After having a discussion here at Exploring Our Matrix in which an atheist insisted that there cannot be atheist fundamentalists because atheists reject all dogmas, it was interesting to see Harry McCall dogmatically insist what atheists “must assert” when it comes to the historicity of Jesus. Indeed, he goes further and insists that he (despite offering nothing more than weak garbage in his post) knows why all professional historians, and all but a couple of fringe New Testament scholars, draw the conclusions that they do.

If nothing else, it is worth reading just to see the attempt to use a false antithesis in the same way Christian fundamentalists do: atheism and mythicism must go hand in hand, allegedly – just as Christianity and young-earth creationism must, according to Ken Ham and others like him.

I rather get the impression that there are some atheists who – like their fundamentalist Christian counterparts – irrationally believe that simply by embracing the true faith/antifaith, it automatically bestows upon them the infallible ability to reason, deduce, evaluate, and in other ways see clearly and comprehend.

But those who actually do the hard work of critical investigation, including of their own cherished beliefs, will know that neither atheism nor theism nor any other worldview leads their automatically, much less bestows it instantaneously.

Dare I hope that McCall’s presentation of mythicist dogma in this way will help many atheists realize that what scholars offer is far superior?

UPDATE: I wrote the above before McCall followed up with another post which focuses on the fact that Ehrman’s book lacks subject and author indexes, and then goes on to use the classic creationist ploy of claiming that a range of studies do not demonstrate evolution/the historical Jesus, but simply assume it.