New Atheism - The Church of the Non-Believer

| Posted by Ben Cotten on Dec 6, 2006 • (Comments)

Stained Glass I came across this article on Wired News some time ago (link at the end of this post). Since then I keep coming across similar articles concerning a growing faction of the atheist community that are being called “New Atheists“. They are breaking from the traditional atheist stay-in-the-closet mindset, and aggressively promoting the removal of all religion (though Christianity is the primary target…) from the culture. As best I can tell, the author of this article is an atheist himself (or somewhere in that neighborhood at least). So, this is NOT a balanced perspective by any means, but I think it is important to read nonetheless.

I must admit that I don’t really get atheism. It’s like saying, “My belief system is that I don’t believe.” I remember for my first two years of college I couldn’t decide what I wanted to major in. First, I thought I wanted to go into Biology. Then I took a Biology class and that permanently persuaded me that I am not cut out for the science world. Then I thought History would be my thing but discovered that it would involve the memorization of numbers (dates) and I already knew that numbers were definately not my thing. So for two years my official major on the books at Appalachian State University was “Undecided”. On my transcript it said, “Major: Undecided. Minor: Undecided.” But did I think for one second that “Undecided” was a real major? Would ASU ever give me a degree in Undecided? Of course not! At the end of my Sophomore year I was forced by the school to choose a major.

I see Atheism the same way. It’s an Undecided major. It might make you feel better because there are no blanks on your transcript, but at the end of the day you will have to decide. People adopt atheism when they have discovered that they cannot explain God fully with their intellect and are unwilling to move forward in an act of faith. So they choose to remain confined only to the things in this world that they can explain. It’s close-mindedness in its worst form. You imprison yourself in a jail where the walls that hold you are the limitations of science and human intellect.

The problem is that God hasn’t given us any options! Your “religion” isn’t a matter of multiple choice where you can simply pick one that works for you. You either say Yes or No to John 14:6 [+/-]. Take the red pill or the green pill. There’s no third pill. No option C. No “All of the Above”. No “Undecided”.

I recognize the boldness of a statement like that. Such statements seem shocking against the backdrop of a culture of moral and religious relativism. What we call “tolerance” (as it relates to Faith) is really an attempt to homogenize our culture so that no one says or believes anything that could possibly offend someone else. What we fail to understand is that the very foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that there is only One way to God. Quite simply, if you remove that from the Gospel, you are no longer talking about Christianity. Now you have a syncretistic false religion capable of redeeming no one.

Read the article and comment below. All perspectives are welcome!

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