Replies

One of the founding ministers at our church once said that every atheist can give you a detailed description of the God in which he does not believe. (Sometimes much more detailed than the believer can.)

I got in an online discussion with a group of atheists once. One of them PMd me, and I urged him to consider a much broader perspective of a universal God, immanent and transcendent, operating as and through everyone and everything. He rejected it because “I could believe in that and I don’t believe in God.” Therefore, in his worldview, that could not be correct.

OTOH, a high school classmate of mine (we were in the same graduating class) wrote a book called An Atheist Defends Religion, which is a fascinating read.

Not surprising. Many of us are raised religious, so could be expected to know something about it. In my case, I was in my thirties when some Mormon missionaries paid a visit. We talked some and played a little chess. They left me a couple of books and said they’d be back the following week.

I read the books. When they asked my what I thought, I told them I didn’t want to hurt their feelings, but what they believed was a lot of nonsense. They left in a huff.

If their beliefs were a lot of hooey, I wondered later, how realistic were my Southern Baptist/Lutheran beliefs?

So I dove into a study of theology. When I emerged from it, I realized what I had believed was also based on a lot of hooey. Once that river is crossed, it is hard to go back. That’s because, in my case anyway, I cannot will myself to believe things I don’t actually think are true.