If I had to play a one-note Samba in apologetics it would be the consideration of the Alternative. In my last post I mentioned a Christian who advertised his “deconversion” on Facebook, and suggested he might want to put his new alternative faith on trial as much as he did Christianity. The Bee’s headline reveals something most most people, including Christians, have probably never considered: atheists are people of faith too! They are “believers” every bit as much as Christians. Unfortunately, while Christians are referred to as “believers,” those who are not Christians are referred to as “unbelievers,” as if such at thing existed. In our modern secular culture this is a problem, as I will explain. Let’s see how the Bee explains our fictional atheist’s struggle:
Sources say that Marcus often says that he’s just a random collection of atoms and chemical reactions—that he’s just ‘dancing to his DNA’—but recently he just can’t seem to shake the idea that there’s more to his existence.
“What if it’s all a lie? What if atheism is just made up to make people feel smart and have a false sense of superiority?” Marcus cried out. “I mean obviously we’re just here by random chance, with no benevolent Being watching over us. But then again, why has a single good thing happened in anyone’s life—much less on a daily basis?”
The irony, at which the Bee excels, is obvious, and hilarious. Most people believe atheists have rejected “faith” and somehow live in a universe where “faith” is not required. Except life without faith does not exist. The universal conception of atheists in secular modernity is that they don’t have or need faith, so they have no need to struggle with it. It’s only Christians who must struggle with their faith. But the reality is atheists do indeed have faith, just like everyone else, and they doubt their faith at times as does every believer. The problem I referred to above is that in a secular culture this misunderstanding of faith and belief as a one-way street puts Christians on the defensive, and lets atheists and agnostics off the hook. The default position in the secular mind is not-faith, the ostensible neutral position, and thus only people of “faith” must defend and prove their beliefs.
This distortion of reality is my point, and why using believer and unbeliever is not only inaccurate, but unhelpful. It puts Christians and Christianity at a disadvantage in a secular age, and we have enough going against us without carelessly using believer and unbeliever when the former describes all human beings, and the latter doesn’t exists. Which brings me back to my one note Samba, the consideration of the alternative. If we don’t believe or have faith in one view of reality, we must have faith in another. There is no escaping it. This unwarranted believer/unbeliever dichotomy is a pet peeve of mine, and the subject, God willing, of a future book: there is no such thing as an unbeliever. It’s so common to refer to some people as “believers” and others as “unbelievers,” that talking about an atheist struggling with doubts is funny, as does fictitious Marcus. As usual, the Bee nails it.
Which brings us to the astute insight of Marcus’ dilemma: Why does good exist? Everyone since Voltaire lamented the great Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755, and blamed God, has looked at “the problem of evil” as a challenge to the Christian worldview. Because of this, nobody considered there might be “the problem of good.” Why would that be a problem? Well, how does one explain good things in a random universe of colliding atoms? To the atheist everything is by definition a brute fact; it just is, no explanation required. But through all of recorded history, people have wonder why. The history of philosophy and religion is a testimony to this great question about existence. The brute facts answer is not only unsatisfying, but intuitively ridiculous. Even those who are not religious know the wonder of a sunset, or a thunderstorm, or a majestic mountain range. Nature is a marvel that moves people well beyond the level of brute facts. This is a profound problem for the atheist worldview.
The examples of the problem could multiplied, but I used a strategy to drive this point home with my children as they were growing up I’ll call the “praise chance” strategy. Even as they’re now adults I still use it. I would point to examples in nature like sunsets, moon and stars, or trees or fruits and vegetables, or music, or birth, etc., and I would explain how very intelligent people believe these things are a product of chance. I would further explain what that means, that there is no design, no purpose, no God, just blind matter that somehow results in all this beauty and wonder. Then I would exclaim, Praise chance! The bottom line is that it takes far more faith to believe the universe and everything in it is mere matter in motion, than to believe it is evidence of our almighty Creator God. The Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 1:20 are compelling, that God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen and understood from what has been made.
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