War Has Been Declared!

While browsing magazines during lunch I came across a fresh issue of Wired. Granted I had never actually heard of Wired before watching the Italian Job (Lyle wanted to be on the cover of it). It is a technical magazine I think somewhere along the lines of Popular Science. Anyways, there was a rather catchy and unexpected cover page entitled "The New Atheism: No Heaven. No Hell. Just Science"(The linked version now has a less controversial title). Well knowing me I could not   pass up something like that. I was reminded upon reading the article of Ephesians 6:10-13.

After the initial skim it was clear Richard Dawkins was the most prominent figure interviewed. I was in luck because I was rather familiar with some of his writing. In the article, he was portrayed as the foremost Atheist in in the “New Atheism”. I knew about his feelings toward religion in general but to have it published in a wide circulating magazine, I found to be a bold move. Especially considering the more harsh logical approach he had with his philosophy. The article starts with, "The New Atheists will not let us off the hook simply because we are not doctrinaire believers. They condemn not just belief in God but respect for belief in God. Religion is not only wrong; it's evil. Now that the battle has been joined, there's no excuse for shirking." In addition to Dawkins, it also featured Daniel Dennett, and Sam Harris; the author phrased his research that "I wanted to find out what it would mean to enlist in the war against faith." As a whole I was rather pleased with the article's content, I thought it contained less bias than what I expected. I also was impressed how open the interviewees were about the implications of their anti-faith.

There were several interesting factors from the beginning. First, I noticed they never claimed atheism as a religion; instead it was phrased as an antithesis to religion when in fact it is a form of religion by a fair definition. It was a bit of irony to have a religion devoted on the anti-religion. Their goal was to alienate all faiths. New Atheism is not just targeting Judeo-Christian faiths. Such examples Dawkins gave about his respect for religion was to parallel them with belief in garden fairies, unicorns and the sort. Dawkins went so far as to proclaim his personal condemnation on parents who teach faith to their children. He equated such acts as though they willfully were spreading a dangerous virus. Dawkins termed the lingering idea of faith as a "meme" some kind of immaterial (ironic for such a strict materialist/naturalist) thing that influences thought and spreads by mental proximity. I tend to call it the Holy Spirit. Harris compared the existence of religion as a plague in society on the similar level as rape, "religion may be a vestige of primitive nature". Harris pronounced that religion and its tolerance rivaled the social acceptance slavery once had in society. He looks forward to the day when simply believing in God will be too embarrassing to handle. Thanks for putting the most precious area of my beliefs on a pedestal of respect gentlemen.

Dennett seemed to be the most moderate of the bunch; he encouraged public schools to scientifically examine religion. I wonder if he also intended his atheism to be put under the same scrutiny of old science? Dennett is also very much aware of the implications of his beliefs, he could not pinpoint a point when human life began nor justify an inherent value for human life. I wonder if he has considered the deeper implications of such admission? If people do not have an inherent value then how much are we worth? I do wonder what his personal belief of self worth was? I am glad to know I am worth one Jesus to God.

The article certainly attempted to address an age old question, "Is science compatible with faith?" From the group interviewed, it is not. The question in general was not anything new or difficult to answer with a little searching and reading but even that much effort seems to be too much of a hassle for most people. After all, there are so many more important issues at hand, like “who I am going to field for Fantasy Football?” A rabbit trail, I am rather irked by the general population who claims to have passionate beliefs but leave those beliefs as talk and ideas often with insufficient evidence of their faith. I highly encourage you to go and read it yourself. I have long battled having a decent consistency in my ever changing schedule of some kind of quiet time, but over the last year and a half, my desire and pursuit of knowledge has held my attention longer than any other study I have done before. This was more broadly addressed in Why Don't I?

I found the militant approach to religion and faith as an evil to be comforting in a strange way. They were honest with their position. The lines were drawn. We know where they stand. In my mind, identifying such definite positions is one of the hardest parts to ascertain when talking to people. It takes a long time, if it happens at all, to be able to find out what people believe, or at least claim. Lifestyle is the clearest way people speak their beliefs. In addition to the aggressive approach, the utter arrogance was astonishing. By claiming they only believed in science/reason it  implied those who have faith in religion could not also do science or be reasonable! They held themselves so mentally superior to those around them, they could not respect different beliefs. That type of religion just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Dawkins talked about how he got his kicks by "pissing people off", through his pride in his atheism.

