Reggie Weems

Oxford professor and world renowned atheist Richard Dawkins may not be a Christian but he is certainly a believer in evangelism.  Only, his evangelism (our English word ‘evangelism’ comes from the Latin word ‘evangel’ meaning ‘good news’) contains no good news for humanity.  Nonetheless, “John Preston in The Sunday Telegraph (Dec 17, 2006) wrote that Professor Dawkins is “almost evangelical” in promoting his atheism.  Dawkins’ book, ‘The God Delusion’ remained on The New York Times bestseller list for 14 weeks and his recent television documentary labeled Christianity as “the root of all evil.”  Really?  Would the world really be better off without religion?  And is it the root of all evil? 

Wasn’t it the highly atheistic, aggressivley anti-religious, Christian hating, church burning, God-debasing efforts of Stalin in the Soviet Union, Mao Tse-tung in China, Pol Pot in Cambodia, Hitler in Europe and Ceaucescu in Romania who impoverished, imprisoned and brutally murdered literally an untold number of millions, perhaps billions of people in a single century without any kind, good or benefecient thought of God.  And has it not been Christians, of whose lot, William Wilberforce was recently celebrated, who have historically sought to end suffering, to eradicate slavery, to end poverty, to raise the standard for human existence around the world? 

Indeed, Professor Dawkins is more concerned with evangelizing the public with “his own views of what religious people believe” (Dawkins God by Alister McGrath, 2005, p 83) than with what is true about Christianity.  Long ago Dawkins left his own field of expertise and entered into a puritanical witch hunt (no pun intended) against Christianity bearing little resemblance to genuine religion at all.  “Dawkins engagement with theology is superficial and inaccurate” (Dawkins God, p 83).   

Professor Dawkins has also stated that “there is a strong correlation between religion and education:  the more educated people are, the less religious” (Financial Times, Dec 16/17, 2006, p 16).  But wasn’t it (it was!) Christians who began and funded the majority of hospitals and schools (Princeton, Harvard, etc) in the 18th century as America gained its independence and stood on its fledgling legs?  But can anyone consider themselves truly educated without considering the evidence for the existence of a Supreme Ultimate, uncaused Cause?  The evidence for such a Being is, after all, only and extremely logical and overwhelming.  We’ll begin considering that evidence soon (but first we’ll continue to look at the debate between fundamental atheists and evangelical Christians.  In the meantime, get a copy of Dawkins God by Alister McGrath.  You’ll be happy to read about the reasonabless of your faith and discover the glaring inconsistencies of atheism.       

We live an age of contradictory belief systems made all the more controversial by the ease of information through television and the Internet.  Two centuries ago someone living in the State of Franklin never considered Islam, Buddism, atheism, etc.  Today the Fox news Internet site is highlighting a Hamas children’s program much akin to America’s Nickelodeon except the show’s 11-year old star/interveiwer wants to be a martyr and encourages other children to join her in extricating Israeli girls and boys from their homes.

For more reasons than can be named in a short paragraph it is imperative that Christians know what they believe and why they believe it.  We must clarify issues in our own minds and then learn to ably present them to people whose worldview differs from ours.  Yes, to people different from us.  We must intentionally place ourselves in (for most people this happens naturally in work or school situations) positions that call for a clear understanding of the Christian perspective on everything in life.  Why is it wrong for an 11-year old child to advocate murder?

Christian theologyis based on “the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) and our doctrines are derived from “the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).  What’s that?  Truth!?  Truth matters!  What we believe about the existence of God and Who that God is shapes our view of reality (metaphysics), how we perceive knowledge (epistemology) and eventually our ethics (morals). 

No one’s values exist in isolation.  We often spend most of our time trying to correct someone’s behaviour or ideals without any consideration for what makes them ‘tick’ like that.  Fundamentally, what someone believes is real and how (if) people define truth determines their actions. 

Ultimately, the Christian worldview is the only perspective that correctly interpets life.  Consider our friends who live without any concept of God which leads them to philosphically deny moral absolutes.  I say ”philosophically” because they will quickly claim moral absolutes if you try to steal from them or lie about them.  See, they can’t even define stealing or lying without a relationship to ownership or truth which which forms their point of reference for what stealing is and lying is.  People who deny moral absolutes are self-contradictory because moral absolutes are inescapable.  How can one absolutely deny absolutes with any assurance if they don’t simultaneously believe in absolutes?  To deny absolutes is to be sure of nothing.  Absolutistic relativism is impossible minus the absolutes which immediately prove relativism false. 

In other words, how can a world in any form exist without an absolute at its beginning or as its foundation?  It cannot.  We can’t even be holding this conversation without the absolutes of grammar, language, science, technology, etc.  All of this doesn’t bode well for evolution which exists as random or chance making anything absolute, absolutely impossible. 

At the base of right and wrong is a moral God Whose personality is reflected in justice, mercy, forgiveness…all the Christian virtues.  “No one is good but God alone” (Mark 10:18).  God’s character is the foundation of our ethical outlook.  The atheist can claim morality but in reality has no basis for it from an evolutionst perspective.  Not if he’s going to claim consistency in his thinking.  In reality, he can make no judgemnts abut right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, timeliness and tardiness, etc.  Everything falls apart just as it came together in atheism.  Only Christ makes sense of the world.  “ He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3).  His creation of everything and His sovereignty over everything provide the fundamental basis for morality, beauty, goodness, etc.  Without it, life is just a blob and no one can truly say that 11-year old martyrdom is any better or worse than the death of a heroic firemen in the World Trade Center.  There is no basis for making the claim or explaining the difference without God as the Absolute for everything in the world.            

A friend recently sent me a link to YouTube for what is being called, “the blasphemy challenge” in which people are encouraged to publicly deny the Holy Spirit and damn their souls to hell.  In return the sponsors of the event will send each participant a video of an atheistic program they have created which has received good reviews from the New York Times.  It’s certainly a misunderstanding, hence misapplication concerning the New Testament blasphemy passage concerning the Holy Spirit (hence nothing more than foolishness in the spiritual realm) but atheism is generally foolishness as declared in Psalm 14 and Psalm 53.  While I’m preaching the series at Heritage on Christianity 101, let’s also take the time to explore our rational for believing in Christiantiy. 

Gerard Baker of the Times of London recently wrote about 2006 being “a good year for…atheism” and Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe wrote, “you don’t have to be especially religious to find this atheist zealotry alarming…”   Militant atheism is certainly on the rise.  Fundamentalist atheists are committed to the aboltion of any kind of religion anywhere in the world.  The controversy concerning God’s existence is indeed spreading all over the globe.  Is Christianity rational?  Is there a sound basis for belief.  On Monday, we’ll start exploring the controversy and offer reasons to believe.  Invite your friends to the Christianity 101 series and to look in on the blog!!!