Faith for atheists. Part 1

(A theological reflection in 5 parts)

Faith for atheists

Part 1: Atheism not only dismisses God, but claims the moral high ground

Christian faith in the UK has declined catastrophically in the last couple of generations. I am going to argue that it would be good for people, and for society in general, if we could rediscover faith.

The reasons for the decline in faith are many, but I consider the most important one is that many people have simply come to believe that there is no God – he just isn’t there! I think we need to accept that for many believers in previous generations there was an implicit contract, or deal, going on. In effect, people said, “OK God, I will pay attention to you and try to please you, and in return you’ve got to get me out of trouble when times are hard”. However, the evidence increasingly came in that there is no guarantee whatsoever that God is going to rescue you. If your country is at war, bombs are still going to drop on you, despite your prayers. Your sick loved one may get better – but then again, they might die. If the harvest is bad, you may well starve. It’s perfectly legitimate for people to complain that God did not help them enough, and rather than conclude, “There is a God, but for some reason he failed to help me”, it seems fairer to conclude, “There is no God”. Certainly, people have voted with their feet – and with their minds and hearts: “God did not keep his part of the bargain, so I will not keep mine; I am finished with God!”.

I think, initially, this was done with considerable sadness and regret, but as atheism has grown in confidence this is no longer the case. Instead, it is seen as a “no-brainer”: of course God is not real. Atheism then takes on lots of positive connotations. Firstly, it is seen as the truth. You are leaving behind superstition, “medieval” beliefs, fantasies, wishful thinking, infantile, dependent thinking. Instead, you are standing on your own two feet, taking responsibility for your own life, courageously facing up to life’s challenges without needing the false crutch of leaning on God. Perhaps faith will be looked on indulgently as a nice fairy tale for children, but we adults must leave all that sort of thing behind. IF it was true, it would be lovely, but religion isn’t, and so we must do without it. The more aggressive branch of atheism will have none of this nonsense, and they see religion in its entirety as not simply false but also bad. It is nothing more than an authoritarian con to keep people under control and manipulate them for the benefit of those in power. It promotes a host of evil things such as intolerance, persecution, blind-faith closed-minded thinking, and is a hindrance to progress. As such, society cannot leave religion behind fast enough, and it must be thoroughly extinguished to end its destructive effects. Hence atheism takes on overtones of liberty and fulfilment for individuals and society – and claims that it is the exact opposite of religion.