When asked by Napoleon on why his work on astronomy did not mention the creator, it is said that Laplace gave the above reply. The Scientific Revolution was supposed to herald the end of religion and superstition and supplant it with reason and logic. Yet, early in the 21st Century, atheism stands failed. Failed completely and utterly.
The newspaper headline screamed, "Fiery NMP gets her baptism of fire." The article begins in this manner.
"She was a 'very, very arrogant' atheist, who scored an A1 in Bible Knowledge for her O levels, and ripped apart the beliefs of her Christian friends when debating religion with them.
Then, at the age of 19, she converted to Christianity.
Professor Thio Li-ann smiles wryly as she casts her mind back to that day in October 1987.
Having just entered Oxford to study jurisprudence, she attended a Christian Union talk at a friend's invitation.
Wanting to leave halfway, she was 'stopped' by a voice.
'I basically had a sense that God was talking to me,' she recounts."
And so, the smart 'atheist' who scored an A1 was converted. What a nauseating article, if ever there was one. How it mocks those great atheist minds. What ever would LaPlace know of logic, he did not get an A1 in Bible Knowledge. Or how about people like Steven Weinberg, Bertrand Russell, Linus Pauling, Godfrey Hardy and Paul Dirac to name a few. What would they know of atheism. Perhaps it's just too bad that 'voices' did not come to them and that a loving God did not speak to them.
But now, Prof Thio Li-ann has taken up this moral crusade to prevent those 'sinful' and 'immoral' homosexuals from getting even a modicum of respect and self-worth. All because in October 1987, a voice spoke to her. To her gay sex 'creates a sense of moral opprobrium or repugnance.'
It is too bad that not many people know of the case of Alan Turing. Widely considered, the father of modern computer science. Turing was also an integral part in breaking the German Enigma Code during the Second World War. Whatever he contributed to bring about peace in the modern world, was quickly forgotten as in 1952, he was convicted of 'acts of gross indecency' for sexual acts with a man and was forced to undergo chemical castration. Rather than face this humiliation, he ate an cyanide laced apple. Some believe that half-eaten apple logo of Apple Inc. is a tribute to this genius, humble and a harmless man, who was persecuted with a vengeance not seen since the Salem Witch-hunt.
I am quite certain that most decent people will find Turing's persecution to be morally repugnant and not his homosexuality. But why has the atheistic philosophy failed?
Perhaps even more so than homosexuals, atheists have been too long in their closets. Too coy to ruffle the feathers of religion in a debate. Too afraid to hurt the sensitive sentiments of the religious. Why should we? The truth of the Universe and of history is on our side. The time for inaction is over. Perhaps, ironically, we should take heed from that great American Conservative and Republican, Barry Goldwater, who said "The religious factions will go on imposing their will on others....unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy." Let us base our policy upon strong fundamentals based upon stronger reason and not be swayed by the hallucinations of a 19-year old teen with a "weakness for very handsome men with brown hair."
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