30th June, 2011

PAUL CLARK

Richard Dawkins, the aptly named prophet of ‘no God’, has brought atheism out of the closet and onto the side of buses. What is different about these ‘new atheisms’ – as any time spent on richarddawkins.net will confirm – is that new atheism is on the attack.

The new atheists don’t tolerate Christianity. They don’t agree to disagree - they actively campaign against any sort of faith!

PICTURE: © Mark Poprocki (www.istockphoto.com)

The new atheists particularly believe that Christians are either intellectually impaired - there is something wrong with us mentally - or we’re intellectually dishonest - we are actually evil and dangerous. Indeed they vehemently believe the world would be a better place without belief in God. (At this point I’ve got to say that much of what does pass as Christian religion is pathetic, especially on richarddawkins.net! There is much ‘Christianity’ I would not want to defend.)

The vehemency is so strong that many of the old atheists are embarrassed by the new breed. They say something like, "While I don’t believe in God, I respect those who can, and the learning, art, and good works that religion has inspired".

Now, before I go off on a huge philosophical monologue - here’s the point - I think the new atheists are actually correct. The new atheists are right, not in their conclusions, but in their methodology.

What do I mean? To any calm, rational, objective observer the claims of Christ and Christianity are so bizarre as to make them either diabolically evil or crazy talk. We who have spent much time within the walls of the church can often fail to appreciate just how strange our belief set is to someone on the outside. Yet the simple truth of the matter is, if a man walked around our cities claiming the sorts of things Jesus claimed, we too would think He was a dangerous loon.

But here’s the rub - this is precisely the reaction we should expect to anyone who follows Jesus, because this is the reaction Jesus got from those closest to Him. Ironically, the new atheists - even though they don’t know it - are ‘Scriptural!’

Mark 3: 20-22 is still early in Mark’s retelling of the Gospel narrative. Yet already the audacious words and actions of Jesus are having affect. Those closest to Jesus are concluding that Jesus is either mad or bedevilled.

Jesus’ own family; Mary his mother and his brothers - on hearing about what Jesus is saying and doing - come to collect Him because ‘He is out of his mind!’ (verse 21). They know Jesus. They had grown up with Him. They know Jesus is good, but He can’t be God. He must have lost his grip on reality.

Imagine what an insulting thing that would be, for your own family to think you’ve lost your marbles.  If your enemy says it you can fight back. If a stranger says it, what do they know? But when it comes from your own mother? Mary, even Mary who was visited by the angel Gabriel, thought that what Jesus was implying was a bridge too far.

Then there were Jesus’ peers - the teachers of the law - who were moved by Jesus enough to come down from Jerusalem. Yet, after seeing what Jesus did, and the things He said, they accused Him of being possessed by evil itself.

Jesus might have thought these were the one group who would get Him. They would look past the popular press, deep into Scripture to see the divine fingerprint behind His ministry. But it was like He had published a ground-breaking thesis in a peer-reviewed magazine - only to have his colleagues ignore his words and leave insulting taunts on his Facebook page.

The new atheists are reacting to Jesus exactly as people have reacted to Him from the beginning. I believe their reaction is most honest. You can’t stay apathetic, indifferent, sympathetic or even respectful once you’ve met the real Jesus. What He claims are either the idiotic ravings of a lunatic, the insidious lies of a devil, or - quite impossibly - the transcendent revelations of the Divine. I understand why so many find this conclusion anathema to even entertain; it requires a radical redefinition of everything.

It is the classic Lunatic, Liar or Lord argument made famous by CS Lewis. Our mistake is thinking that the world could remain sympathetic towards Jesus. Indeed, as a church we have not fully understood the implications of the Christ. We have remained somewhat logically removed from what it really means to call Jesus Lord, and been content with a comfortable, middle-class faith that majors on all the minors and often resembles pharisaism rather than 'Jesusism'.

As Christians we need to get beyond the tepid, dishwater faith and understand the implications of calling Jesus Lord. If the church had taken to heart the words of the cheek-turning, enemy-loving, mercy-showing One, would the new atheists have the ammunition they hurl at the church for our failings?

If the truth be told, the church will always fail - because it is not our precision following that saves, rather the actions of the One we follow. If we could be made perfect by a shining example the Cross would not be needed. Yet just as the new atheists have clearly understood the implications of the words and actions of Jesus (I’m not actually suggesting the new atheists comprehend their response as this at all, rather I see it as the logic behind their response. A tolerant response is also not unjustified if one considers Acts 5 :33f) , may we understand them with equal clarity. May our response be just as forthright. I’m just so glad our weapons in this debate are love, truth, grace and forgiveness; when we forget that we confirm the argument of the new atheists.

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