It is always wrong to generalize from the particular to the collective, as in using anecdotes to make sweeping generalizations, or in seizing upon extreme cases to indict an entire demographic group. To take a recent example, anti-Christian demagogues are trying to rally the public to watch their backs in this election year because Christians are allegedly out to kill them.
Atheist Revolution warns that “we stand to lose when Christian extremists gain power,” and this means that “We should vote like our lives depend on it because they do.” Indeed, the scaremongers contend that “if you value your life or the lives of other non-Christians,” then you must confront these Christians before it is too late. “It is about our survival.”
Where is the proof that Christian extremists are a threat to the safety of non-Christians? And what qualifies as a Christian “extremist”?
To the first question, the activists at Atheist Revolution cite the comments made by one right-wing nut job, Nick Fuentes. To be sure, he has made a series of totally irresponsible remarks. But his followers are small and ineffective. More important, to seize on the rhetoric of one person as proof that non-Christians are threatened—and therefore they must be vigilant in this election cycle—is not only Christian baiting, it is downright dangerous.
To the second question, Atheist Revolution defines Christian extremists as those who “overturned Roe.” That’s right, the Supreme Court Justices who sent the abortion issue back to the states—because it was wrongly decided in 1973—are Christian extremists. That would make the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who was Jewish, a Christian extremist because she, too, thought Roe was wrongly decided. So did the secularist liberals at the New Republic in 1973.
Do you know who else is a “Christian extremist”? Atheist Revolution says there are Christian extremists in the United States who want to legally mandate all Americans to say “Merry Christmas” at Christmastime. It cites not one such person—it’s all in their head.
The year 2024 is just beginning and already the Christian bashers are in high gear. As we get closer to the election, expect more from this crowd.
It also needs to be said that they are aided and abetted by a cadre of intellectuals who continue to hawk the fallacious notion that “Christian nationalists” are out to take over America. While they are more sophisticated than the activists at Atheist Revolution, they are clearly feeding the anti-Christian bigotry that is raging in secular quarters.
