Athiests in our Foxholes
Essays, Featured — By Todd Fisher on February 28, 2012 at 8:00 am
I prefer to drive. I get bored sitting shotgun and succumb to doing anything to amuse myself from fiddling with the radio, tweaking the seat controls in every possible combination, to finally staring into the privacy of other vehicles as we pass in an exaggerated, fully invested childish look like I imagine Zach Galifianakis might.
On a recent road trip, passenger seat boredom was the culprit that caused me to read the entire USA Today paper including an article titled “As Atheists know, you can be good without God”. The piece was a rebuttal to many theists’ claims that humankind cannot be “good” or moral without God and that morality is undeniable proof that there is a moral being that created and governs us.
After reading the article I wondered aloud “why?” Not “why was it written?” but “why do Christians, theists, believers, or for that matter anyone else who believes in God continually fuel debates such as this one?” It often appears as if people of spiritual faith cannot peacefully, patiently and respectfully sit by and allow anyone else to hold differing beliefs, voice opinions or criticisms. They seem powerless to ignore the allure of such debates which in the end only divides us further from those that we are supposed to serve and love, or in the very least be civil with.
I wonder if morality really is a legitimate line of argument or is it simply a last ditch insult or jab believers use when they feel attacked, threatened or are simply losing the debate as if to say, “You wretched heathens, it’s your horrific sins that are to blame for the plight of this country!”
The hostility between theists and atheists is nothing new as such conflict has been present throughout history wherever and whenever anyone has dared to questioned the existence of the Divine. However, with the birth of social networking, blogging, discussion boards and those that troll them, the clashes seem to be growing more widespread and mainstream. At times the debate is disrespectful, ugly and harmful, which is a natural progression when there is a side to defend and a side to defeat.
The reason I throw up my hands in surrender and groan when I come across debates such as these is that as with any debate involving the spiritual, the arguments on either side can only be opinionated and subjective. When dealing with spiritual matters it’s impossible for either side to convincingly prove its points tangibly. Theists maintain passionately that morality originates from God whereas Atheists counter that the existence of morality can be reasoned, explained and understood without the need of some “Higher Power” intervening in the human experience. The evidence presented by both sides is such that if this were a court case it would result in a hung jury.
And quite honestly, you have to wonder how theists and atheists can even begin to argue the same ideology and principles from fundamentally different worldviews. That would be like asking two artists to create a piece of art on the topic of love. The completed pieces would undoubtedly look and feel completely different based on each artists own experiences and interpretations of love within their own lives. And so it is the same when asking atheists and believers to paint for each other their pictures of morality.
As I see it, the Morality argument really is a mute one because atheists, scientists, Baptists and role-playing enthusiasts are all “moral” people. Atheists, agnostics and non-practicing folks can be and are good citizens, parents, friends and co-workers without ever professing a belief in God. The truth is that people who claim faith have just as many hang-ups, issues and problems in their life as everyone around them. According to George Barna of the Barna Group (which conducts surveys and analysis data on faith related topics) their research “rarely finds substantial differences” when it comes to moral behavior between Christians and atheists.
The truth that many Christians often overlook is that there is not one of us, or anyone else for that matter, that is good enough to inherit a place in Heaven. Furthermore, no one is such a mess that they cannot inherit Heaven.
I love the way the Daylight Atheism blog put it in saying, “far from being a force that pulls ceaselessly toward the moral apex of the universe, religion is more like a megaphone, amplifying both the good and the bad of human nature in equal measure.” So true, although we strive to love our neighbors and accurately represent God to the world around us, more often than not we accomplish this not through our righteous actions but through our continual failings which magnifies the great grace God extends to all of us. This we should humbly and transparently embrace and not always sweep our trash under the rug. There is nothing about us personally that makes us any better than anyone else or makes us any less susceptible to falling flat on our faces.
Quite truthfully, I find it a bit arrogant of those Christians who attempt to pull the morality card considering that throughout history it has often been the secular world that has pointed the church towards morality. The church has supported slavery, racism, subjugating women and harassing homosexuals. It has turned a blind eye to abuses within its four-walls whether they were sexual or physical and has allowed hypocrisy to run ramped as it is spewed from its pulpits while greed dictates the decisions of its leaders.
Upon seeing such atrocities perpetrated in the name of God, the secular world soundly rejected that kind of religion and morality. Because of pressure not just from within, but also from without, the church was forced to deal with its tragic mistakes, repent, seek forgiveness and change its stance. Subsequently the morality of the church changed. Ironically God used the “immoral” world surrounding His church to convict its people.
How do you argue with that?
If there is one thing that Atheists and Christians can and should agree on, it is that morality is an integral part of society and of whom we all are as human beings. Therefore, perhaps we all have made the biggest mistake in this whole debate by separating morality from who we are as human beings to be used as nothing more than a pawn in an argument. As Austin Cline puts it, “It’s like removing a person’s liver and demanding an explanation for why it — and it alone — exists while ignoring the body they’ve left bleeding out on the ground.”
There is a saying that goes “if someone can be argued into believing something than they can also be argued right out of it as well”. It is statement worth considering before we open our mouths, hit “ENTER” on our keyboards or paint our protest signs.
