Angry Atheists

Atheists – “Thou doth protest too much, methinks.” In the past year we have had many books come out on atheism or should I say “Anti God” if could coin such a term. I am not bothered by atheists per se. There are many in the history of the faith and in modern existential thought who have contributed to in a meaningful way to the “God conversation” — Nietzsche, Sartre and Camus to name a few. Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins of late really have only added their misplaced anger. I found the following on a recent blog entry of Andrew Sullivan (http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/) in which I find common ground:

But atheism has expelled me. It has expelled me because it has in its heart contempt and loathing and fear of the other. So I reject it. I don't reject all atheists; many atheists are uninterested in ridiculing the religious -- they simply want to be left in peace, and not have religion forced on them or on the law. That, to me, is a principled atheism, and one I am happy to coexist with. But this new atheism, this anti-theism, has only contempt at its heart, and I reject it as thoroughly as it has rejected me.

In the end, there is an atheism that inhabits all meaningful conversations on faith. Doubt is about faith and without it there would not be faith. As a believer who loves this frail and flawed church I can only echo words of a boy’s father in the Gospel of Mark: ”Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.” Mark 9:24