Last time I mentioned Bertrand Russell's essay 'Why I am Not a Christian' and his claim that Christians must believe in God and immortality. Today I will show it is not essential to believe in God if you are a Christian.
First, to say all Christians must believe in God, ignores what is meant by 'believe in'. Many Christians would argue they believe in God, in the sense that we believe in a friend upon whom we rely for something which is not in their own interest. I see nothing wrong with this but would respectfully point out we have a perfectly good word for this, namely faith, and it is better to use it than 'believe in' which has too many ambiguities. I should add that I know faith is more than this, but this definition will do for now.
Second, we need to be clear that if we mean by 'belief in God' that we believe God exists, then we have a problem. What do we mean when we say God exists? I believe Russell is perfectly right when he says there is no way of proving God's existence using reason. The problem is we have a category error here.
If we imagine the set of all things that exist in the universe (leaving aside the possibility of other parallel universes - but do include everything they contain too if you must) then how can God be a member of that set? God is not someone who exists like Gordon Brown exists. If God were something in the universe God would by definition not be the creator of all things.
So, why are Christians not atheists? Well, curiously it might be a very good idea for Christians to reclaim the name atheist. The incarnation is mind boggling because Christians claim this inconceivable God, a God who is not something in the universe, became human. If we believe God exists like everything else in the universe, the incarnation becomes far less of an impossibility.
The God in whom atheists allege Christians believe, is a false God. It is a projection of self-interest by both atheists and some Christians. For some Christians, their faith story is a journey into darkness as they lose the faith of their childhood and only in time find a way back, through a rejection of their false images of God. They return at length to the old stories but this time understand them in a new light. As you would expect some people get stuck in false consciousness but all at least set out on the journey and return as atheists, atheists who have faith in a God they know they cannot ever know.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
(TS Eliot Little Gidding)
The thing atheists miss is that Jesus was an atheist too. On the cross tortured and killed for no other reason than that his tormentors had the power, abandoned by his friends, Jesus experienced, so we are told, atheism, the loss of God. His early disciples tell how he gave up everything and became a human being, a slave and then was put to death on the cross (see Philippians 2). At that moment he lost everything, including his faith. That moment has sustained many Christians as they too weather loss of faith.
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