Atheism's Faith
Steve Olson is a blogger who writes about his journey towards personal freedom. I'm not really sure what all that entails, but part of it at least has to do with his relationship with his four-year-old son. Writing about what his son has already taught him despite his few years, Steve posted the following.
A few weeks ago our cat was dying. So I explained death to my son and told him our cat was going to heaven. I was amazed that he grasped the permanence of death. Like the other members of my family he was very sad for several days. Then he asked, “Dad, how do you get to heaven?” I said,”Well everyone goes there when they die.” He said, “No I mean, how do you get there? Do go out the door and get in the car? Do you take a rocket?” I had to admit to him that I didn’t know how you get to heaven, I just believe in it. A few days latter he asked, “If God made me, who made God?” Good question. I haven’t thought about that one in years.
I didn't share this with you to stir up another debate like the one that came in the wake of "All Dogs Go to Heaven." The reason I found Steve's post so intriguing is in the 100+ comments that follow it. Scroll down and you'll find scoldings saying Steve is only "deluding" and "indoctrinating" his child. His parenting skills are called into question because he was influencing the faith of his son.
Steve's reaction was that he got "flamed." But I believe he was subjected to something that amounts to little more than an atheistic jihad.
Let me explain. Atheism taken in its cold, rational sense is not concerned with the beliefs of others. If God does not exist, so what if others want to make Paschal's Wager? There is nothing immoral about believing a lie, since no objective standard exists to distinguish right from wrong.
But atheism can also take on an evangelistic form. Evangelical atheists will seek to persuade "ignorant believers" with the same urgency of a Christian who preaches repentance to the world, hoping to convert sinners. They will even try to interfere with a complete stranger's parenting strategies.
Why are atheists so desperate? Christians feel a sense of urgency because they believe that God exists, and without Christ the world is lost. But let's suppose that God does not exist. What happens to those who refuse to denounce their faith? Under an atheistic model, believers and atheists suffer the same end, only atheists get there first because they live their lives in bitterness, sorrow and frustration.
Isn't it ironic that a notion that prides itself on being rational can stoop to such inconsistencies?
