Middlebrow has a good piece on the subject. I too have noticed how unsophisticated the thinking is about religion for those who haven't been adequately exposed/educated. I never see the sneering in my personal life, but maybe folks are being polite. I hate to be presumed stupid: at least give me a chance to prove it. A quote:
Lately, secularists have taken to sneering rather than arguing. They simply assume all thoughtful people agree . . . and move on.
When is a �silly� belief disqualifying? Very great men have believed very odd things . . . I would love to be tutored by Socrates (!) whatever his views on government.
But the new secularism has no time for nuance or self-doubt. If a man is religious, then secularists know him to be a fool, an idiot, or a cad. If a secular writer is bright enough, then he might get away with calling a believer all three!
To such folk there are good religious, folk like Cornel West, whose religious views are secularism with God-talk added.
and�
Secularists who are fools, idiots, or cads (the dear leader of North Korea, the Hollywood secularist of the moment, and Stalin in no particular order) are merely misguided . . . or not true secularists to the modern writer of such rot.
Christianity may have helped invent modern science, the University, and produced much of the world�s great cultural treasures, but living Christianity is only to be despised, though to be fair any other religious group is hated just as heartily by these thoughtless secularists.
