They’re at It Again

Our friends in the atheist community are at it again. Now, I need to say upfront that I’m not talking about you’re typical, run-of-the-mill atheist. Most are humble men and women who are genuinely trying to figure out if God exists, and if he doesn’t, what does. But there is a very volatile, aggressive wing of the atheist world that is on the war path. They want a US culture that has no public reflection of any faith at all. They believe in a world without God, and they want the world they live in to reflect that.

One recent expression of this antagonism toward matters of faith is a billboard in Times Square. As you can see, it suggests that Santa is basically more credible than Jesus. Now, I don’t think that most atheists really believe that Jesus is a myth. The fact that he lived is documented well outside of the Bible, and few thinking people would argue that there actually wasn’t a man named Jesus who started the Christian faith. I would also argue that his death, burial and resurrection are historical facts.

So what are the atheists trying to accomplish? Do they really think that people who see the billboard are going to have some light bulb come on and say “Wow! I’ve been believing a myth all these years! I’ve seen the true light! Jesus is a myth!”? Do they really think that our faith is that shallow, that shaky? Any serious Christ-follower knows better. I’m not worried about such billboards causing a mass exodus from the Christian faith. Our Lord Jesus even acknowledged that it would be the high cost of following him, not outside attacks, that would drive people away from him.

So what’s going on here? Why the attack? Fear. People tend to attack what threatens them. They attack what threatens their security, their livelihood or their lifestyle. The last thing militant atheists wants is for their culture to lean toward God. Why? Because it threatens their own religion. That’s right, our atheist friends are not irreligious. They are as committed to their religion and faith as most of us are. Their faith allows them to ultimately be accountable to no higher power or higher authority. And if they live in a world that is God-centered, then their fierce independence and reliance on themselves is going to be threatened.

So they attack. They use words like reason and logic to attack the very reasonable notion of faith in God. They try to paint faith as something for stupid, foolish and uninformed people. They argue that the human mind and science can basically explain every phenomenon in the world, and that there is no spiritual order, no eternity, no angels, demons, devil or God.

So how do we respond? Should we be threatened by such attacks on our faith? Not at all. In fact, the attacks should encourage us. We need to love, serve and pray for our atheist brothers and sisters. They’re not bad people. In fact, they’re just like us. They’re sinners in need of the grace and mercy of a holy God.

And 2000 years ago, when Jesus died on the cross that their billboard mocks, he was dying for them too.