Thoughts in a Haystack

One of the more interesting phenomena to arise out of the Great Frackin' Cracker Flap is the seeming fixation that some Christians (I gather mostly of the conservative bent) have with getting the "New Atheists" to pick on Muslims. Some of them, such as the crude and threatening anonymous correspondents PZ has revealed, apparently think that it is a cheap and safe way to play Henry II and be rid of a troublesome anti-priest. So great is the reflexive fear response of the right, after seven years of Bush playing their nerves like a five year-old sawing on a violin for the first time, that some seem to think that a mere sideways glance at a Muslim is the equivalent of a death sentence.

A step up from there -- in that he uses his real name ... nobody would make up "Rod Dreher" -- is the "Crunchy Con," who delivers, under the title "P.Z. Myers, coward," this alleged, and profane, sarcasm under BeliefNet's banner of "Inspiration. Spirituality. Faith.":

Crunchy seems to be operating, however, mostly under a persecution/inferiority complex as revealed by his closing:

Slightly less delusional than the first example, but with an equally ridiculous taste in pseudonyms as the second, is Vox Day, who is also trying to chivvy PZ into what he considers a self-destructive act. Day actually repeats the old canard that "there are no atheists in foxholes." I've always wondered at how people fail to recognized the illogic in that. If someone is a believer in the providence of God -- that not a sparrow falls -- then they should be confident that no bullet can hurt them, if God has not yet decreed that their time on Earth is closed. Conversely, if a provident God calls their name, not the deepest bunker can save them. In short, there are no true believers in foxholes, since foxholes are superfluous to the will of God.

My final exhibit is the truly erudite Francis Beckwith, who should know better, but who at least displays some subtlety. Professor Beckwith dredges up an old post of PZ's which actually defended the outrage that Muslims felt over the Danish cartoons of Mohammed and notes that PZ didn't say "It's Just a Frackin' Cartoon." But Professor Beckwith stopped just short in the quotation of where PZ said:

It's strange -- or not -- that so many religionists would wish the selfsame treatment they themselves complain so bitterly about on other believers.

On the other hand, it can't be helped that there is a certain irony in the fact, given that this all started because of the supposed "over reaction" of Catholics to reports of a college student's actions with a eucharist, that PZ has had to append to his post about his emails a prominent and emboldened plea to his own supporters: