Atheists conduct de-baptisms using blow-dryers.
I am a lapsed atheist, and in reading the above story I have come to realize just how far modern-day atheism has fallen.
Once upon a time atheism and agnosticism could boast of top-notch intellectuals in its midst like Thomas Edison, Sigmund Freud, Pierre Curie, Bertrand Russell, Friedrich August von Hayek, and Karl Popper. Now they are stuck with Edwin Kagin and his blow-dryer performing "de-baptisms".
There is no small amount of irony in watching an atheist - who supposedly does not believe in God and who abhors superstitious rituals - performing a superstitious ritual wearing a monk's robe trying to counteract the effects of another superstitious ritual done on behalf of a God he does not believe exists. If I were still an atheist I would suspect that Kagin (whose son is a Christian minister) is some sort of Christianist plant designed to make non-believers look like idiots.
There is an interesting list of non-believers here. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the list (some of it appears to be wishful thinking), but it seems generally accurate. But if you look at the list, you will notice something curious. Atheism's "A-list" of top notch intellectuals decreases as it gets closer to our time, and is replaced by mostly artists and entertainers like Gene Roddenberry (the creator of Star Trek) and Barry White (a singer). The much vaunted intellectual superiority that non-believers are supposed to have compared to theists seems to be gone.
(Some may wonder why I did not include the famous author Richard Dawkins. The reason is simple: I have concluded that Dawkins is not an atheist, or even an agnostic. He quite clearly believes in God, and he hates Him with every particle of his being. No one would write book after book obsessing over something he claims is not real. Nazis may hate Jews, but we would never say that Nazis do not believe Jews exist. The same goes for Dawkins. In fact, sometimes I wonder if he ever thinks about anything other than God.)
Before I lost my faith in atheism I believed that the Universe could be explained in purely materialistic terms. It was reading C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters that awakened my intellect, and after reading Miracles I had lost my atheism for good. In other words, my spiritual journey has its genesis (no pun intended) in science.
At any rate, it is hard to believe that "de-baptisms" are going to catch on. Consider this quote from the article:
As Cambridge [Boxterman] completed her de-baptism, she expressed no qualms about how it might be perceived. "Sometimes you've got to have shock value," she said. "There's some times where you just have to shock people into getting attention and from there, they ask questions... And maybe they learn a bit."
Indeed, although they probably won't learn what Ms. Boxterman and Kagin are hoping for. The problems with shock jocks is that their shelf life tends to be very short. Given the undeniable hatred expressed towards Christians in many Muslim countries (which can lead to imprisonment, rape and murder), Kagin's blow-dryer shtick is about as edgy as a cotton ball.
In a popular culture that seems to be in a competition to blaspheme Jesus, Kagin does not strike me as a major contender. Nor do I believe that popular culture is a major threat to Christianity. Perhaps I am too optimistic, but I do not believe Hollywood
If you want to know what I consider to be the real threats to Christianity, then here they are: complacency and hypocrisy by Christians; those claiming to be Christians who want to modify Christian doctrines to satisfy secular political or cultural groups (ex: the ELCA and gays/lesbians); and government and educational authorities who demand obedience to the State and the official gods of the State.
