The ironically titled Friendly Atheist

Is not a very nice place, according to Thomas McDonald.  I'm the first to say that atheists can be thoughtful, most are probably good people, and there are some fair critiques of religious thought, including monotheistic thought as proclaimed by the Christian faith.  Fair enough.

With that said, the laughable, ludicrous, and downright evil movement sometimes known as 'modern atheism',  that has arisen since 9/11, is both stunning and alarming.  Too many Christian, religious believers, and Catholics in particular seem to think by reaching out across the aisle and singing the praises of such atheist advocates as Dawkins, Harris or the late Christopher Hitchens, we can show how sophisticated, loving, and above it all we really are.

Look, as a former educator, I must admit there are some kids you just can't reach.  I'm not saying they are unreachable.  Everyone is potentially reachable.  But there are some *you* won't reach.  There are some no school could reach.  There are some that nobody short of God Himself could reach.  That's just a fact.

We look back and shake our heads that people tried to compromise with, or negotiate with, the Nazis.  Everyone's favorite baddies.  Of course we shake our heads because we know now, in hindsight, that neither Hitler nor the regime he founded had any intention of compromising, of negotiating, of giving up its dreams of conquest or empire.  There simply was nothing anyone could do to prevent what Hitler attempted to accomplish. Nothing.  Nothing this side of heaven.  That much is clear.

That happens.  The modern atheist movement is very much a movement of people like those unreachable kids.  Or Nazis for that matter.  It isn't based on intelligence  rational thought, reason, or any such thing.  It's certainly not based on friendliness, goodness, tolerance or anything close.  Sam Harris saw to that when he called for an end to religious tolerance and the eradication of the religions he doesn't like.

Many atheists have followed suit.  Buttressed by an absolutely vacant and impotent news media, and an academic culture that is at best neutral, and at worst empowering the entire 'death to religion' movement, atheists are free to think anything they want, no matter how smack down stupid, and believe it to be right.  I've seen atheists declare that they need not prove anything, apparently since religious people have the burden of "proving" God, an atheist can say just about anything on a host of subjects and supply not the least amount of evidence.

And the gurus of modern atheism, like the late Hitchens or such deplorable anti-religious bigots as the small-minded P.Z. Myers, seize upon this lack of accountability to say and do things that would spell the end to anyone's career if they were done or said about any one of a thousand other demographic groups.  Just what makes the religious community in such need of a dose of Viagra when it comes to this new atheism movement is beyond me.  We can call it what it is: pure evil.

Pure evil because it peddles the lowest common denominator of human decadence, narcissism and hedonism, while adopting a contempt for human life and dignity that would shame the aforesaid Nazis, all while basing their reasoning on such lame, vapid, and unbelievably asinine reasoning that, in any other time in history, I'd like to think would result in being laughed off any stage in the kingdom.

As it is, being a nation of Juror Number Sevens, what they say goes largely unnoticed.  Meanwhile, time and again I run into Catholic apologists and public figures who seem to want to bend over backwards, extend a hand of friendship, and find the best possible light through which to interpret the bilge, bigotry and pure evil they are witnessing.  Nice to see Mr. McDonald call it what it is.  There is a time folks.  I'm not saying pick up the rack and thumbscrews, but I am saying it might be time to stop with the buddy-buddy, and start calling a spade a spade.