The New Atheists are not the only ones to take such an arrogant stance. Brights, a new description of people which originated in Sacramento. They formed this new noun to designate naturalistic worldviews to categorize the idea of God in the same way as superstition and magic. The author did visit a youth group in the midst of his research while attending an Atheist get together the following morning. He had an interesting summation, a meeting of Atheists United on a Sunday morning spoke it message "We're lagging among the lower 95%" versus an offer from Pastor Matt at the youth rally "You are kings anointed by God".

I mentioned I was previously very familiar with Richard Dawkins. In Darwin's Black Box; he was the primary object to answer who argued for evolution in the Blind Watchmaker. Furthermore, I have yet to come across an in-depth intelligent-design book which has not mentioned Richard Dawkins as a primary critic. The article provided a candid simplification of this issue. Dawkins stated, "My answer is that the big war is not between evolution and creationism, but between naturalism and supernaturalism." That reminded me of When You Believe in Miracles. Something not mentioned by any of the interviewees were their motivations for Atheism. They simply asserted an a priori belief that their view was nothing more than what our physical senses could detect. They then carried on with attacking anyone who would oppose them.

Is the direction of society’s "tolerance"? How many of their free thinking compatriots would respond to their absolute intolerance to different beliefs? I suppose in their mind, I am of the greatest evil because I attempt to spread the love of God. Then again, since I don't try to spread religion I try to spread Christ does that make it okay? There were some interesting bits I noted, such as the Atheist’s prayer, "that our reason will subjugate our superstition, that our intelligence will check our illusions, that we will be able to hold at bay the evil temptation of faith." Romans 1:21-22 Anyone? “For though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise they became fools.”

Although I was familiar with the content of the article, I found it very important considering the type of magazine and the target audience this article sought to reach. When I first saw the cover sheet I thought "Why on Earth would a tech magazine have this cover story?" That was when it dawned on me, that was precisely who the article intended to speak to. The well educated science proclaiming tech folk. This article likely would not have flown in something like Home & Garden, or Good Housekeeping. The target audience was single educated men, the potential leaders of society. This will likely serve as much more than an exposé on a new up and coming belief system. Instead, it will likely spur a growth of many other self-righteous accomplished "freethinkers" to further become intolerant to the faithful. Is anyone else curious when the ACLU will come to our rescue when we receive persecution from this new religion?

The other important factor is to be current with what is happening in American popular culture. I want to say every 6 months or so Newsweek will run a cover story of religious nature. I think it is important to read these articles to get a gauge of where the country is going or which newest belief is becoming popular. Probably the most face time in the media Christianity has received would either be a news update about Fred Phelps or perhaps the apprehension of Warren Jeffs.

I found this at a rather appropriate time in my personal development. After reading Hard Questions, Real Answers, I was presented with the idea of being a Christian scholar. Although the main message of the book was not incredibly new or challenging, the introduction rocked me. The author challenged the present condition of Christian faith that has been based in feelings and not much in doctrine. I firmly believe we must have a foundation of knowledge to accompany our faith and even strengthen it. What hit me the hardest, there was a list of 10 subjects listed that the author asked us to answer for ourselves how familiar we were with the subjects. I think I scored 7/10 for having an answer and 5/10 for having a good answer. Knowing how much reading I do I was rather disenchanted with my lack of actual church history and writings. My response, the next trip to Amazon I am going to check out some of the writings of the early church fathers like: Origen, Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Martin Luther and the sort.

The topic of current Christian scholasticism was also addressed in the article. "Even today, the charismatic movement is somewhat careless of doctrine. There is room for theistic evolutionists, non literalists who hold that each of God's days in Genesis was the equivalent of a geological epoch, even for the notion that a check made out properly to the Lord can influence divine whim... such deviations are generously tolerated in practice." It is one thing to be called out by one of our own in the loving manner that was presented in the book; when those who do not share our beliefs see the dissimilarity and lack of concern for our own beliefs that is embarrassingly sad. It was the inadvertent slap in the face. Many of the base principles of what it is be a Christian is in the doctrine, doctrine the majority of self proclaiming Christians have little or no interest in. That is not so much to address people that have been living the Christian life as much as those who adhere to the civic religion.

What is the purpose of me writing all this? Hopefully the urgency of reason, logic, validity, and importance of apologetics has been made known in our current culture. If we hope to be able to reach people who have not been broken and are desperate for love, or who are at a place but reservations of their reason prevents them from accepting Christ, the importance of knowing how to present Christianity in thought is immeasurable. Not to add enough of the to-do list, we can't under emphasize the personal relationship with Christ. To have the certainty of salvation in the heart and mind unleashes so many reservations about living boldly for Christ. To make the conclusion official here's some good words:

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. - 1 Peter 3:13-16

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. - Jude 1:3