ATHEISM AND THEISM PART IV
Another reason for theism is this – it keeps us more honest and open as persons. G.K. Chesterton once wrote that when a man give up belief in God, he does not believe in nothing, he believes in anything.
One of the authorities for the atheist is human reason. They believe only the evidence which can be established by human reason. We are in favor of good reasons for belief, but we also acknowledge the limits of reason, especially for me, before I have had a couple cups of morning coffee.
For example, the post-modernists, (read post-Enlightenment, i.e. enlightened by reason) claim much of our reasoning today is a defensive, self-rationalizing circularity built on our presuppositions. Post-modernists claim most university departments are really not open and reasonable, but bastions of turf-building and defensive survival strategies.
Or as Harvard’s one-time President, Nathan Pusey, said, “Harvard is a collection of separate departments bound together by a common heating system!” John Haught of Georgetown University put it this way. “Faith”, says Haught, “is what keeps reason from turning in on itself and suffocating in its own self-enclosure.” (God And The New Atheists. P. 35)
So when belief in God is abandoned, people often resort to belief in nation, or socialism, or capitalism, or materialism, or drugs, or sex, or even family as the ultimate value. But think of the millions killed, massacred and maimed by Stalin, Hitler or Pol Pot, or other would-be gods. Marxism and Nazism were thought by many to be “reasonable”.
But the belief in the Eternal God questions any human system of thought or politics which exalts itself to supreme status. And to the credit of current atheists, they also critique the pretensions of religions which exalt themselves to supreme status.
Some people even elevate Nature itself to an almost divine status. When I read books like Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim At Tinker Creek or John Stewart Colllis’ The Vision of Glory, I can almost agree with the exaltation of Nature. And when we read romantic poets like Wordsworth who write of his experience of nature:
…..And I have felt
A presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts: a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interfused,
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns…. (“Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey”)
When we read the romantic poets and the nature writers, it is tempting to bow the knee before Nature in place of the God of nature. But John Haught of Georgetown University in his book, God After Darwin, wisely counsels us that nature is worthy of our respect, but not our prostration or worship. (P.75)
Belief in God is also better because it inspires compassion and benevolence. Hospitals, orphanages, charities by the thousands and compassionate acts by the millions often spring out of belief in God and the desire to imitate Jesus Christ. Who can count the acts of charity, benevolence and compassion that have come out of the church over 2000 years. There are very few, if any, overtly atheist organizations organized for benevolence and compassion as are churches and synagogues. Belief in God keep us open to the needs and sufferings of others.
But lastly, belief in God causes us to grow as persons. It is easy to get caught up in the mindless whirl of living as descried in Kenneth Fearing’s delightful poem about a man on the very fast track.
Wow he died as he lived,
Going whop to the office
And blooie home to sleep and
Biff got married and bam had children
` And oof got fired,
Zowie did he live and zowie did he die.
(quoted in Smith, Why Religion Matters, P. 207
But belief in God keeps us from getting caught up in whirlwinds and it challenges our frantic beliefs fueling our anxieties. As theologian Daniel Day Williams put it, “It is the trivial faiths and pseudo-religions which offer satisfaction to the self as it is ….But the Gospel”, says Williams, “brings us to the Truth about God and about ourselves, and helps us in the ongoing transformation into our fuller selves.” (The Spirit And The Forms of Love, P. 209)
Come back with me now to that packed auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota. The debate between the theists and atheists came to an unfortunate standstill that night long ago. But, of course, the debate still goes on.
However, this time, for the sake of the atheists, we theists have gone into the realms of science and reason and have found many excellent ideas to substantiate our belief in God. But we would not abandon the inspired testimony of the Bible. For as the Apostle Paul told the Athenian philosophers centuries ago, we believe in the God unknown perhaps to some, but available to all, “for in him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17: 28)
