Is it reasonable for atheists to ask Evangelicals for their supernatural claims? I listen to YouTube shows such as The Atheist Experience, Talk Heathen, The Hang-Up with Matt Dillahunty, Skeptalk, and The Sunday Show. The hosts of these shows ask theists of all stripes to call in and share with them what they believe and why. This is a Biblical approach, even if the hosts are atheists and agnostics. The Bible says in I Peter: But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. When unbelievers ask Christians why they believe what they do, they should be ready and willing to share the truth with them. When asked for evidence for their beliefs, Christians have a duty to provide it. Most cannot or will not do so, choosing to “live and let live” Evangelicals, in particular, are challenged to share their faith with the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world. Most don’t, but those who do are largely ill-prepared to handle the hard questions asked by skeptics.
Many Evangelicals think, when asked for evidence for their religious claims, that Bible verses are “evidence.” Is the Bible evidence for claims such as the existence of the triune God, the virgin birth of Jesus, his resurrection from the dead, and the plethora of miracles attributed to Jesus? Is the Bible evidence for claims such as a six-day creation, the existence of Adam and Eve, Noah’s flood, and notable people such as Moses? No. The Bible is a book of claims. Just because the Bible says something doesn’t mean it’s true. Sadly, countless Evangelicals, including college-trained preachers, either don’t understand this or refuse to accept it. They think by quoting one or more Bible verses that they have provided evidence for their claims. That’s not how it works. If that was not the case, I could prove Hogwarts exists simply by quoting passages from one or more of the Harry Potter books. In no other realm except religion do we accept claims without evidence. If Evangelicals want non-believers to accept and believe their claims, they MUST do more than quote chapter and verse.
The real issue here is that Evangelicals want to be viewed as rational, scientific people, so they attempt to “prove” their beliefs to unbelievers. Scores of apologetics ministries have cropped up, each, allegedly, giving rational, evidence-based defenses of Christianity. Unbelievers are rarely swayed by their arguments. I’ve concluded that these ministries exist, not to reach unbelievers, but to make Evangelicals feel good about what they believe. As science continues to push the Bible God to the margins of human experience, believers have harder time defending their beliefs — especially Evangelicals who are presuppositionally committed to Bible literalism and the inerrancy/infallibility of the sixty-six books of the Protestant Christian Bible. Numerous Evangelicals have called the shows I mentioned above to defend all sorts of things such as rape, misogyny, genocide, and slavery — to name a few abominable “Biblical” behaviors. Instead of admitting the Bible records things that are now considered immoral, and even criminal, these defenders of God’s name go to absurd lengths to keep God — who, according to them wrote the Bible — from looking bad. As I have said before, God has a PR problem.
Christianity is better served if believers retreat to their houses of faith. After all, doesn’t the Bible say that the foundation of Christianity is faith, and not evidence? In fact, a better approach to reaching people for Christ might be to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind, and to love their neighbors as they love themselves. Maybe the best evidence for transformative faith is good works. Sadly, most of what unbelievers see and experience from Evangelicals is anything but “good.” Eighty percent of Evangelicals voted for Donald Trump three times. Their “works” tell us everything we need to know about their faith. Think of the behavior of Evangelicals such as Dr. David Tee, Revival Fires, Steve Ransom, Danny Campbell, John, Steve, and countless others on this site. Does anything in their behavior remotely suggest that the Jesus they allegedly follow is one any of us would want to worship? I think not. When called out on their behavior, they deflect, defend, and attack instead of repenting and doing a better job representing the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Very good points, Bruce as always.
I can try to argue religion all day, but in the end my personal belief is just that, based on my own singular life experiences. Everyone experiences life differently. I hope my own feedback from time to time on this topic is appropriate- I would advise a person to seek for themselves, and do not fear where your journey takes you. If you believe in a higher power (“God”), then that deity will know if you are being a bullshit artist. I recently posted about my own internal struggle with my current faith. I’m still working through that. I greatly appreciate the fact that I can read and post on your page.
Talk is cheap. I like the book of James on this matter- show me your faith by your works (I’m paraphrasing). I take this further to say, show me what is within your heart by how you treat people, especially those who are different from you, who disagree with you, who are marginalized by those from your same faith group. Show me that you’re willing to practice your personal faith but you know when to step out of that boundary and be decent and kind to someone because it is simply the right way to behave towards a fellow human being, and not for the ulterior motive of trying to convert them to your way of thinking.
I believe the Dalai Lama may have said, “The world would be a much better place if people stopped trying to make other people change their religion”, or something along those lines.
Not a perfect quote, but it captures the idea of “you do you”.
I hope this made sense.
This issue of evidence is a huge problem for believers, to the extent that most either sit back in their bubble and content themselves with the thought that surely those great apologists have their back, or else just accept that faith is faith, and don’t look too closely at the arguments.
The YouTube phone in shows are plain embarrassing. Matt Dillahunty is just too abrasive for the show, and dominates his respective partners far too much (with some small exceptions, such as the excellent Forrest Valkai and Seth Andrews). No caller ever succeeds, except on the rare occasions they are very accommodating and seemingly receptive to change. It’s clear from these shows alone that the evidence isn’t there. It can’t be. If it were then genuine apologists would phone in (Ray Comfort did once and got his ass kicked), but they don’t because they know they’d be exposed to humiliation. Where the shows have been helpful is in refining atheist approaches to some of the supposedly ‘gotcha’ arguments, something that the presenters themselves seem to have matured into.
It may be reasonable to challenge the devout but it’s probably unkind or at least rude arrogant busybody troublemaking behavior. Do it with kindness if you must has a good ring to it. I personally don’t challenge devout people un-invited. I’ve thoughtlessly tampered in someone’s life causing them to lose their emotional balance. It was not dramatic but obvious. My default now, is to avoid questioning anyone’s deeply held beliefs.
God is indeed being pushed further to the margins, as Bruce says. But the more marginal he becomes–i.e., the less evidence there is for his existence or any claim in the Bible–the more fervently believers will push back, to the point of inflicting harm on others simply because they don’t agree.
Most Christians ignore hard facts for two reasons:
1. They don’t want to lose their families and friends who.
2. Worries about hell.
Fear always rules. Not logic.
Funny thing is, a steeped-in-the-Bible relative sought to get me back on the straight and narrow when I kept asking logical and disturbing questions about scripture contradictions.
My mother raised me on the Bible, so I was very familiar with it and used it to make my points.
Finally, this relative, who said that the Bible was our only source for truth, raised their hands in the air and exclaimed, “I can’t get anywhere with you, because you always support what you say with the Bible.”
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