Good For The Gander

One criticism that I've heard frequently from Christians, still stinging from having one of their favorite arguments deflated, is that the "new atheism" is unfairly targeting Christianity only, and giving a free pass to other religions, specifically Islam, which most Christians will readily (and un-self-conciously) attack as a religion based on out-of-date and false human teachings.

Ray Comfort, in the recent press release announcing his upcoming debate against the Rational Response Squad, repeats this:

But there is something more sinister here than a few people not believing in God. Why would so many be so bitter against Christianity in particular? Why aren't they making videos that blaspheme Buddha or Mohammed or Ghandi?

Well, I think it's important to take a little time to address this common complaint. The sheer fact of the matter is that most of the activities associated with the "new atheism" have taken place in the United States, where Christianity (especially evangelical Christianity) is in the overwhelming majority among other religions. But that doesn't mean that other religions are free from criticism, and concerned Christians should keep in mind that we're all too happy to point out the foibles of other incoherent systems.

Here at GTA, our official position is that we're opposed to ANY who assert incoherent supernatural claims, and in fact we've been taking it to the Muslims with reasonable frequency, including here, here, here, and here. Or the Scientologists, including here, here, and here. Or even those who might still believe in the Greek pantheon.

But this is just one blog- with little effort, you can find all kinds of non-Christian criticisms in the writings of bloggers P.Z. Myers (here, here, here, and here), Aaron Kinney, Taner Edis, James Still, Lee Randolph, John Loftus, Austin Cline, and Sam Harris.

And it's more than just blogs- the Center for Inquiry sponsored this speech by Salman Rushdie on the subject of Islam, and is affiliated with the author Ibn Warraq, who has written extensively criticizing Islam, and is active in the effort to secularize Islam. In addition, there are more and more websites for freethinking Muslim apostates, who are eager to see in Islam what Christian apostates are eager to see in Christianity.