Atheists Whose Deepest Yearning is to Be Wrong
John Allen's All Things Catholic just came out and is dedicated to the remarkable relationship between the famously atheistic Oriana Fallaci and the Catholic Church.
It's all fascinating but two quotes in particular struck me as fodder for a larger discussion:
Allen begins:
"Conventional wisdom has it, "There are no atheists in foxholes." In truth, atheists can be found even in foxholes, but often they're atheists whose deepest yearning is to be wrong."
And continues with a long passage from the man whom Fallaci asked to be at her side as she died: Bishop Rino Fisichella, rector of the Lateran University in Rome:
During those days, a phrase came into my mind from the posthumously published book of Ignazio Silone called Severina. The protagonist is a sister who had left the convent, who is now dying from a wound she received during a protest. At a certain point, one of the sisters from the convent comes to her deathbed and takes her hand, saying, 'Severina, Severina, tell me that you believe!' Severina looks at her and says, 'No, but I hope.' I believe we Christians have a great responsibility to talk about our faith with the language of hope. Quite often, people won't understand us when we talk about the content of our faith. But without doubt, people of today can understand when we talk about hope, if we talk about the mystery of our existence and the meaning of our lives …
Post-modern people are much more intrigued by our hope than our doctrine. Until our existential hope, our serenity, our wholeness, our love, our sanctity is visible, they won't listen to our propositions.
How can we live in such a way that atheists who long to be wrong find in us a compelling reason to doubt their conclusions about the universe and the one who holds it in being?
posted by Sherry W @ 8:42 AM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
Faith and hope are both theological virtues, (but the greatest is love). As theological virtues, they are instilled from God, and cannot be gained through human effort, but will be gained with human co-operation.So there is a difference between Faith (given by God) and belief (I know/have reasoned that this is true,,,).Nevertheless, Faith and Reason do not contradict. They are rather two wings to the same "airplane," and when one wing is missing, one can never reach the height of truth. (I do not quote JPII, Fides et Ratio, here, because I wish to emphasize the truth of what he said rather than who said it).another cool nuance here is how even the Atheists long for God. That is so true. Every culture known to mankind has manifested the religious impulse. Further, one can see the religious nature of people in our conscience: do good and avoid evil.
In a nutshell, you can't. And I don't think that's really your place.
People are atheists for the same reason that others are deists - it works for them. Trying to make it not work for them is not only disrespectful, but actively adversarial. It seems to me, what people can do for each other is be there with an alternative when someone's current belief system stops working for them.
If evangelization was about "changing peoples minds" - that would be a hopeless cause. It would be just as effective as the polemical debates between Republicans and Democrats in Congress. They don't change one another's minds in debate (I don't know how many Democrats have turned Republican and vice versa - as a result of debates - but I would gues few...).
Rather we can and we must witness to atheists. To evangelize, in the proper sense, is to love. Its not about me telling you about doctrine - but its about me sharing with you a great joy! I think the Pope shares this view of evangelization:
In his first public interview after having been elected Pope, he summarized his deepest wish, both for young people and for the entire world:
“I want them to understand that it is beautiful to be a Christian! The generally prevailing idea is that Christians have to observe an immense number of commandments, prohibitions, precepts, and other such restrictions, so that Christianity is a heavy and oppressive way of living, and it would therefore be more liberating to live without all these burdens. But I would like to make it clear that to be sustained by this great Love and God’s sublime revelation is not a burden, but rather a set of wings – that it is truly beautiful to be a Christian. It is an experience that gives us room to breathe and move, but most of all, it places us within a community since, as Christians, we are never alone: first of all, there is God, who is always with us; secondly, we are always forming a great community among ourselves: a community of people together on a journey, a community with a project for the future. All of this means that we are empowered to live a life worth living. This is the joy of being a Christian; that it is beautiful and right to believe!”
Absolutely, being a Christian is a "set of wings" - not because I'm trying to forward an argument - but it just is so - in my own life - and I must share that with others - because so many live without these wings - or even the hope of eternal life.
Lord, help us live with joy for you and be a light to all those we encounter! Amen.
Aaron, I think atheism and Christian faith are embraced for more reasons than simply, "It works for them." I'll grant you that that seems to be the case for some Christians, particularly those who are 'culturally' Christian. Oh, and I'm intentionally using Christian, instead of deist, because it is Christians that I'm more familiar with than generic deists.
But some Christians are so because they've had an encounter which transcends their ordinary human experience and which has changed their lives. It is an experience of "otherness" that is at the same time personal and best expressed as Love.
But the choice to believe doesn't "work" for the believer. Often it leads the believer to do things that appear to be foolish to others, not in one's best interest, and contrary to what we think of as common sense.
Be a friend to an atheist. That doesn't mean: go out and get a token atheist in your life. It means: be willing to spend alot of time practicing the virtues of your faith with them instead of explaining your faith to them. If the atheist can respect the fact that you a Christian, then a friendship is certainly possible. Friendships play a huge role in our personal development.
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