Arguing with Atheists

Brit Hume from FoxNews caused quite a stir last Sunday when, in a segment about Tiger Woods future, he suggested that Tiger needed to turn to the Christian faith for the forgiveness he so sorely needs. It set off quite a firestorm of anti-religious comments from around the Net and the TV. It is so rare to hear someone in the media talk about Jesus Christ in any way that is not disparaging that I found it refreshing and amazing. Tonight, I went on YouTube to see how others were reacting and found a site called "Atheist Media Blog" that posted it. As you might imagine, the comments were quite "colorful." The language was beyond salty and the comments nearly universally negative toward faith, belief, God, and Christianity in particular. So, I spent about an hour chatting with those who responded. As a result, I learned some things that might be helpful to many of us. Here are a few:

1. People were angry at Christianity because it had failed them. One guy talked about getting hooked on cocaine through his youth group. Several relayed the issue of pedophilia priests or TV evangelist moral failures. To them, this discredited the message of Jesus. I guess the old adage is still true, "Don't tell me what you believe, show me."
2. We are an angry society, polarized along conservative and liberal lines. Some even called Hume a fundamentalist, revealing by this that any religious belief that is taken seriously is fundamentalist, narrow and bigoted. While this is sad to hear and, on the face of it false, it is a prevailing thought among many who have not been exposed to real Christianity or a true, practicing believer. Most have only seen organized religion and the falsehood of those who believe but do not live.
   
3. Hume made a blunder in his analysis, comparing the values of Christianity and its theology of forgiveness to Buddhism (which he suspected was Tiger's religious upbringing, based on his Mother's religious affiliation) which Hume thought offered little in terms of forgiveness. His advice to have Woods turn to a Christian faith were well placed, but he could have left out the Buddhist comparison. It became grist for the gristmill on the blogs.
4. Many seemed surprised that anyone, let alone a newsman, let alone on a Sunday Political Forum would choose such a venue to espouse a religious conviction. I found that argument astounding and suggested that offering advice was the gruel of political opinion forums and that Hume was exercising a perfectly valid idea for such a program. While there were some reasoned replies, most simply said, "Oh yea, well Jesus Christ can . . ." You get the picture.
5. I was not the only Christian responding. However, most could not offer a reason for their belief. They ended up saying, "Oh yea, well Jesus Christ can . . ." Well, you get the picture. They had good intentions but little to offer to further the conversation.

I think believers still have a responsibility to engage the culture. It is not always easy nor is it always productive. However, if we do engage, we have to offer more than platitudes and zingy one liners. Paul reasoned with the Stoics in Athens and offered an argument for the reality of Jesus Christ. In this ever increasing secularized soceity, we had better find a way to do the same.