What is Good About Atheism
One great thing about atheists is their love of truth. It is so frustrating to deal with people who are sort of christian but not really. They might go to church or not but they self identify as christian or catholic. Still it does not really make a difference in their lives. They say it is true but they don’t act as if it is true. Atheists are a big improvment. They are willing to say very clearly they do not believe. They are even willing to face up to some hard consequences. They know the human heart wants to believe in life after death. People feel there must be some form of moral accountability. They want their lives to be connected to something that isn’t going to die. We want it so much that those who don’t really believe in heaven and hell and not willing to admit it. Atheists are willing to admit it. Not because they like believing in a finite, futile life but because the love truth. They want to speak the truth clearly and follow it whereever it leads. That is a very good.
Where does that good come from? It comes from God. We are inherently incapable of being at peace with falsehood because we are image bearers of God. So when people find it impossible to live with this contradictory embrace of both Christ and culture that is a very good thing. It is like Elijah said on Mt Carmel:
Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”
But the people said nothing. 1 Kings 18:21
It is very simple. Decide what is true and live according to that truth. What do you believe? Is atheism true? If you really believe that then live it completely and consistently. But if Catholicsm is true, then you need to live that completely and consistently.
It is kind of like a spiritual reductio ad absurdum. That is when you assume something to be true and push that assumption to it’s logical conclusion. If you end up in an absurd spot then the logician would say the original assumption has been proven false. They key is to think about the problems in embracing either theism or atheism. To many people waver between the two opinions and never really subject either of them to scrutiny.
Of course both theism and atheism have real difficulties. I think it was Baise Pascal who said it was impossible to believe that we were created on purpose and it was just as impossible to believe this world was a product of chance. Ultimately we need an act of faith to believe in either. In the end God will win the same way He did on Mt Carmel. Because He is real and He will make Himself known either through public miracles like the one at Mt Carmel or through many private miracles.
Still atheists do force us to confront the choice. They show us that nominal christianity is an affront to honesty and reason. We need to show that there is another choice. That there is a true christianity that is logically consistent. That atheism has its own share of problems. That they appeal to the human desire to face the truth but have trouble with some other inate human desires. But we need to affirm what is good. Their willingness to use reason, logic, and science to challenge our basic assumptions is certainly good.
