Randal Rauser - Is the Atheist My Neighbor? Rethinking Christian Attitudes toward Atheism

Pastor John Hagee really doesnt like atheists. Whenever the topic of the godless comes up in his sermons, Hagee lets them have it with both barrels blazing. And it isnt hard to see why: attacking atheists seems to be a sure way to rile up the crowd, for his harangues regularly invite raucous applause and even standing ovations from the boisterous congregation. Consider this fiery excerpt that Hagee recently delivered from the pulpit:

The Bible says, The fool has said in his heart there is no God. Atheists say there is no God. Let me tell you that atheism has never painted a masterpiece. Atheism has never dispelled fear. Atheism has never healed a disease. Faith in God has, but not atheism. Atheism has never given anyone peace of mind. Atheism has never dried a tear. Atheism has never given an intellectual answer to the creation. Atheism is bankrupt and empty. Its brain dead!

Take note: Those with weaker constitutions can leave their seeker sensitivity at the door. Hagee calls it like he sees it, and if he sees atheists to be brain dead fools, hell be more than willing to speak his mind.

In case you think that Hagee was just having a bad day, on another occasion he offered the following blunt advice to any atheists he may have offended: To the atheist watching this telecast, if our belief in God offends you... move! There are planes leaving every hour on the hour going every place on planet earth. Get on one . We dont want you and we wont miss you, I promise you.

Yikes.

When you think about it, this is an extraordinary picture: one of Americas leading pastors denouncing a significant portion of the American populationa group that includes a broad cross-section of societyas brain dead . And then to add insult to injury, he advises them that if they dont like his diagnosis, they can get out of the country because theyre not wanted and they wont be missed.

Im not saying that Christians need to buy wholesale into the seeker sensitive movement, but isnt this a bit much?

And just so were clear, Hagee and his church (Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas) are not a fringe group like Westboro Baptist, that club of forty misanthropes in Topeka, Kansas who picket everything on behalf of the wrath of God. Cornerstone Church is in the mainstream of North American Christianity with more than 20,000 people in weekly attendance. Hagees sermons are televised around the world, he regularly appears on Christian and secular media outlets, and several of his books have topped the New York Times Bestseller list. So his opinions matter, and if Hagee thinks atheists are brain dead, you can bet other Christians do as well.

Gods not dead. But the atheist professor is

Okay, so Hagees clearly a mover and a shaker and he believes atheists are basically dullards. But could it be that his views on atheism are idiosyncratic, and thus not representative of mainstream Christian views?

That is certainly possible. However, the evidence instead suggests to the contrary that Hagees hostility is representative of the conservative Christian mainstream. Just consider the 2014 film Gods Not Dead , which centers on the intellectual duel between a young Christian student and his atheistic philosophy professor. Made on a shoestring budget of two million dollars, the movie went on to gross over sixty million dollars at the box office. And its amazing run of success has continued on DVD: as of late October, 2014 (a mere three months after its release to DVD) it had garnered over 3,000 reviews on Amazon.com with an impressive average 4 stars rating. Bottom line: this movie was a formidable mainstream box office success which was buoyed to those heights by legions of Christian movie goers. So how does it depict atheists?

The picture isnt pretty. The story focuses on the confrontation between atheist philosophy professor Jeffery Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) and a young evangelical Christian student named Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper). On the first day of class Professor Radisson directs all the students to write God is dead, Nietzsches infamous declaration, on a sheet of paper. Only one student, young Josh, refuses to do so. Radisson is outraged at the young mans intransigence. And so as punishment he demands that Josh defend Gods existence in front of the class over the next three sessions.

Josh takes up the challenge. Despite the fact that he is merely a freshman facing the overwhelming first semester of university, he still manages to prepare and deliver a sequence of presentations defending Gods existence (replete with animation and graphics) which is so sophisticated and polished that it could impress any TED talk audience. There is no question about who wins this debate. At the end of Joshs three lectures, his fellow students all stand, one after another, to declare him the clear winner over Professor Radisson. Although all eighty of these students had declared that God is dead only three classes before, now every one of them apparently believes God exists.

The starkness of the outcome raises an important question: if the evidence for God is really this overwhelming , then why is Professor Radisson an atheist in the first place? That question is answered at one point in the film when Radisson dramatically reveals that he is deeply angry at God for allowing his mother to die when he was twelve. In other words, Radissons unbelief is not an intellectual position. Instead, his sophisticated philosophical atheism is really just a veneer for a deeply-seated anger at God. The film provides a particularly insightful glimpse into that rebellious character when Radisson meets Josh in the hallway and snarls, There is a god, and Im him . It would seem that Radisson needs to be in charge. No wonder hes got a God problem.

Near the end of the movie seemingly everybody in town converges on a Newsboys concert during which the lead singer, Michael Tait, instructs the audience to send a text declaring Gods not dead to all their phone contacts in honor of the young freshman who humiliated the atheist philosophy professor. (Apparently word of Joshs stunning victory has gotten around.)

At the same time that the audience is dutifully texting out the message, Professor Radisson is hit by a car while crossing the street. Two Christians immediately appear on the scene and inform Radisson that he is about to die. Not surprisingly, Professor Radisson does die (presumably because the plot requires it), but not before he has a deathbed conversion to Christianity. Just after he enters eternity, his phone buzzes with a text from one of his concert-going contacts: Gods not dead.

Right! Gods not dead. But the one-time atheist professor now is. Get it?! Oh the irony. The entire scenario is a clear riff off the familiar pun:

God is deadNietzsche Nietzsche is deadGod

Just replace Nietzsche with Radisson. Nudge nudge, wink wink.

To sum up, with the character of Professor Radisson Gods Not Dead portrays atheism as borne of angry rebellion at God and in direct opposition to the overwhelming evidence for Gods existence. What is more, Radisson illustrates how atheists aim to suppress the views of others and how they are apt to abandon their skepticism toward God when faced with their own mortality, thereby revealing their atheism as intellectually dishonest.

Like I said, the picture isnt pretty.