TheGeoffRe(y)port

It’s been an interesting thing to see how the Catholic Church’s “World Youth Day” (perhaps something of a misnomer given that it’s pretty much about Catholics, and runs for about 5 days) has brought out the angry atheists (as distinct from the calm atheists) into the opinion sections of the newspapers and blogs. The temptation is to dismiss the rants without consideration, as the product of a hater, but if we instead actually engage with our accusers, we can find some real gems. Take the following:

It’s been a revelation to me a year since my “epiphany”. I feel as if I’m walking through life with the blinkers off. Suddenly all the religious mumbo-jumbo jumps out as so bonkers. Wearing certain things, eating certain things, mumbling certain things at certain times so some imaginary friend will let you into a club in the sky when you die. I want to do my living now, thanks. I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid of never having lived.

Red hot enlightenment led me to believe in one fewer god | theage.com.au

Now, that quote comes from Catherine Deveney, The Age’s resident angry atheist columnist, and it comes from an article which, while calm and logical, is fairly damning and aggressive towards religion and more specifically Christianity. But have a read of that again, and imagine that instead of being in a newspaper, this popped up on the blog of an emerging churcher.It fits, and it works, and I fervently believe that there’s a really big truth for us there.

Because if our Christianity is primarily about being let into “a club in the sky when you die”, then we find ourselves at odds with the man who was about bringing “life to the full”. Then (from the same article), there’s the following quote - which in a round-about way, pretty much makes my point:

I don’t care what people believe in, but I do care that religion impacts on political discourse, public policy and that it stunts the ability of people to think for themselves and question. And that it kills people and causes suffering. But most of all I care that the invisible electric fences that are wired in the minds of children brainwashed by religion are difficult to remove. And impossible if you don’t even know they’re there.

When we shut ourselves off from people we disagree with - we become exactly that: brainwashers. But instead, if we truly have faith that we have something true in our chasing after God, and are able to listen and even converse (rather than ignore and argue), then we will find that sometimes, there is God even in the argument of the atheist.

Listen, consider, weigh up and you just might grow.