One way to get a pulse on political and cultural thoughts and trends is to examine popular bumper stickers. We note that back in the early to mid 1960s, bumper stickers most often reflected conservative or right-wing opinions…
“America: Love It or Leave It”
“Impeach Earl Warren”
Of course, this has all changed, with liberal or Leftist sentiments now dominating the bumper sticker universe.
Hate Is Not a Family Value
This one is directed primarily at those intolerant souls who do not embrace the gay revolution. It may have originated as a reaction against various incidents whereby closeted gay teachers were outed by students, parents, or colleagues.
Excessively contentious even for a bumper sticker, “hate” is trotted out as an all-purpose pejorative for those who would disagree with their enlightened position. Since it is already assumed that we tolerant people must still be intolerant of hate, this is nothing more than a thinly veiled attack (even hatred?) of those on the other side. Moreover, the sentiment is namby-pamby in that it is anything but an affirmative endorsement of the homosexual lifestyle.
Mark well this key Leftist technique, probably originated by Stalin, but most notably used by opponents of Joe McCarthy. When there is nothing on your side that can be affirmatively defended, simply attack the opponent. In this case, since most on the Left are loathe to endorse gay sexual practices, they can only attack the other side as being full of hate.
To be fair, no one has ever defined “family values,” the term being little more than a catch-all for vague concepts of an intact traditional family, with possible religious connotations. Ironically, “hate” in the Gospels is overwhelmingly used by Jesus to refer to how his followers would be treated by the world.
Militant Agnostic: I don’t know & you don’t either
A fairly mild entry in the large collection of anti-religion and atheist materials, the sentiment strikes an interesting posture. “Agnostic” implies maintaining a continuing doubt as to the existence of God, whereas “atheist” affirms that there is no God. One would think that in taking a “militant” position, a person would be sure, rather than doubtful. Then again, the exhibitor of the sticker could be sure that he is doubtful, I suppose. That would be in keeping with the Left’s tendency toward namby-pamby sentiments, as noted above.
But there is much more here.
The condescending point is that the exhibitor is not prone to mere exercises of faith. Whatever he believes to be true must be proven, and be based on reason. Thus, as you will see, he falls into a fatal contradiction.
Any fact the exhibitor feels comfortable as being “known” was first learned at some time in the past. When that particular fact was being learned, there were already certain assumptions being made, that cannot be proven:
- A certain sequence of letters signifies a specific word
- Any word that is learned refers to a unique object—physical or otherwise
- The concept of numbers
Less fundamental is his acceptance of all sorts of facts, that, at best, can only be verified by consulting reference books, but even this verification must assume some faith in some source. Indeed, if he were not to accept certain matters on faith, he would never learn anything at all. For example, he may learn that Richmond is the capital of Virginia. This assumes the geographical entities mentioned, along with the notion of a “capital.”
Therefore, based on but a moment’s reflection, you will see that there is no difference between faith and reason.
He may then counter that certain things—such as the existence of God—are simply unknowable. This stance, however, creates further problems. Based on the standards of the bumper sticker, for him to contend something, he must be able to prove it, and now he is forced to prove that something can be unknowable.
For him, this is fatal. Assuming that it is even possible to prove that something is unknowable, if he does prove this, all he has done is underscored the necessity to take certain matters on faith, as I have already demonstrated. However, if he is unable to prove that something is unknowable, he has destroyed the very sentiment of the bumper sticker.
[T]he truth will set you free. (John 8:32)