The Joyfully Agnostic Gnostic Shakes his head at Christians Lack of Charity
Why do Christians reserve their most ardent vitriol for atheists? It is uncharitable, unkind and not in keeping with any concept of a God of love as I have come to understand it. I recently saw a bumper sticker that read, "God does not believe in atheists." I am sure the god fearing driver of the SUV found it to be funny and poignant. I found it to be tasteless and absurd. Again how unkind to say that the ineffable god of the universe and all creation doesn't believe in a few of his children simply because they are do not believe in him. Is god infinite or petty and small? He cannot be both. This is not a spiritual paradox that religious leaders like to revel - or wallow - in. The bumper sticker theologians who printed that delightful piece of stupidity have chosen to believe in a small god. Surely a large, infinite god beyond complete human understanding is unable to even be offended simply because someone chooses to not believe.
Perhaps the bumper sticker is retaliation for the countless Jesus fishes being eaten by Darwin fishes, or more recently a Jesus fish being cooked in a frying pan. Christians in the Western World like to pretend that they are persecuted by the countless secular humanists that they see as destroying the credibility of their much beloved religious ethic. They do this without stopping to ask what they themselves may have done to cast doubt upon their own credibility. Most people I know who chose not to believe in God, or at least the God of Christianity, do so because of some bad experience or maltreatment had the hands of religious authorities. The term spiritual and religious abuse is part of the vernacular of pop psychology these days and for good reason. As a Catholic I continue to be horrified at the depths to which the Vatican and the American bishops have gone to cover up the unforgivable child sexual abuse of some of its priests. Humanist and Journalist Christopher Hitchens jokingly suggested that the Vatican must have a "no child's behind left" policy in place.
Most people I know who disregard Christianity do so in pursuit of other spiritual pastures that must seem greener to them. Only recently have I begun to meet and dialog with people who intellectually consider themselves to be humanist. Other than science, Christians themselves do the best job of chasing people away from their churches on Sunday morning. Then there is the old saw that states that Catholic school is responsible for creating more atheists then science or humanism.
Humanists and atheists present a real problem for the Christian apologist. They are difficult to discourse with. For one thing their worldviews start with a whole different set of suppositions. How do you debate someone who does not see your cherished set of scriptures as divinely inspired revelation? Most debates I have witnessed have been clumsy and embarrassing -most often for the Christian. When the Christian begins to see they are not winning over the poor lost soul they often begin to quote more ardently the worst of scriptural condemnations. The call down the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah on them. This leaves the non-believer nonplussed. How do you even respond to someone who is resorting to the worst sort of irrational behavior? So much for Christianity being about love
A couple of years ago an anonymous commenter on my blog snidely remarked by asking why are all liberals atheists? Besides being a huge dick the commenter falsely assumed I was an atheist. Secondly, I could have been as sarcastic by asking why all conservatives are narrow minded and superstitious evangelicals - which I am ashamed to admit I actually did. Both statements are patently false. I know liberal Christians who believe in God as devotedly as many evangelicals. I also know a few intelligent conservatives who do not share the evangelical religious bent of some of their colleagues. I even know one conservative who is an atheist. It is possible. Not all conservatism is religious based.
A Christian will be kind to a Jew, Muslim and even a Hindu before they will be kind to an atheist. At least with the previously mentioned they share a belief in the supernatural. But not so with an atheist. Atheists - intelligent and thoughtful ones - threaten the faith of many Christians. They point out the hypocrisy, the inconsistencies of the bible and challenge what they see as the absurdities of theology. Then there is science. The findings of scientific inquiry sometimes challenge the foundations of what the religious believe to be reality. This is something that religion cannot abide! Instead of allowing one’s religious beliefs to grow with new discoveries it is easier to take pot shots or to encourage dialogue only to try and trap them with silly questions that cannot be answered with real logic. Perhaps they do so because their much touted faith is not nearly as solid as they want others to believe, and by entertaining the challenges presented by science and humanism they fear they may actually come to be like those they despise. They are drowning in their own false certainty.