We're halfway through and it is time to remember the starting point . Is atheism about the existence of God or about idolatry?
Let me come clean, I agree with an awful lot of what atheists say and I believe Christians need to hear what they are saying. However, I remain a Christian.
An interesting question is whether it is possible for any person to live without a God or gods of some description. Western Europe is overall indifferent to the existence of God. This is in marked contrast to most of the rest of the world where religion is if anything growing. Atheists have a strong presence in Europe and they claim to be the second largest faith in the United States, presumably after Christianity.
Atheists claim it is possible to live without God. I question this because I don't believe most people who are not believers are atheists. What we have in the main is indifference. People are simply not interested in formal religion or religious beliefs. If atheists wish to count the indifferent they can but I would urge them to reconsider. Remember the words of Socrates, by way of Plato, 'the unexamined life is not worth living'. Is an unexamined life really what they wish to offer to humanity?
I don't believe it is. The vocal, erudite atheists are not, cannot be living unexamined lives.
If atheists read this series they will probably protest they no more subscribe to the cult of Father Christmas than they do to the cult of Jesus Christ. Yet, I think this is where I wish to ask in all seriousness, are you sure? I do not consciously believe in the cult of Father Christmas and yet to be honest I cannot say I am free of the ideology of consumerism. Our churches are certainly not, we are mired in this ideology and its god is Father Christmas.
I will in a later post explain why I think atheism is mired in this deeper false consciousness. Christians have a different way of avoiding it to atheists and we might argue about whose is most effective but I hope some atheists at least would see the problem of false gods is more difficult than it might first appear.
The question we must consider is: is it possible to live without a god? I would expect most atheists to answer yes. My answer is also yes but for somewhat different reasons.
So, the first step is to explore one issue where atheists are right about Christianity. This will be revealed in my next post.
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