Today, most Americans associate unbelief with the old-boys network of New Atheists, but there is a new generation of unbelievers emerging, some of them women and most of them far friendlier than Hitchens and his ilk. Although the arguments of angry men gave this movement birth, it could be the stories of women that allow it to grow up.
USA Today: Atheists need a different voice
I found this article about a kinder gentler atheism to be quite interesting. Jesus makes a wonderfully ambiguous statement in John 14, “You believe in God. Believe in me.” It could also mean, “Believe in God. Believe also in me.” Or, “If you believe in God, believe in me.” The context is his call to his believers to “Let not your hearts be troubled.” Today, my ruminations on this juxtaposition had something to do with the inverse proportion between our personal anxieties and the confidence we have in God. I also thought about Jesus’ statement in Mark 10, “Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.’” He’s engaging in wordplay and the logic can be read in one of two ways:
- Why do you call me good? Only God is good. And I’m not God.
- Why do you call me good? Only God is good. And I am in fact God.
All this to say that it’s not just atheists who have atheistic thoughts. In fact, if we’re honest, we might recognize that those of us who think deeply and reverentially about God are probably more likely to ponder his absence in our lives than ordinary unreligious people. Of course that’s slightly different from professed atheism as some sort of militant dogma. But at the same time it’s something to think about. That you and I have a lot more in common with atheists than we normally admit.
I remember reading Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World and feeling scandalized because I agreed with almost everything he said. His revulsion of religious fanaticism and fundamentalism was very similar to my own. I wonder if when we look across the chasm that divides us does he see the Cosmos where I see the Theos?
And finally…
Two cannibals are eating an atheist, and one says to the other, “Can you believe the way this guy tastes?”
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David,
I always find it interesting that the early Christians were considered atheists! After all, they didn’t consider all the normal gods as even existing. How much more atheistic can you get?
James
[...] HT [...]
I think that’s an apples and oranges comparison to liken doubts about God’s presence in our lives to the atheists’ complete denial of God’s existence.
Some Christians do doubt God’s existence, as evidenced by the fact that many former church attenders have defected to atheism. However, many Christians, even if they sometimes doubt God’s care and goodness, never doubt his existence. Anyway, I know at least one Christian who falls in that category.
Also, call me stupid, but I didn’t get the joke.
Atheism supports Reason, Science, and Integrity.
So, it is not a Religion, dude.
In that case and by your logic, Westdude, Christianity isn’t a religion either (if you ignore the anti-scientific perversion of it known as creationism).
Religion = Attempt by mankind to get closer to God.
Christianity = The life dedicated to getting closer to God the Father through the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his Son.
Atheism = Definite resolve that God does not exist.
By THAT logic atheism ain’t a religion, but Christianity is.
Josiah, by that logic, I’m not sure I agree. Your definition of Christianity sounds like Pelagianism to me, i.e. God has shown us the way but we still have to work our way along it. By my definition of Christianity, more to do with God bringing us to himself, it still isn’t a religion as you define the word.
“God has shown us the way but we still have to work our way along it”
Well yes, through the incarnation God showed us the way, and through the crucifixion he most assuredly opened it wide and spectacularly cut through the temple divisional curtain to show that. As to how much we need to do from our side, it depends on your view of predestination, and I’ve recently decided that that’s too divisive and too petty a squabble to engage in.
But no my definition it has nothing to do with Pelagianism, which as far as I can tell was grounded on human effort rather than Jesus Love & Grace in his death on the cross.