5 Comments
I fully agree that arguing with atheists is highly unproductive for converting them. Those who think they are going to “win” such an argument or win their opponent(s) over are kidding themselves; i’ve never seen it happen and don’t expect to.
That said, there are still some times (not often) that it is worthwhile. It can sharpen our own understanding of our beliefs and ferret out shortcomings in our own philosophies. But more likely, it is about the audience. Those who are truly “on the fence” or open minded about these things are listening, reading, thinking sometimes. To make a cogent defense of the faith can sway such hearts, assuage doubts and ease insecurities of those who believe or might believe in the face of the sometimes blistering attacks of Dawkins/Hitchens type atheists. I think you agree with this, yes?
That side point aside, i take issue with your assessment that the secular world rejected religious atrocities like slavery, racism and whatnot. Look at the history and see who it was who actually rejected those atrocities and fought tooth and nail against them. It was believers, not atheists or secular humanists. The church did not create those evils, even though it often wrongly tolerated them, with some portions actively defending those evils. Still, those are by no means Christian atrocities and no amount of christian association with evils in our world can make all Christians hypocrites for “pulling the morality card” any more than the holocaust, Stalin’s purges and Pol Pot are the responsibility of every atheist. Bad men can claim whatever justification they want for their immorality, but that doesn’t make their reasons true.
Nathan, First of all thanks for reading my article and taking the time to comment. I appreciate it!
I would ask you to carefully reread my two paragraphs that you took exception to because it sounds like we actually agree for the most part.
You said: “The church did not create those evils, even though it often wrongly tolerated them, with some portions actively defending those evils.”
Exactly my point! Some portions of the church actually supported these evils. Many people in the church and outside the church rallied against this and changed the churches position over time.
It is currently happening in our genertion with the issues of women in ministry, sexual abuse in the church, and you can even throw the AIDS epidemic and poverty in there as well. Some, not all, but some of the church was very slow in responding to AIDS when it burst on the scene. However, the church is making great strides to remedy that slow start after being shamed by groups outside of religion who were “ministering” to AIDS patients needs.
Maybe you missed my point or I was unclear. It seems in your response that you took pieces of what I said and in reinterpreting it, things came out sounding very different from what I actually did say.
Never did I call Christians hypocrits for pulling the morality card (I said I found it arrogant) and I didn’t call slavery, racism, etc. “religious atrocities” as if the church was soley responsible for these terrible things ( I said the church supported racism, slavery, ect)…They are not religious atrocities nor the churches atrocities, they are humanities atrocities as a whole…we are all in some way responsible.
Hope this clears things up a bit…
I think that the church went for a long time never entering the debate at all, never discussing or exploring the hard questions out of a misperception that to do so is to inflame doubt. So the fact that we are discussing it today is an encouraging sign of growth. I couldn’t agree with you more that our method is often very flawed. Speaking the truth is only halfway there. We need, need, need the love; it’s what’s supposed to set us apart, after all.
Good stuff to ponder – thanks for writing!
I have often pondered the very thoughts which you so clearly delineate. I find it amazing that, at my lowest point on the morality scale (unwed & pregnant) the atheists with whom I worked were the ones to show me the most grace. They threw me a baby shower, they wanted to feel the baby kick, they wanted to be the first to know when I went into labor. Most of my church friends and all of my family refused to even come to my shower, much less lend support to a mixed-up single mother who had been led astray by her own lusts. It was during that time that I learned to get my eyes off of people and look to God as my help and strength, but I thank Him for sending some atheists to minister to me at my lowest and most vulnerable point.
Perhaps the most profound understanding of God was the one I received when one of my friends laughed and said something to effect that my Christian friends weren’t treating me very well since my “fall from grace”. At which I replied that Grace is not something we fall FROM, it is something we fall INTO, to keep us safe from the effects of our sin. That, to me, was a divine revelation.
During my interactions with my atheistic friends, I learned that they already know all the arguments. Therefore, arguing doesn’t work with them. In fact, most of them enjoy the intellectual stimulus provided by arguing. All I could do is to offer my friendship, as they so kindly offered theirs and hope that the love of Jesus would bridge the gap. I don’t know if it ever did, but I hope that somewhere along the way they will come to know the grace of God.
More recently, a young atheist who went to school with my son experienced the loss of his father. I spearheaded and organized meals for the family for the entire week. I helped with arrangements, attended the funeral services and tried my best to simply love them as Jesus would have done. That family, thank God, is starting to attend church and Bible studies and I feel they are on the road to a relationship with Christ, not because of my clever arguments (because I have none!) but because I dared to simply love them and meet them at the point of their need in the name of Jesus.
When we leave ourselves open, vulnerable, and transparent, people will begin to see Jesus through our transparency and loss sight of the flawed vessel into which Jesus is poured.
Thank you for your article!
Bravo, Todd. I really appreciated this article. My husband is an atheist, and often feels maligned by self-righteous believers, even though he has a more rigid moral code than many religious people I know. Articles like THIS truly express what it should mean to be Christian.