Atheist Double Standard
My laugh for today is this comment, from a reader who identifies himself as Steve:
How in God’s name are you going to publish a book? You work in fast food and don’t have the credentials or credibility to even think about a book. It’s almost insulting to the people who have spent much time and money in their education and relevent [sic] work experience. You can’t just say “I’m going to write a book” There are prerequisites.
I have to wonder if this guy would have said the same thing to a fashion editor publishing on the history of religion (Christopher Hitchens), an evolutionary biologist publishing on philosophy (Richard Dawkins), or someone with a high school education becoming a fellow of an academic think-tank (Tom Verenna, aka Rook Hawkins).
Atheists, when they publish, are granted free license to write about any topic they so choose. As long as it serves the name of atheism or anti-theism, they are granted credibility by their audience of admirers whether they have it or not.
The site that I’m answering in my proposed book, God is Imaginary, is allegedly written by Marshall Brain, founder of HowStuffWorks.com. According to Wikipedia, Brain has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s in computer science. This qualifies a person to maintain websites debunking religion? Yet, that site is often referred to as a resource for debunking Christianity by many atheists online. The site has a credibility that it should not have.
As academic layman in the category of religion, Brain and I are equals. No one would take on these sites from the academic community because they aren’t argued from an academic perspective. Having an academic, such as William Lane Craig, I take on these sites would be overkill. Therefore, I’m the perfect candidate to write a rebuttal, since I am an academic layman also.
What happens if the credibility factor does become a problem, and agents and publishers reject the proposal based on that? No problem, I have other writing projects that I am working on at the moment where credibility isn’t a problem. I can always try again with this proposal in a few years, when I will have the academic credibility.
That said, I would like to welcome long-time reader John C back! I hope that you find this blog more to your liking. I promise not to focus so much on Rey’s replies, as I should be taking on the best arguments from the other side, not the worst arguments from our own.
Share this:
Posted on June 23, 2009, in Humor and tagged atheism, Personal. Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.
Josiah Concept Ministries 
My laugh for the day is the fact that you are trying to justify this nonsense by comparing yourself to Dawkins, in addition to proving your ignorant view of the publishing process by claiming you have many projects in the works. it’s not an athiest attack, it is someone challenging your logic and ego.
I’m not comparing myself to Dawkins, but I am wondering if you’d say the same thing to the atheists that I mentioned. You did dodge that point.
How am I ignorant of the publishing process by claiming that I have more than one project in the works? All I’m saying is that if this doesn’t pan out, I have another project to fall back on.
you put yourself in the same category as Dawkins…..so YES in a way you did compare yourself to him. well let me know when your works are published. i’m always looking for a good read.
My other project is one that I have no credibility issues with, it is a book on fast food management from tips on running better shifts to how to open up a franchise. Since I have no expertise on opening up my own franchise, I thought that I would use some of the advance to help me do that as research for the book. I seldom update it, but you can check out my fast food blog right here.
“Atheists, when they publish, are granted free license to write about any topic they so choose. As long as it serves the name of atheism or anti-theism, they are granted credibility by their audience of admirers whether they have it or not.”
Based on the comment from Steve, you completely missed his point: “You work in fast food and don’t have the credentials or credibility to even think about a book.”
All he was referring to was the necessary credentials, experience and background that are generally required to successfully have a qualified publisher take an interest in your writings. It has nothing to do with any particular subject of the writings, rather it is merely what the academic world sees as necessary to pursue a writing career. Have you had any publishers interested in your blogging experience thus far? If so, who and on what subject?
It seems to me your response to his post was not directed at the post but more so an opportunity for you to expand on issues that were on your mind. I think you would get better interaction if you directly responded to the point posted.
Dangit Cory why can’t you just please everybody all the time???? 😉
I know, really! 🙂
So, basically, if one atheist is a moron, all atheists are morons?