In my last post , I suggested a materialist approach to the Christian faith; how we need to learn to read scripture and the world together, so that we can see the ways in which institutions dominate our consciousness through our uncritical acceptance of images or idols.
The problem atheists seem to have with religion is the wars it has fought and the evil it has done. I can't help thinking that if atheists were organised they could show us how to run things properly. I am quite sure the atheist no-church would never go to war, never torture, maim, unjustly imprison or dominate people who don't agree with them.
However, atheists are not organised and so we are invited to compare the atrocities and excesses of organised religion with the gentle benevolence of armchair critics.
Let us remember times and places where atheists have been in charge. The French Revolution, based upon the writings of Voltaire and others, shocked by the evils they saw God perpetrate through the Lisbon earthquake, led to the Reign of Terror. Can we forget the excesses of the Soviet Gulag, China in Tibet or Pol Pot in Cambodia? It seems being led by atheists is not always an entirely positive experience for those who disagree with them.
The point is all human institutions are potentially violent; it is institutions which cause the problem, whether or not they are religious. This is why all religions can be accused of violence alongside atheist states. So, why the sniping at religion? There isn't shred of evidence that religions lead to more violence than non-religious organisations.
I've never been sure whether Hitler was atheist or some sort of religious sectarian. Let's assume his regime was atheist. Now we have to face up to the collusion of the Protestant Churches in Germany and the Vatican. This is well attested. So, is the witness of the Confessing Church in Germany .
Christian collusion with the Nazis was shameful and still is where Christians continue to pursue racism and oppress others. But we need to ask ourselves what is the alternative? If there is one thing we have learned from this survey of idolatry, I hope it is that people will believe almost everything. Belief is something spiritual and almost always corrosive.
The mainstream churches all have disciplinary procedures for their ordained and lay members. These provide a degree of accountability for their members, which would be missing if Christians simply believed and were not organised. Discipline is a never ending task for the churches and doesn't always work; witness what has come to light about the Catholic Church in ireland recently.
But are we really saying that no accountability whatsoever is better than some accountability? Of course, political authorities could send the police round but how soon before that seeped into totalitarianism?
Atheists might be intelligent but in spreading their views they don't seem to think particularly strategically. We all have to share our world with people who seem to us to act like idiots. But most traditions have the means to restrain the worst excesses and should be encouraged to do so fairly.
So, my message to atheists is back off and credit religious people with some intelligence. We're not all idiots just because you disagree with us.
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