It may have escaped the new atheists, but neither do Presbyterians, Catholics, or Southern Baptists! In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins repeats Weinberg’s claim that religion is a virus that infects the human race and causes otherwise “good” people to behave in a way which is dangerous and evil. Given Dawkins faith in empiricism, what is his evidence for this sweeping condemnation? His major evidence appears to be 9/11 and Fred Phelps of Godhatesfags.com infamy. The new atheists also declare that we are all implicated in the “extremist” forms of Christianity (and Islam) because we keep silent and because they are just being consistent with the Scriptures! Apart from the danger of taking our theology from atheists, let me point out unequivocally that Fred Phelps has nothing whatsoever to do with any form of biblical Christianity. His “gospel” is a self-serving rant from the pit of hell and is utterly repudiated by all biblical Christians. We could have endless fun ridiculing the inconsistencies and ad hominem attacks of Dawkins and his friends, but that would be like shooting ducks at a fairground, and some of our brethren do not think it is “nice.” (Although the methodology of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:27, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened,” does have a lot to commend it.) So, what other approach can we take? We could point out that Dawkins’ view is a simplistic and fundamentalist Hollywood fantasy view of the world that divides humanity into the good guys and the bad guys.
We could admit mea culpa, and agree that religion has done a great deal of harm. Furthermore, although we would not accept that all religions are the same, we must also acknowledge that many bad things have been done in the name of Christianity and that the name of God has often been blasphemed amongst the Gentiles because of those who have inconsistently professed the precious name of Christ. And then we could swap accusations, gently reminding our new atheists that when atheism has become the state philosophy, it has rarely lead to an outbreak of love and peace. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Hitler, and others who also shared the belief that religion is a virus that needs to be eradicated, are hardly shining examples of the good that atheism has brought to the world. At least they were consistent in following their prophet Nietzsche who declared, “I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct for revenge for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, secret, subterranean, petty — I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind.” We could point out that Western civilization, including the science and morality that Dawkins and the new atheists profess to love, is rooted in Christian teaching. We could indicate the numerous examples of Christians who have built hospitals, set up schools, and provided multiple social work programs. Dawkins, of course, would argue that people would have done this anyway and that atheists are just as moral and virtuous as Christians. Thus we end up in a kind of spitting contest where TABLETALK AUGUST 2008
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