Evangelical Atheists

Do you ever notice the folks who espouse tolerance never actually practice it?

As a general disclaimer, I don't believe in tolerance. To tolerate something is to endure or permit (not resist) the action (of a drug or food) without side effects/discomfort or put up with something less than ideal. It's putting up with stuff! It's not reaching towards perfection but instead accepting and yearning for less than perfect. Honestly does that make sense to anyone? People really get excited about that? What kind of people have we become that this is the great ideal?

Shouldn't we reach for excellence? Shouldn't we shoot for the moon because even if we miss we'll end up among the stars?We shouldn't tolerate illiteracy, poverty, injustices or evil. We sometimes disagree on what is evil. We paint broad strokes on what is evil and what is not. The devil's in the details. Yes he is! He'll confuse you blind until you can't tell what is right or wrong because it's under the beautiful guise of tolerance.

I find it funny that women who disagree with the thought of God being referred to as "He or Father", never once complain about referring to the devil as "he" but I digress. My whole purpose on introducing the tolerance topic is that the same people that espouse tolerance certainly can't practice it.

I travel a lot and I eat a lot, typically out. I enjoy meals. I love to plan my next meal as I'm enjoying my current meal. It's a small joy of mine. When I eat, regardless of my location, I pray. I make the sign of the cross and say my silent request to God, thanking him for the food, for my family for the company that joins me for my meal and for all the good things he's done for me. I ask him to bless all those around me and then I eat. I've grown accustomed to this pre-meal ritual of bowing my head and taking a moment in silence to orient myself to the greatest good. In my travels I ran across an evangelical atheist who took exception to my pre-meal silent ritual. I was immediately outed as a Christian and my denomination had to be known. I explained my faith was not a denomination. (Catholicism is not a denomination but just about everything else is because at some point other Christians broke from the Catholic church and thus making those religions denominations.) I was then blamed from everything from Pope Pius XII's outright assistance to the nazi's - lies(all of them) to the existence of Jesus and the evil and vicissitudes of the Pope. I listened quite politely, refraining from partaking of my grilled eggplant and proceeded to agree to disagree. I apologized that this was their thought on the matters but oh no, it wasn't over. It was only the beginning. The berating continued through dinner, dessert, taxi and I thanked God we were going separate ways after that but it resumed again the following day during the meeting breaks.

You make one little sign of the cross and try to thank God and the next thing you know, someone who professed to tolerate just about anything couldn't tolerate my reverence and love of God. For my part I was quite happy actually to sit there and delay my meal in order to be berated. That's the mark of the Christian. It's not that we are right or that we argue better or that we know more, or have more. It's that we love our neighbor even when our neighbor says or does disparaging things about our faith or mocks our faith.

Year of Faith: Is there a God or isn't there?

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen (Heb11:1).

We will celebrate the Year of Faith starting in October 2012 and I was thinking just yesterday, let me assume for a moment, that the Christopher Hitchens' of the world are correct, there is no God, there is no hell, there is nothing and God is a myth.

If there is no God, then my time at prayer is pointless (as filling, peaceful and consoling as it may be at times) and has no purpose. If that's the case then I lose nothing, because there is nothing to lose except time and let's be honest we waste loads of time on a plethora of worthless pursuits. I gain nothing, because there is nothing to gain (other than the feel good's or insights that I may occasionally derive from my wasted time).

If on the other hand, the Hitchen's of the world are indeed wrong, then not only do I win, but I win big. My faith is justified. I've tried to live my life oriented toward the perfect good, a compass so to speak. My compass is God. God's goodness sets a standard defining good and evil giving me an opportunity to orient myself. I can also choose not to orient myself, my choice but that compass doesn't move.

I think sometimes the Hitchens' of the world assume Christians never once pondered that thought. I ponder it quite often. The year of faith will however give us another opportunity for unity, especially among my atheist brothers and sisters. Perhaps we share the same compass and just call them by different names.