I’ve spent quite a bit of time reading books about the new atheism that seems to be taking root and growing, especially among those that are university educated. Two of the popular leaders of the new atheism are Richard Dawkins who wrote The God Delusion and Christopher Hitchens who wrote god Is Not Great. I would like to suggest that anyone who reads these books and is honestly looking for a writer from the other side that is their equal or better in educational background and intellect read Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Lewis doesn’t write with their anger and sarcasm, but his ideas are powerful. Lewis was an atheist for a good portion of his life and only became a theist and later a Christian reluctantly.
Much of what Dawkins and Hitchens object to is the evil that has been done and is being done in the name of religion. They are angry about injustice and the hypocrisy of those who say they believe in God and yet practice various forms of evil. Let’s explore something Lewis wrote: “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. Of course I could have given up my idea of justice by saying it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too — for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist — in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless—I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality — namely my idea of justice — was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.” C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity Book II, Chapter 1
I have been a youth director and pastor for 35 years. I became a follower of Christ when I was 21, having been raised in the church by Christian parents and believing in God, but not wanting to follow Christ. My life changed a lot when I began to try to follow what Jesus taught, but I’m not perfect and made a lot of mistakes. Faith in God has made me better than I was and has also driven me to despair at times when I’ve seen my failings a little too clearly. My imperfections and the failings of all who believe in some kind of God, are one of the signs that the new atheists point to in trying to discredit theism. Yet Lewis argues that in pointing to injustice and hypocrisy, Dawkins and Hitchens defeat themselves. Why should we believe in the goodness of justice over against the goodness of survival of the fittest? Why is it better that the rich help the poor when we know that they will bring more poor people into the world and increase the quantity of suffering in the world? Does the idea of justice begin and end in the human brain, or does it point beyond itself?
And then let’s go a little further to love and forgiveness. Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to forgive others as he has forgiven us. Without forgiveness, without love, we are doomed to inflict justice on each other until we are all destroyed. If justice points us beyond ourselves, then don’t love and forgiveness also point to transcendence? It appears to me that human beings find their highest fulfillment in giving and receiving love. In love we find joy. I can’t see how this could be our purpose without there being a Creator. So I agree with many of the criticisms of the new atheist against religion, but think that the Bible has a better reason for human evil. Humanity rebelled against God and has been fighting him ever since. Christ came so that we could have peace.
