Virtuous Belief and Vicious Faith
Recently atheists (Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris) have been huffing and puffing, fighting and fuming, against that which doesn’t exist – or, lest you miss my humor – that which they purport does not exist. It’s easy to make fun of those who fight a nothing. Why would you spend countless hours, and forests of trees, seeking to prove an invisible, imperceptible, inscrutable reality which doesn’t exist? For not existing God has gotten a lot of press. Has anyone or anything else received so much attention for not existing?
Of course in their defense, atheists claim they are fighting false belief. False belief does indeed exist and it should be fought. Unlike the nihilistic radical post-modern writers who say there is no difference between truth and falsehood (that it is all in the eye of the beholder) on this atheists and I agree: there is such a thing as right and wrong belief. We should seek, by every means possible, to better align our beliefs about the world to that which is the case (knowing only God does this perfectly).
How do we do this? We start by getting our facts straight. Admittedly this is a never ending task, but without a commitment to a clear-eyed vision of the way things are we’ll never move from falsehood, undermine empty ideology, or strip our illusions of their self-inflating lies. Here atheists have loads of material, for history is filled with the religious who refuse to let facts get in the way of their beliefs. But fortunately history also tells of the good-hearted who follow the wisdom of the sage to not have “zeal without knowledge or be hasty and miss the way” (Prov. 19:2). Facts about the clouds helped our ancestors understand that lightening bolts didn’t come from Zeus. Facts have helped us understand that God is not the cause of every unexplained event. Facts about the age of the earth or our DNA help us understand some of the beauty and complexity of the universe. Facts about our bodies are helping contemporary science extend our comfortable lives.
On this the new evangelistic atheists and I agree: the facts we have compiled about our universe cause us to doubt that God looks like what many believers think he looks like. To that I say a good Baptist Amen. Those who kill in the name of God, kill in the name of one who indeed does NOT exist. The god of hate is a god of false faith. True believers have always understood that God is part mystery. Those of vicious faith, who form God into their own image, have always used a non-existent God to self-justify their actions.
The facts of the universe, confirm what scripture says. The God who exists cannot be imaged or fully conceived. This is the cornerstone of the 10 commandments (make no graven image) and of the teachings of Jesus. God can’t be reduced to a set of attributes or a group of propositions. He can’t be drawn up or sketched out. Most of the time when atheists tell me about the God they don’t believe in, I tell them: “I don’t believe in that God either.”
But here’s a fact for which there is no easy explanation: we exist. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” (Psm. 19:1). Creation points to a creator. As Heschel so beautifully teaches: reverence at the ineffable mystery of existing, leads us to praise and ponder the wonder that is God.
Unless you are committed to atheism, then the universe points to itself. This seems wrong to me, but not as wrong as those who claim they’ve got God all figured out. The current crop of “a-theists” fighting against vicious faith are more on the side of virtuous belief than they realize. Much of what they hate, God hates as well. Idolatry, fundamentalism, religious bigotry, hatred based on ideology – all this Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris rightly hate. Ironically much of their sense of justice comes from the very One who they insist is not. And from Jesus, who taught us that God loves even those who doubt that God is there to love anyone. And there’s the real irony. Even if you don’t believe in God, God believes in you.
Of course in their defense, atheists claim they are fighting false belief. False belief does indeed exist and it should be fought. Unlike the nihilistic radical post-modern writers who say there is no difference between truth and falsehood (that it is all in the eye of the beholder) on this atheists and I agree: there is such a thing as right and wrong belief. We should seek, by every means possible, to better align our beliefs about the world to that which is the case (knowing only God does this perfectly).
How do we do this? We start by getting our facts straight. Admittedly this is a never ending task, but without a commitment to a clear-eyed vision of the way things are we’ll never move from falsehood, undermine empty ideology, or strip our illusions of their self-inflating lies. Here atheists have loads of material, for history is filled with the religious who refuse to let facts get in the way of their beliefs. But fortunately history also tells of the good-hearted who follow the wisdom of the sage to not have “zeal without knowledge or be hasty and miss the way” (Prov. 19:2). Facts about the clouds helped our ancestors understand that lightening bolts didn’t come from Zeus. Facts have helped us understand that God is not the cause of every unexplained event. Facts about the age of the earth or our DNA help us understand some of the beauty and complexity of the universe. Facts about our bodies are helping contemporary science extend our comfortable lives.
On this the new evangelistic atheists and I agree: the facts we have compiled about our universe cause us to doubt that God looks like what many believers think he looks like. To that I say a good Baptist Amen. Those who kill in the name of God, kill in the name of one who indeed does NOT exist. The god of hate is a god of false faith. True believers have always understood that God is part mystery. Those of vicious faith, who form God into their own image, have always used a non-existent God to self-justify their actions.
The facts of the universe, confirm what scripture says. The God who exists cannot be imaged or fully conceived. This is the cornerstone of the 10 commandments (make no graven image) and of the teachings of Jesus. God can’t be reduced to a set of attributes or a group of propositions. He can’t be drawn up or sketched out. Most of the time when atheists tell me about the God they don’t believe in, I tell them: “I don’t believe in that God either.”
But here’s a fact for which there is no easy explanation: we exist. “The heavens declare the glory of God,” (Psm. 19:1). Creation points to a creator. As Heschel so beautifully teaches: reverence at the ineffable mystery of existing, leads us to praise and ponder the wonder that is God.
Unless you are committed to atheism, then the universe points to itself. This seems wrong to me, but not as wrong as those who claim they’ve got God all figured out. The current crop of “a-theists” fighting against vicious faith are more on the side of virtuous belief than they realize. Much of what they hate, God hates as well. Idolatry, fundamentalism, religious bigotry, hatred based on ideology – all this Dawkins, Hitchens, and Harris rightly hate. Ironically much of their sense of justice comes from the very One who they insist is not. And from Jesus, who taught us that God loves even those who doubt that God is there to love anyone. And there’s the real irony. Even if you don’t believe in God, God believes in you.