I watched the debate between Tucker Carlson and Brett Weinstein concerning whether or not God exists. it wasn’t really a debate in the technical sense, but it was two people sitting down cordially, asking questions and discussing this topic. I enjoyed it. There were times that I wished Tucker had a little more to say on the topic. But that’s not really what I want to discuss.
Brett Weinstein thought he was right but at the same time did not believe it was good for society to hold his view of the world. In other words, atheists cannot build a nation.
I believe Brett Weinstein to be a brilliant man. I have listened to him a few times. His stances on free speech are admirable. But in this, which is his area of expertise, he is incoherent. And it seems that he realizes that.
On three or four occasions during this discussion Weinstein claimed not to believe in God , but would immediately say that this is not the best way to live. He believes that people need a story that orients their lives, but he doesn’t believe that story is true.
I would like to propose that societies flourish as the ideology that undergirds them matches reality. It’s not make believe that creates a society, it is their adherence to reality. The reason Christians built the Western World is they are working within the framework of reality. The reason that atheists can only create hell holes is because they are fighting against reality.
Atheistic Societies Vs Christian Societies
At one point, Weinstein actually admits that Atheists don’t create good civilizations. And then he backs this up with examples. And, we all know this to be observably true. After the Western World was created by Christianity, Atheistic Commies were starving and killing their selves trying to establish an alternative to what Christianity built. Mao’s China, Stalin’s Soviet Union, Pol Pot’s Cambodia are all legendary for just how brutal they were.
He’s right. Atheists don’t build a civilization worth living in. And he repeatedly seems to argue that they do not have the ability to do so because of their belief structure. At this point, he should be examining his own belief structure.
But that’s just where the point seems to fly right over his head.
Incoherence Can’t Build Coherence
The structure of a civilization is more than a common story. Weinstein and others want to act as if having a common story that impels us to act proper within society will build a good civilization. But this is not true. The story must match reality.
This is just where atheism fails horribly. The atheists have a common story. It is that humans are not special, they are just a meat sack that, through intelligence, became the meat sack that rules over other meat sacks and plants. That is the story the atheist has concerning the creation of the world. And that story is so far removed from reality that it cannot create a society that lasts.
Think about it this way, list the 1st world countries across the globe. Some people list different countries than others. But there is something that unites all of them and that is a Christian heritage. Japan might be an exception to this rule, but they have a love and respect for Western values and have had quite a lot of Christian influence over the years.
Christianity is coherent. It has a value structure that builds a society. Because it accords with reality, it can build that society. Atheism is not coherent. Therefore all it creates is a chaotic mess.
What About Rome?
I like to think of objections to what I say as I write. I believe using Rome as an example will help here.
Rome, Egypt, and other civilizations rose up and did great things despite the fact that they weren’t Christian. Doesn’t this mean that I’m wrong?
I don’t believe so. What we see in Egypt and other civilizations are people that got closer than the Atheist, but because they didn’t make it to the Christian understanding of the world they couldn’t build anything as expansive and good as the Western World.
Rome believed in the Pantheon of gods. They believed that they owed their existence to beings that existed outside of them. And they believed that they should work and be loyal to Rome and its Pantheon. The same sort of ideas were at work in Egypt and other great civilizations of the past. This is closer to the truth than that everything sprang from nothing.
Rome did things that are unimaginable today. They even made concrete that’s better than what we have today. Rome’s government structure was an impressive creation that influenced later generations. But it was at Rome’s collapse and the Christian influence over what would happen next that gave astounding human flourishing to the world.
In order for the West to be created, Christianity had to influence it in that direction. Rome collapsed and Christianity took things to new heights.
Concluding Thought
Weinstein is not the first person to speak in these terms. Nor do I expect him to be the last. But when people utter things like this, it just proves that there is an incoherence in their beliefs. They don’t really understand how the world works.
R.Dwain Minor
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