It has been about 10 years ago that The New Atheist assault on Christianity began.
The four main drivers of the assault were Christopher Hitchens (d. 2011), Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris.
The Flying Spaghetti Monster
Of the “four horsemen,” only Harris is still hanging around sputtering his foolishness.
On a lighter side, although no less virulent, was the creation of Bobby Henderson’s The Flying Spaghetti Monster (hereafter FSM).
Henderson, who was a physics graduate from Ohio State University, essential hopped on the The New Atheist bandwagon with his attempt to denigrate God, Christians, and Christianity with his parody or satire of all three.
Specifically, he disliked the Intelligent Design arguments that were making headway in varying venues, and especially in some public school settings.
Instead of Henderson laying out coherent arguments or rebuttals of Intelligent Design, he went the low-road and used some fairly stupid humor to poke fun of what he thought were ridiculous arguments against the theory of evolution.
He failed.
He even came out with a mock version of the Bible entitled The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which was Henderson’s version of cosmic origins, again done with boorish humor he thought would attract a wide following.
Again, he failed.
That is not to say that there are not a few stranglers hanging about repeating the same stupidity and mockery that Henderson contrived to make whatever specious point he was trying to make. There are.
Moreover, I am not advocating Intelligent Design as the fool-proof way to defend the existence of God, the credibility of Christians, or the authenticity of Christianity. It is not.
What I am saying is that because Henderson and his FSM nonsense—like Hitchens and his gang of fools—has run the course that all atheist systems have run in the past.
While he enjoyed a brief highlight at poking fun at God, his lack of objectivity and engaging in a straw man argument against Christian orthodoxy has already landed him in the dust bin of human history.
It is also why the Bible says that God “sits in heaven [and] laughs” at the vanity of those who collaborate together and tell God where he can go, because he supposedly has no authority over them (Ps 2:1-5).
Of course, that brings to mind the real argument that no atheist has ever really dealt with when it comes to the person of God, and it is this: When God reveals himself, how does a truly rational person then turn around and say, “No, he didn’t!”?
In fact, if Henderson et al were really consistent in their parodies and satires, where is there any legitimate account of the FSM ever revealing itself, say, in human form, like Jesus Christ did, when he revealed the Father (Jn 1:14, 18)?
After all, that is only way to know for certain that a special being of the caliber of God exists!
Footprints, orderly designed products, perhaps even the wind blowing in the trees are all indicators that something caused them to be, but they do not necessarily point to the absolute cause itself.
God’s only special revelation of Himself: The Bible
Specific revelation attributable to the creator of the revelation that is authentic does necessarily mean that that creator exists.
It did not just happen on its own, nor was it created by a third party and then ascribed to a non-existent entity.
This is something that all atheists fail to realize, whether by their own blind ignorance or by the design of the Creator.
It is also the main reason why all seemingly novel ideas to discount God’s existence ultimately fail, just like the silly and embittered attempt by Henderson to equivocate the FSM with Almighty God.
Good riddance to Henderson and his false gospel.
Although he thought it was cute, funny, or humorous, ultimately it was the living God who had the last laugh, and is still laughing at Henderson, while the pagan idol depicted in the FSM died on its own petard.
