Some time ago I was asked if The Apologetic Response would offer a seminar on the subject of atheism since there seemed to be a rise in popularity of religion bashing books by atheists seemingly spearheaded by Richard Dawkins and his best-seller The God Delusion. I answered that we would not offer a seminar on this subject because I didn’t feel that it was something that caused enough interest to warrant putting together a seminar on. Instead I took the lazy route of offering links to web resources that challenge Richard Dawkins’ ideas.

The real reason, which I didn’t want to admit, was that every encounter I’ve ever had with trying to reason with self-proclaimed atheists has ended in frustration, so much so that I have chosen not to engage in dialogue with them anymore. “What??” you may ask, “Don’t you use Jonah 4:11 ‘Should I not be concerned?’ as your ministry Scripture verse? Aren’t you concerned about atheists too?” That’s a fair question. The answer is that I am concerned about atheists and I believe God is too but I also believe that it is not my job or anyone’s job to convert the atheists or anyone else for that matter but it is the job of the Holy Spirit to do so. Our job is to share the gospel and pray for the person. Self-proclaimed atheists deserve to hear the gospel as much as anyone else. The problem is however that today’s atheists are fueled with a seemingly irrational venomous hatred toward God and religion that they seek out to destroy the faith of believers and openly mock God insomuch as they have created a new anti-God movement with publishing both in print and on the web. All of this would seem rather strange considering the fact that they claim God does not exist. If God does not exist then why are they working so hard to prove that He doesn’t exist? I mean we all know that hobbits don’t exist (or do they:-) but we don’t see any mass movement fighting to prove it. I think 2 Peter 3:3 answers the question for us, “First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following after their own desires.” (NIV)

My family and I recently saw an interview with Richard Dawkins on CBC where he claimed that there was no evidence for the existence of God yet he acknowledged the existence of moral laws. The question, “If there is no God, where do these moral laws come from?” was not asked. Prior to seeing this interview I had only read brief excerpts and quotations about Richard Dawkins and his book. I dismissed the subject out of hand as not being worthy of my time and/or investigation. The reason being because I found the claims of the atheists to be only evidence of their own ignorance of the facts, not realizing that even though they may not sway those of us who are aware of the facts, they may very well prevent others from ever taking the step of investigating the evidence for themselves.

The following is an excerpt from an article entitled “The New Atheists loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it”:

Dawkins is an unashamed proselytiser. He says in his preface that he intends his book for religious readers and his aim is that they will be atheists by the time they finish reading it. Yet The God Delusion is not a book of persuasion, but of provocation - it may have sold in the thousands but has it won any souls? Anyone who has experienced such a conversion, please email me (with proof). I suspect the New Atheists are in danger of a spectacular failure. With little understanding and even less sympathy of why people increasingly use religious identity in political contexts, they’ve missed the proverbial elephant in the room. These increasingly hysterical books may boost the pension, they may be morale boosters for a particular kind of American atheism that feels victimised - the latest candidate in a flourishing American tradition - but one suspects that they are going to do very little to challenge the appeal of a phenomenon they loathe too much to understand.

So having had a number of encounters with angry and bitter atheists myself both online and in person, I now choose not to debate them. I will share the gospel with them but I will not attempt to prove anything to them. “Now that just sounds cold and mean-spirited. It sounds like you’ve written them off as being unreasonable and stupid people. Don’t you think that’s a bit arrogant?”, you may wonder. Yes I suppose that does come across as arrogant but let me explain. My feeling is that these angry and bitter people are that way for very logical reasons. They have been hurt, abused, lied to, disappointed by failed expectations and disillusioned by the failures of those who claim to know God and serve Him.

We’ve all heard the classic arguments, “If God is so good then why is there suffering in the world?, If God created a perfect world then why is there so much wrong with it? If God loves us then why does he allow children to be molested and die of starvation? Christians are all hypocrites. Look at Ted Haggard and Jimmy Swaggart.” and so on. In a recent debate (see below) an atheist woman challenges Ray Comfort with the question, “If God made us as perfect human beings then why does cancer exist?” Ray attempts to answer the question by addressing the broader question of why there are all kinds of disease and suffering in the world but then the woman gets angry by accusing him of avoiding the question of cancer and demands that he address and answer that specific question regarding cancer as though that was the only kind of suffering in the world. It was obvious to me that either she had cancer herself or had recently lost or was losing a loved one to it. She was angry at God for allowing cancer to exist and cause her pain and suffering.

Although I do believe debates have merit and have led many to rethink their world views, I also think they should remain as controlled public debates between opposing view points rather than personal one-on-one debates with those we seek to share the gospel with. When you meet someone who asks, “Why does God allow cancer?”, instead of trying to defend the existence of God and answering the question of why there is suffering in the world, try asking the person why they are asking that question. Who has it right now that they know? Do they themselves have it? Did they recently lose a loved one to it? Get to know the persons pain that prompted the question in the first place. Share that pain with them. Grieve with them. Share your experiences with that pain. Let them know it’s okay to grieve. It’s okay to be angry and ask questions. Let them know you are concerned. Then you can share the hope that you have with them.

Do you know someone who is angry with God? Do you know someone who avoids talking about religion? Ask them why. Did they have a family member who claimed to be a Christian but did some terrible thing that made them mistrust all Christians and God? Were they hurt by a member of the clergy? Did God not answer their prayers to save a dying loved one? Perhaps it was a failed promise of a televangelist they gave a lot of money to or a broken marriage that was supposedly ‘blessed by God’ that turned them off. Or could it be that their disappointment was a result of unrealized expectations of a happy care free life in the Lord because they responded to a gospel message that told them that God forgives and gifts everyone with no acknowledgment of or repentance of sin, expecting God to remove all adversity from their lives?

Whatever reasons atheists may have for rejecting God it is important to find out what those reasons are really rather than the reasons they offer on the surface. ABC News recently aired a debate called ‘Does God Exist?’ between two Christians and two atheists. I think if I were an unbiased viewer who wanted to hear both sides before deciding which side to choose, I would have to note, aside from the arguments on both sides, the very obvious manner and tone of each side. The atheists were angry, sarcastic, snide, rude and distrustful, while the Christians were calm, collected, respectful and courteous towards the atheists. While the Christians were concerned about the eternal destiny of the atheists, the atheists seemed more concerned with insulting and belittling the Christians. I think as an objective viewer I would have to see this as very telling.

You can see the rest of the debate here.

So The Apologetic Response may never offer a seminar on how to respond to atheists but we will direct you to resources that will help you to do just that.