheist turned theologian C.S. Lewis once said: A man can no more diminish Gods glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word darkness on the walls of his cell.

David addresses the same idea in Psalm 14:1, which simply reads: The fool says in his heart, There is no God.'

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MSNBC Op-Ed Proposes 'New Kind of Atheism' Will Solve America's Moral Woes - Movieguide