The Month of Branyan continues with a great post about Atheists trying to abscond with “spirituality.” The article I am responding to is here: http://www.johnbranyan.com/in-the-spirit-of-no-spirits/

The key to it is a quote from famed atheist and “sweaty pervert” cosplay aficionado, SamHarris. In a recent article he said this:

“Spirituality “is a name for all of the deliberate efforts people can make to cut through the illusion of the self, the illusion that there is a thinker in addition to the thoughts, or an ego as it is often called,” Harris, 47, said in a telephone interview. “Self-transcendence is the foundation of what I am calling spirituality.”

A reader of the blog commented thusly: “Art, for example, doesn’t transcend the self?”

John replied with, “Art is not conscious.”

John has stated that Art is not conscious, but To be fair, on atheism, consciousness is an illusion- as Sam Harris stated in that first quote above: “..the illusion of the self, the illusion that there is a thinker in addition to the thoughts..” On atheism neither art NOR the artist are conscious. As I have pointed out in THIS article/THIS video, consistent atheism has no room for a self, conscience thought, or free will, and Sam Harris may sound like an idiot here, but he is being a consistent atheist. Neither art nor Arthur are selves. Neither is a WHO, both are WHATs.

On atheism, a toaster and the human brain differ only in their complexity and chemical make up- but in a godless worldview, how does complexity create self or self awareness? That is like asking how complicated your toaster can get before it DECIDES to make toast. In both cases, it can’t. You can add as many features to your toaster as you want and it will never gain the ability to decide if it is going to toast that pop tart. The lever you push down to get toasting just becomes more complex, but it essentially will always do the same thing.

Push lever= toast pop tart.

Atheism demands one reject free will and a unified self. It’s part of the laundry list of reasons why atheism is unlivable and absurd. When atheists are consistent, they have to reject belief not only in God, but in themselves. Sam Harris is being consistent and rejecting his own free will, ability to think, and self to do the thinking. And for this he gets people to buy his books?

There needs to be a better word for “stupid.”

Here’s where I take atheists to task- if you admit that you can think and make choices,

or-if you can distinguish between actual right and wrong (as opposed to your feelings and personal preferences),

or- if you admit you can choose and make decisions,

or- if you admit you are not a toaster,

then you admit that Atheism is false and God must exist.

They don’t get to steal from the Biblical worldview and attack it at the same time. It’s absurd. If you claim you are thinking person- a “free thinker”-then you have rejected Atheism already. You want to reject the existence of God? OK, but in the same breathe you are professing that you’re a toaster whose DNA has forced their brain to take the form we call “Atheism.” Not only did you not choose to be an atheist, you never could. Your lever got pushed and your brain machine toasted the theism pop-tart until it was burnt. And from there, Sam Harris writes books defending the atheistic world view.

Harris can attempt to persuade me that I can’t think and don’t exist and then ask me to think about becoming an atheist, but I’m not interested in what he has to say. Personally, I’m not going take advice from a toaster.

PS: Thanks for posting this JB. A great invitation to think, as always.