Is Atheism Nihilism?

No, Donny, these men aren't nihilists, there's nothing to be afraid of.

All too frequently, Christians feel compelled to wax eloquent about the supposed moral decline of a society that ignores the obvious superiority of the Christian ethic. Nearly as frequently, they ignore the fact that theirs is a complaint that transcends both history and theology, as well as the equally obvious rejoinder that if Christianity was a truly superior product, it would sell itself. To wit, I care not for the theological particulars of J.R.R. Tolkien- knowing that the man was a staunch Catholic neither enhances nor detracts from my enthusiasm for his work.

However, given their apparent inability to conceive of theirs not being an optimal system, any perceived social ill has to be accounted for by choosing a scapegoat- and as atheists are currently enjoying a portion of the mainstream spotlight that has been rarely afforded them in the past, they make an attractive target. This is the case particularly because it is so common for Christians to assume atheism to be synonymous with nihilism. The latter is interpreted to be, not just the position that objective value is a meaningless concept, but more specifically, the position that any ethical behavior is to be avoided, and acts such as murder, rape, and torture are to be engaged in with as much relish as one might bite into a peanut butter sandwich.

This is not to say that atheists can be neither nihilists nor murderers, but the idea is generally advanced as a general statement about those who commit such ethically negative acts (i.e., that they are either acting under the motivation of atheism/nihilism, or that they have been "influenced" by an atheistic/nihilistic culture). The obvious problem with this idea is that, on closer examination, the individuals who commit such acts are very rarely atheists or nihilists, and in fact, tend to be influenced more commonly by religious institutions and concepts. The kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart in Salt Lake City, for example, was not perpetuated by an atheist or a nihilist, but a lunatic who had been strongly influenced by Fundamentalist Mormonism. And in a larger sense, I would wager that the larger part of "nihilistic immorality" that is engaged in on Saturday night is the province of men and women who trudge into church on Sunday morning. I don't think you'd find many nihilists or atheists in a "Girls Gone Wild" or "Guys Gone Wild" video- you're much more likely to find purported Christians, or at least people who know much more about Jesus Christ than they do about Sam Harris.

I'd be more inclined to write this off as a mild psychological paranoia, which it certainly is to some extent, but I think that attention needs to be drawn to this problem as just another example of how strongly the moral and ethical fiber of secular individuals needs to be emphasized. This criticism, as far as I can tell, is one of the strongest in the collective Christian psyche, and we need to waste no time working to contradict it.