You always hear Christians point to Billy Graham as the person who best represents their faith. He’s not political! He’s not corrupt! He preaches Jesus’ message!
Graham was asked in his syndicated column this past weekend why there are so many atheists around these days. After saying that there were indeed more visible atheists these days, he proceeded to rattle off a bunch of lies:
… atheism has no satisfying answer to the basic questions of life — questions like “Who am I? Where did I come from? Why am I here? How do I know what’s right and wrong? What happens when I die?” Atheism says we are here by chance, and life has no meaning or destiny. Taken to its conclusion, atheism ends in despair.
As one commenter wrote, being an atheist isn’t about finding all the answers to those questions; Instead, we have the freedom to discover those answers wherever they may be.
We are here by chance, but we’re hopefully making the most of our lives. It’s incredible luck that we’re here. It’d be a shame to waste that opportunity.
As for the despair bit, Graham is just delusional.
I’ve been to atheist conferences. Graham’s straw man makes it sound like we’re all sitting around, emo and moping, waiting for the sweet release of death. That’s not the case. When we get together, we’re excited and full of joy. We have the same ups and downs as Christians do.
Later, he writes:
Many atheists, I find, reject God for one reason: They want to run their own lives.
(No)God forbid we actually take responsibility for our own actions…. Atheists “reject” god only because there’s no evidence for one. Has Graham even spoken to an atheist before? Doesn’t sound like it.
I don’t know why this column even runs anymore. Graham was asked if there are more atheists now than before. He didn’t even really answer the question. Instead, he used it as an opportunity to spread lies about people he knows next to nothing about.
And Christians respect him?!
At least Christopher Hitchens didn’t hold back. He once said, bluntly as always, Graham’s full of shit. Check out the 1:00 and 3:00 marks:
With someone like, say, Billy Graham, I think one can see all the symptoms of a self-conscious fraud. I mean someone who doesn’t believe any of this at all, but is a reasonably good businessman.
…
[Host: You think Billy Graham’s an evil man?]
Yes. Disgustingly evil man.
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