WHAT IS THE NEW ATHEISM?
- Term coined by Ronald Aronson — Wayne State Prof.
- Key books — Dawkins, Harris, etc.
- Mohler’s book, Atheism Remix very helpful
- The New Atheists are evangelistic in intent — see atheism as the only plausible world view for our times
- Simon Hooper, CNN — religion should not simply be tolerated, but countered and criticized — they are confrontational
SIX TENETS —
- Religion is based on faith — a false propositional belief
- The antidote to faith is science — if God cannot be proved…
- The antidote to religion in general is science
- Religion is doomed because science will triumph
- Religion is a zeal for power
- Religion must be opposed and denounced
They are waging war on the very idea of God…it is a comprehensive attack on theism of any kind.
EIGHT HALLMARKS of the New Atheism (as distinguished from old atheism) —
- An unprecedented boldness — e.g., the bus ad campaign
- A specific rejection of the Christian God of the Bible
- An explicit rejection of Jesus Christ as the God-man and Savior
- An unwavering commitment to science
- Intolerance for even moderate and liberal forms of religious belief
- An attack on toleration for religion in Western society
- The questioning of whether parents have the right to indoctrinate their children in religious beliefs
- The idea that religion must be eliminated to preserve human freedom
WHO ARE THE NEW ATHEISTS? Four leading New Atheists. —
- Richard Dawkins
- Oxford biologist
- Darwin’s “Rottweiler”
- Finds God to be statistically improbable
- Argues against ID — who designed the designer
- The God Delusion
- Christopher Hitchens
- British born, now American
- God is Not Great
- Frequent critic of theism
- Calls both OT & NT “evil” — limiting human freedom
- Sam Harris
- An atheist who has an affinity for eastern religions and meditation
- The End of Faith
- Asserts that religion has produced foolish ideas (e.g., young earth creationism)
- Daniel Dennett
- American philosopher
- Attempts to explain everything in terms of Darwinian evolution
- Breaking the Spell
CRITICAL RESPONSES —
- Alister McGrath — The Dawkins Delusion?
- David Robertson, The Dawkins Letters
- Alvin Plantinga, “The Dawkins Confusion” (CT)
- Ravi Zacharias, The End of Reason
- Douglas Wilson, Letter from a Christian Citizen
- Thomas Crean, God is No Delusion
- Al Mohler, Atheism Remix (the best book on the topic because of the evangelical perspective and simplicity and clarity)
- David Aikman, The Delusion of Disbelief
APOLOGETICS AND ATHEISM — How should pastors respond? Six considerations (cf. 2 Cor. 10:5; 1 Pt. 3:15; Jude 3 — the NT exhorts us to take stands) —
- The authority must be God’s Word not science or philosophy. NA want science to be the authority — their own naturalistic philosophy of science.
As Christians, we can accept science, but not as supreme authority over Scripture. We do our people a grave disservice if we skip the Scriptures and go immediately to science in developing apologetic responses to this and other issues.
- The primary aim is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ (not just to win arguments for theism in generatl). Cf. Anthony Flew who has become a theist, yet he continues to reject Christianity.
An apologetic that stops short of the gospel is not a true apologetic.
- The agent of change is the Holy Spirit (not us)
What does the Spirit use? His Word that He inspired — it is the sword of the Spirit. Unless the Spirit is in it, you cannot force belief.
- The Biblical assumption is that people already know God exists (Rom. 1).
We don’t need to spend much time arguing for the existence of God. They already know. God Himself says that He has already made Himself known — they are merely suppressing it. They may deny it, but the Word of God is clear that they know.
- The anticipation is that the message will be ridiculed and rejected by the majority of unbelievers.
True faithful Christians have seldom been popular. Don’t fall into the trap of desiring intellectual acceptability at the expense of Biblical integrity. The gospel is inherently unpopular.
- The assessment of our success is measured in terms of faithfulness to the Lord and His Word. He may be successful without converts (Elijah), or unsuccessful with many converts (Jonah). Don’t compromise the message for the sake of tactics and “converts.”
These principles all flow out of a presuppostional approach to apologetics.
REASONS WE BELIEVE IN GOD: A DEFENSE OF THEISM FROM A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE —
- Because He has revealed Himself to us (general and special revelation primarily, but with also many secondary affirmations from history)
- Because the very existence of our universe points to a Creator (cosmological argument). Cf. Gen. 1:1; Ps. 8:1-3; 19:1; 95:3-6; Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; Rom. 11:36; 1 Cor. 8:6.
- Because the design of creation points to a Designer — Gen. 1:11-30; Job 38-41; Ps. 104:1-35; 139:13-14; Jer. 10:12.
- Because the continuation of the universe points to a Sustainer (Job 26:7; Ps. 74:16-17; 104:14; Col. 1:17; 1 Tim. 6:13; Heb. 1:3).
- Because the human sense of morality points to a Lawgiver (Rom. 2:14; Eccl. 12:13-14; Heb. 9:27; Rom. 1:19, 32; Ex. 20:13-17; Mk. 12:31). Even evil doesn’t exist if God does not exist.
- Because eternity is written on the hearts of men and women (Eccl. 3:11; 12:5; Jn. 5:29; 1 Cor. 15:35-49; 2 Cor. 5:8; Rev. 20:10 – 22:5).
- Because life without God is ultimately meaningless.
- Because history conforms to a divine plan
- Because miraculous events confirm the supernatural
CONCLUSION:
- A strong case for theism can be made, but our apologetic must be Biblical; we should not be too quick to leave the foundation of Scripture for extra-Biblical lines of argument ‘ you will lose authority.
- The NA is a false religion, a faith-based worldview that is exposed by both the general and special revelation of God.
- The Gospel is the only real answer to those who profess atheism or any other false religious view. The Gospel must be at the center of our apologetics.
Words of Grace 