Merry Atheistic Nothingness

By Bradley Abramson, Op-Ed Contributor Thursday, December 13, 2012

For more than half a century the city of Santa Monica, Calif., allowed local churches to place nativity scenes in one of the city parks during the Christmas season.

However, this practice was stopped after Christmas 2011 when Santa Monica atheist Damon Vix secured a permit to place an atheist display near the nativity scene – for he constructed not a "celebrate atheism" display, but one that disparaged and attacked Christianity.

Thus ended the long history of the City of the Christmas Story, as Santa Monica had come to be known, and thus began the realization of what everyone but atheists already know – namely, that atheism is a nihilistic and dangerous philosophy incapable of making any positive contributions to either individuals or society.

As a result of Vix's attack on Christianity and Christmas, the city banned all holiday displays in the park beginning in 2012. Tellingly, this is an outcome which Vix and his fellow atheists certainly find satisfying, as the purpose of the atheist display was never to celebrate atheism but rather to mount an attack on religious beliefs in general and on Christianity in particular.

Unlike the Nativity display, which simply celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ and denigrated no one else's belief or unbelief, Vix's display did not celebrate any positive attributes of atheism, any praiseworthy contributions atheists have made to society, or any great moments in the history of atheism. Rather, Vix's display consisted solely of a banner calling Jesus Christ a "MYTH" and comparing him to Poseidon and Santa Claus.

According to atheism, there is no God. Consequently, there is no meaning to (let alone any explanation for) the existence of the universe or the life that exists in it. Nor is there any transcendent basis for moral judgments, leaving us in a world where the actions of a murderer are no more immoral than the actions of a saint; indeed, there is not even any basis to trust in reason itself, since reason presupposes a meaningful universe, which atheism denies.

While atheism has neither created nor provided human society with anything other than despair and the unparalleled mass murders perpetrated by the atheistic totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, Christianity has for thousands of years taught and spread the Judeo-Christian precept of loving your neighbor as yourself; created and maintained schools, hospitals, orphanages, and charities; and provided the theological underpinnings necessary for the recognition of values that have kept the human race from descending into the abyss of self-destruction, including the sanctity of life, the equality of man, unalienable human rights, and limited government.

In banning the Nativity display, Santa Monica has inadvertently advanced, in a very tangible way, the false and dangerous philosophy of atheistic nothingness. Where for a few weeks every year there used to be an illuminated celebration of the Good Shepherd, the Prince of Peace, God with us, the Light of the World – there is now nothing, but empty space and darkness.