In the interest of disclosure, I am a ardent follower of Christ and believe in the Father God Creator of the universe and beyond. I make a good living advising people smarter and more powerful than me, and on a volunteer basis, I help pastor a small church in Atlanta that shares many of the common beliefs of Pastor Matt Barnett and his church, featured in your article.
I am an avid reader with an unquenchable curiosity for knowledge - knowledge and wisdom that is. This combination has the added benefit of providing me with lot's of sermon material, which brings me to your cover story article, The Church of Non-Believers.
At first, as I began reading, I was concerned with the militaristic tone of the aethists you featured, particularly Mr. Harris. Aside from the typical elitism and narcissistic tendencies I would expect from most atheists, he also sounded maniacal and despotic to me; in the clinical kind of way that would make me look over my shoulder if he were around.
In any event, as I continued to read my concern was mitigated by a sense of pity for these men - all of them. While I am sure your intention was not to portray them in this manner, it became obvious that their quest was to find some semblance of significance in their lives, shackled by a constraining, one dimensional intellect that lacked any sense of poetic and inspiring wonder - how sad!
Poetic wonder aside for a moment, while an unabashed believer of the supernatural and mysterious wonder of God, I do not take a second seat to any atheist in the area of "logic." However, to engage in debate with Harris, et al., seems somewhat futile because of an obvious lack of intellectual honesty. For example, to billboard all the evils of religion and even religious thought - and prophesy a coming end to civiliatization if we don't annihilate all such belief - without also putting onto the balance scales all the good deeds done in the name of religion is unscientific and, thus, illogical (not to mention dishonest). You could also say it is unbalanced. They are closed minded with pre-determined objectives.
Back to poetic wonder, my small church of fewer than 50 people just raised over $7,500.00 to send 50,000 lbs. of clothing to Kenya; which will clothe 1,000 impoverished Kenyans. We did so in the supernatural name of Christ. This act of kindness, similarly repeated thousands and thousands of times daily all of the world, would not even be conceivable - or at least would be be severely limited - by the uninspiring boundaries of the one-dimensional intellect of Mr. Harris and his co-conspirators. Even the most simpleton theologians will acknowledge that evil is often done cloaked in religion. But, did we start throwing the baby out with the bath water - or the dirty diaper? No, we change the bath water and the diaper - "stenchy" as it is - over and over and over again, until wondrously and poetically, the baby begins to grow up and gain self-control. The wonder is in the incremental process of growing up and the nurturing process of improvement and maturity - day after day. For those of us who are grown up, and who make mistakes and cause harm from time to time, this nurturing process is called discipleship by us Christian supernatural types - and it is especially difficult and unscientific, but it does produce extraordinary things sometimes, like the end of slavery in America.
Anytime humans are added to any equation, corruption sets in, requiring constant nurturing and correction to overcome the corruption. Do you notice the absence of nurturing in the cult of atheism? There isn't a "scientific" formula for it, and hence all you get from atheism is a sterile, unimaginative, unpoetic and cold by-product. And, it is a product with a very low common denominator, indeed; clearly enunciated by Mr. Harris' declaration that 'nothing is more natural than rape.' I will try not to take his assertion out of context with my parishioners, giving him the benefit of his "primitive" nature - but, it is not mine sir.
In his limited thinking, Harris presupposes that his intelligentsia would provide civil boundaries to prevent naturalistic rape and other non-compatible things. Have you ever been in a room with a handful of these elitists and tried to gain some consensus beyond hate and skepticism(I guess you have)? One would hope they would be more effective than their ancient contemporaries in regulating the boundaries, i.e., Caligula, Nero for example, who also hated religion and religious thought. That does beg the question, though. Who are their ancient heros who positively impacted the world, or even science? Do they have a successful historical model anywhere to point to? Please, bring them forward for us to consider their merits and compare them with our heros and models. Surely, after thousands of years there would be some sustainable proof of concept or do they fancy themselves as pioneers? Forgive my cynicism at this point; my intolerance for the dishonesty, arrogance and stupidity of idiots cloaking themselves behind "science" and trying to get their 15 minutes is sometimes "un-Christian."
The fact is these men are the real Charlatans and their snake oil - repackaged from ancient ash heaps - will eventually end back up on the ash heap of failed philosophies. Notice I did not say, "the ash heap of failed science"? It does not rise to that level. These men are not real scientists; if so, they would never shirk away from the required task of providing proof that God does not exist, or from proving evolution to be true beyond a reasonable doubt with complete fossil record, etc.; even Darwin did not shirk away from that, but left it to our generation to prove --- oh gosh, we have not found those missing items yet have we? Shucks, there goes my cynical side again. Anyway, it is pure philosophical musing to justify self obsessions. Ain't nothing new here!
On a final note, of course we are pre-disposed to be natural believers. A bit of poetry, "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Romans 1:20). I am glad Mr. Wolf did not join the cultists. I believe there is some poetry in his soul and it wants to get out.
Gerry PurcellAtlanta, GA
