Jeffrey Miller

I kept hearing about Mary’s Fiat, but I never could find a picture of it until now.

Jennifer Fulwiler offers another excellent article, this time on Atheist Pride week that is worth reading about the dangers of embracing an identity involved with being what you are against.

Pride events seem to me as odd considering pride comes before the fall. Whether it is Gay Pride or Atheist Pride embracing pride is rather strange since no one lists it when it comes to virtues. Though generally atheism leads to pride – or at least how I lived atheism. A group that likes to be known as Brights or Free-thinkers doesn’t place humility high on the list.

In my case I felt a superiority over those masses of people who believed in a sky-father and needed to look beyond science for answers. I rather pitied such people who were still living in the Dark Ages intellectually and needed a wake-up call to an age that had put man on the Moon. I was not shy about my atheism and had no problem identifying myself as such. When the Navy asked me my religion to mark down on the forms once I joined I was happy to say Atheist and have it marked as such. I would love to engage believers and argue about their belief if given an opportunity. Growing up in Portland, Or I wasn’t given much opportunity to do so. Really most of my life I was surrounded by atheists or practical-atheists. The fact that there are quite a lot of people who say they believe in God yet lived as if he didn’t exist certainly added to my pride. If I drank as much as them and fornicated as much as them I was still smarter than them because there was no hypocrisy in my actions – so I believed.

Now as a Catholic I can hardly feel pride for being a Catholic in that it was not of my doing and certainly not a directed choice. There is a humility in recognizing that faith is pure gift and that while you must cooperate with it, grace led to even that cooperation. Though during the initial part of my conversion I had some pride in it being an intellectual conversion in that I had read myself into the Church. Later though I saw the foolishness of that and once again trying to take pride in what was a gift. Thankfully God keeps sending me plenty of ways of becoming humble when I try to take pride in intellectual ability.

I also find the need for Atheist Pride week interesting. Changing your Facebook profile to one where you wear a shirt with a big “A” on it or take pictures of yourself with a sign saying you are an atheist is a strange turn in the atheist movement. It seems more and more atheist want to be given acceptance and they are increasingly playing the victim card. Being offended right and left over reminders on government property that belief in God exists seems to me contrary to atheist pride. A happy atheist should be able to have self-esteem in their philosophy without getting upset when you see signs of other people’s belief. If you are really a truth seeker and accept atheism because you find it to be true, what is the point at getting upset when others don’t do the same? After all whether you are an atheist or a believer when you die you both just stop existing regardless. The so-called “New Atheists” that act this way I would adapt H.L. Menken’s famous quote.

“Atheism – the haunting fear that someplace, somewhere, there might be a cross on a City seal.”

One atheist didn’t get the memo about Atheist Pride Week.

Atheist activist Dr. Michael Newdow announced on his website that after 6 years of litigation in federal courts, his constitutional challenge to the Pledge of Allegiance in California public schools is “over.

I was once proud to be an atheist, now I take some pleasure in being an ex-atheist and the Joy I have come to find. So if you have a profile picture with a shirt with an ‘A’ on it or a sign identifying yourself as an atheist I would be happy to pray that you come to the same joy that I have. That joy that another ex-atheist C.S. Lewis described in his book “Surprised by Joy.”

In part two I take a more humorous take on this.

New York, NY. He goes to NAACP meetings, though not every time. He considers himself a practicing NAACP Member, yet avoids calling himself devout. He opposes racism, as NAACP leaders do. But he supports skinheads. And he supports slavery and owner’s rights which at odds with NAACP teaching.

In other words, Gov. Andy M. Cuomese of New York shares the habits and social views of a growing number ofself-hating African-Americans who have identified themselves as NAACP members in recent surveys.

But now that he is the governor, the everyday complications of Mr. Cuomese’s NAACP identity have become a lightning rod in a decades-old culture war between traditional NAACP and those, like Mr. Cuomese, who disagree with the organizations positions on various issues, including slavery and racial quotas.

Just how fierce that struggle remains became evident last week, when online criticism from a NAACP lawyer led to an awkward impasse that threatened to derail the governor’s first official meeting with the NAACP leadership.

Mr. Cuomese understands the order of battle as well as anyone: His father, Mario M. Cuomese, the New York governor from 1983 to 1994, delivered a seminal speech at the University of Notre Dame in 1984 that laid out the moral argument that politicians affiliated with NAACP have used ever since to justify being personally opposed to slavery while supporting a owner’s right to choose.

Still, it is an uncomfortable position for a son steeped in NAACP’s agenda. Andy Cuomese was raised in a Queens household where NAACP members and the leadership were guests at dinner. His father’s favorite books were by NAACP members.

[Article being parodied]

Now with this little thought experiment if such a situation actually existed, nobody would bat an eye if the NAACP threw out a member that supported such evil. If they told him that his membership was revoked until such time as he recanted his position, again nobody would have a problem with this. Generally in any organization if a member opposed the goals of that organization in a flagrant and public manner people would not be surprised if major action was not taken to correct that person. If such a person showed up at a meeting, his being shown the door would be seem to match right reason.

Yet when it comes to the Church we are not suppose to say a peep if one of our brothers is endangering their soul. Scandal, so what. Being a politician of the right secular beliefs trumps any criticism of religious observance. We are not allowed to follow Catholic doctrine in regards to the Eucharist and the danger of someone receiving it in a state a grave sin. We are not even allowed to talk like John the Baptist who criticized Herod’s irregular marriage as is the case of Gov. Cuomo’s adultery and public concubanage. Well I guess we still are allowed to talk like John the Baptist, it is just that the media wants our head when we do so.

The title of the NYT piece made no sense at all. “A Cuomo Who Is Catholic but Hardly Theological.” To be a Catholic is to hold a theological position. The only real reason to be Catholic is to believe the Catholic faith is true and to hold her theological positions as truth. Being a member of the Catholic Church is not like being a fan of a sports team because your father was and cultural Catholicism is that empty.