Confession of an atheist

Bruce Anderson

18 December 2010

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I respect Christianity too much to believe in it

So why do I still abstain? For two reasons: realism, and science. The urgency of need cannot of itself summon the necessary help into being, as bank managers have been telling their customers down the ages. Although science cannot prove that God does not exist, it does make the search vastly more complicated. Christianity has never recovered from the loss of medieval cosmology and the emergence of modern geology. Since then, intellectual Christianity has been in retreat: the sea of faith has been ebbing, to a melancholy, long, withdrawing roar.

For Christians, the medieval cosmos worked. The earth was at the centre of the universe, as befitted its inhabitants, whose moral destiny was so crucial to their Creator’s preoccupations that He sacrificed His only begotten Son. The other, lesser, celestial objects were mere Christmas-tree decorations; the fossils, mere curios. Then came modern science. We know that the earth is billions of years older than the human race. It is a long way from: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ So why would God have taken so long? We also know that the universe is infinitely large. Once man’s centrality is dethroned, can God’s existence be far behind? I know: we see through a glass darkly. But for me, the leap of faith is far too great. It seems to me that every Christian must have a heroic faith, worthy of the Saints.

That said, most of my friends who do believe have settled down in the far-from-heroic gentleness of the Church of England. ‘Dearly beloved’ is one of the loveliest phrases in the language, as is ‘with my body I thee worship’ and many others from the Anglican liturgy. It remains to be seen whether that Church can survive the follies of its clergy for much longer. Suppressing the Prayerbook, replacing the Authorised Version with the pasteurised one and the Hymnal with the electric guitar, insulting the royal engagement: the Established Church may not be good at preaching the Gospel, but it does offer powerful evidence of diabolic possession. Yet I know Anglicans who still adhere to a worship and a Church that Nicholas Ferrar, George Herbert and Archdeacon Grantly would recognise. I envy their faith, especially as it seems to make relatively light demands on their conduct. My Christian acquaintances tend to take a mild, Rosicrucian approach to the Via Crucis.

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Whitney

December 23rd, 2010 12:17pm Report this comment

‘No one could deny that Christianity has been responsible for a profound intellectual, moral and artistic quickening’....err....actually I could...

Christianity helped bring about the Dark Ages. In the 4th to 6th centuries the Christian authorities sanctioned the deliberate destruction of the temples and libraries, the burning of all non-Christian texts, the closing of the Academy in Athens, the outlawing under the penalty of death of the worship of any god other than the Christian one, the banning of the works of Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle and all other ‘pagan’ thinkers, and the proscription of any theological, philosophical or scientific debate or the questioning of Christianity in any way. Thousands of works of philosophy, science, drama and religion were lost to the world forever, and all of this helped set Europe back 1000 years. Lets also not forget all of the crusades, pogroms, witch hunts and inquisitions of the Middle Ages, and the millions who were murdered for not believing in the Christian god, or holding ‘heretical’ views about that god...indeed people were still being executed for heresy in Europe as late as 1826.

Personally, I always think we aetheists should remember that much blood was spilt in order for us to have the freedom not to believe. For most of its history, Christianity has suppressed, tortured and murdered anyone who dared not to believe in their god...

Charlie

December 23rd, 2010 3:37pm Report this comment

Whitney, while what you say may be true, there was this little matter of the invasion of Rome by the Goths, who out-fought the Romans but had nowhere near the administrative ability to run a large Empire in an orderly basis. Society crumbled and technology was lost because of the invaders.

Lynn Vehorn

December 23rd, 2010 6:38pm Report this comment

Dear Mr. Anderson,
If you truly want to know, ask of God a question, such as "If You are real, I will give my life to you." and see what happens. But only say it if you mean it. An example to read, is C.S. Lewis in "Surprised by Joy" when he describes his own conversion. For each person, coming to living faith is a unique miracle. For some, the desperation of life propels one forward because there truly is no other way to go without descending into despair. And who wants despair? And then the way forward is so full of wonder, that who would want to go back?
Your article is beautifully written, and well thought out. May your search lead you to the One who loves you and created you.
Sincerely, Lynn Vehorn

cletus

December 23rd, 2010 7:01pm Report this comment

bravo, mr. anderson! you are a friend of the truth. my prayers go up for you.

Wayne Larson

December 23rd, 2010 7:09pm Report this comment

Thankful for truly generous and liberal people such as the writer of this article who happens to be an atheist. Real liberals are rarity anymore especially among atheists. It is a breath of fresh air!
It is amazing how fundamentalism has taken a hold of many self-proclaimed leaders of the so-called atheist movement. Many are sounding more and more absurb and crazy like the leaders of the atheistic North Korea who threaten to drop a nuclear bomb over a damn Christmas tree.

Thank God for people who keep open minds!

Ken Bishop

December 25th, 2010 12:37pm Report this comment

Greatest story ever told? So: the Almighty deliberately creates us unable to be good; he then punishes us for the faults he chose to give us; he then grows weary of this and decides instead to get someone entirely innocent of anything horribly tortured to death; this somehow exculpates anyone who believes, even though the story is revealed only in a self-contradictory book. Anyone unable to believe the whacky hypothesis, complete with fairy stories about virgin birth and the like, will be punished for all eternity. Christianity is, without doubt the most repulsive idea ever invented by the human mind.

Charles Peters

January 10th, 2011 10:13am Report this comment

I can't decide if this is supercilious or bombastic. For which what do think would I need therefore to have thought then?

Brian Read

January 17th, 2011 7:00am Report this comment

It is important to recognise that it requires faith to be an athiest. An athiest's faith is placed in human reason which is commonly believed to have come about by a random process of evolution. There is no reason to believe that such reason is able to identify the truth. I believe, that based on the balance of evidence, there is far mor reason to believe what the Bible tells us.