Apologetics and the New Atheism

Why Transcendent Faith Should Not Lay Down in the Face of One of Our Fastest Growing Cultural Trends

I write this as an ordained United Church of Christ Minister, as a contemplative, and a student of world religions. Any person of faith worth their salt ought to be concerned about the rise of the so called “New Atheism” on the rise in the US and Europe. Atheism is indeed one of the fastest cultural trends of our era. Richard Dawkins’ work in the advancement of the New Atheism deserves the spotlight because he is the most vociferous of her proponents. Though there is much to be admired about Richard Dawkins’ contributions to the advance of science, his prolific mind and his “evangelical” spirit, his assessment of faith as revolving around some sort of deistic creator propagated by a mental virus, misses the main point of most world religions. The main idea of most faith is not that you have to believe in “this guy or that guy” but that there is a wider mystery to the universe that invokes praise and empathy for those inhabiting her. This is good for the continuing evolution of Homo Sapiens.

As a tradent of my own Christian tradition which finds its roots in the early English Reformation and was brought to flower by the likes of John Robinson (d. 1615) and Henry Ward Beecher, the kind of God described by Dawkins and many of his colleagues does not exist. While I’m sure many children in my Sunday School envision God as some kind of bearded guy in the sky, an educated reader of scripture soon realizes that the one God witnessed to by Abraham or Moses is without image or personhood; that the Trinity confessed by Christians is merely a descriptive lampshade around an indescribable light; that the chief goal of a Christian is not to bludgeon the world into submission, but to witness to the good news to the dignity of the human spirit and the cosmos. True, we have our fare share of skeletons in our closet, and yet our view of the gospel of Christ has put us in the forefront of the establishment of democracy, public schools, the abolition movement, the social gospel movement, the civil rights movement, the gay rights movement and concern over the phenomena of global warming.

Just as the scientific method helps a scientist think past the blinders of her assumption, so too does the more mystical dimension of faith enable people to look past the blinders of prejudice and hatred. Christ told us much of love of the other- even the outcast- even our enemy. I spend time each week counseling abuse victims and helping them to find justice and praying with those in deep grief or great joy. Being a prayerful listening presence helps us to not become blinded by despair or celebration and to always have a greater appreciation of the truth and universality of experience. Each week I write sermons to help people become more loving and compassionate. I have helped communities explore racial, class, or orientation prejudice and vote on becoming open and affirming of all people regardless of race, class, or sexual orientation. Sometimes I take a stand in the legislature as a minister to develop innocence commissions, or to put an end to the overreach of the Department of Immigration. I motivate people, not on the grounds of the grander theological claims of my particular faith, but on the great mystery of God and the simple, ethical teachings of Christ and the shoulders of the great truth telling prophetic tradition on which he stands. I’m not sure I would be as motivational if I were speaking only in the terms of the “selfish gene” as described by Dawkins in his early work.

But this is merely the public dimension of faith. Privately, as a practitioner of contemplative prayer, I devote time each day sitting with the bare and indescribable mystery of God. Double blind scientific studies conducted by the UMASS Medical Center conclude that contemplative prayer and meditation stimulates the area of the brain responsible for empathy. More current research suggests that it may even inhibit harmful diseases from being “turned on” in our DNA. But this is just the icing on the cake. The real fruits of contemplative prayer come into being by the simple action of focusing on the divine mystery in the breath or sacred word. In the hard work of this practice, one becomes more aware of toxic thoughts and distracting voices or impulses generated in the static of consciousness. As this awareness develops, one also develops a greater appreciation for compassion and beauty found not only on the mountain top of life, but also in the ordinary plains and sometimes valleys of the human experience. If one is a scientist, one becomes more thorough and thoughtful, if one is cabinet maker one becomes more careful and skillful, as a teacher, psychologist, minister, rabbi or doctor one becomes more present to the other and more capable of care.

This kind of spiritual practice exists not only in the tradition of Christ brought to flower in the third and fourth centuries, but also in large swaths of the Islamic Sufi tradition, the Cabalist Jewish tradition, the Vedantic tradition of Hinduism, many veins of the Buddhist tradition, as well as Native American and Sub-Saharan indigenous traditions. In my own monthly contemplative prayer group, some people are Jewish, others Catholic some are Sufi, others Buddhist and there is not an ounce of contention or argument. My brother and sister are self described “Quranic Sufis” and we sit down together in quiet prayer. Afterward we often share the insights and wonder described in the vocabulary of our own tradition.

In truth, I am as critical as Dawkins of the literalist and fundamentalist tradition or religion; religious bigotry has indeed the potential to destroy all things lovely. However, whereas he sees this tradition as an outgrowth on rotten roots, I see the roots as deep, strong and necessary. Though I would lay down my life to defend the rights of someone who chose not to believe, wonder and joy of the cosmos inspired by the Divine Mystery is a helpful thing. Greater awareness of the more distracting narratives of the self coupled with greater compassion for others is critical for society. Let’s be honest, an appreciation of the great mystery of the transcendent and imminent beyond has been helpful to the human species, not a hinderance.