According to one star of the reality TV series “Duck Dynasty,” there’s no such thing as an atheist, because everyone in the Western World uses Gregorian calendar.
Si Robertson, known to fans of as “Uncle Si,” told the Christian Post as much, and emphasized that anyone using the date is acknowledging Jesus. He also retread the tired argument that there are no atheists in foxholes, although he did acknowledge the idea of skeptics.
Dated logic
Si Robertson made the remarks while discussing his new film, “Faith of our Fathers,” with the Christian Post. The film concerns itself with two Vietnam vets — a devout Christian and a skeptic — and, according to the Post, explains the that bonds forged between men during war are “thicker than blood, because they’ve faced death together.”
“One is a skeptic. And there’s a lot of skeptics,” said Robertson. “I don’t believe there’s a such thing as an atheist. Because there’s too much documentation. Our calenders [sic] are based on Jesus Christ.”
He continued, adding, “Whether you believe in Him or not, every time you write down the day’s date you’re saying He’s here.”
The Gregorian calendar — instituted by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 — is based on the approximate year of Jesus’ birth. Prior to that, Christians used the Julian calendar, designed by Julius Caesar in 46 B.C. Does this mean early Christians supported the divinity of the Roman Emperor?
As a further illustration how foolish this argument is, some months from the Julian calendar were ported over to the new Gregorian calendar. These months were named after Roman divinities — March, after Mars; May, after Maia; January, after Janus; July, after Julius himself.
This goes beyond the months. The days themselves are named after pagan deities. Tuesday, from Tyr; Wednesday, from Odin; Thursday, from Thor; Friday, from Frigg; and Saturday, from Saturnus. Does using these months and days mean modern Christians are swearing allegiance with these ancient deities?
In addition to his hair-brained suggestion that using the most widespread calendar in the world makes you a Christians by default, he also suggested that there’s no such thing as “atheists in foxholes,” as well:
If you get in a serious bind, the first thing you’ll do is say [God], please help me.
This, of course, is utter bunk — much like Robertson’s movie, which has an 11 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 20.
Featured image via Wikimedia Commons
