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This is an excellent post, Mr. Mclaren. I believe you are right. People look at the Religious Right and 9-11 and think, "Well, there you go. That proves how destructive religion is." But people like Bill Maher, Sam Harris, and Richard Dawkins take an extremely narrow view of religion, only seeing the bad and ignoring all the good. They are bigots. The solution Mr. Mclaren offers is a very good one. Let religious moderates and secular humanists WORK TOGETHER and combat the abuses of religious fundamentalism. I think the secular fundamentalism Harris, Maher, etc promote is simply counterproductive.

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Is the current atheism really about spiritual power and trying to wrest the moral high ground from religious leaders who haven't "walked their talk?" Many of the crazy and irrational behaviours that atheists find repellent amongst believers stem from believers egotistically identifying one's pet interpretations with "the Word of God".

The dirty infighting between the Young Earth Creationists that's torn them apart is one example. A certain Creationist leader has carved a fiefdom out for his own personal gain - as much as he claims it is for "God's glory" - and created a lot of bad-blood between him and his parent organisation. And is, in minature, is the cause of countless schisms and disputes between Churchs, time and time again.

Internecine conflict over "god's Truth" makes that truth seem somewhat hollow to outsiders, and has plagued Churches from the very beginning. Back in the 2nd Century an Elder named Marcion split the Church and for a time his teachings were the dominant form of Christianity. But Marcionism's power died with its originator, and faded out over the centuries. I wonder how many other schisms will outlast their leaders?

Mr. Mclaren,

To all atheists...God is real, and God is only love. It is understandable if your non-belief is based on what has been done by religions in God's name.

God sees no religion, just souls who have the choice to turn towards the Sacred light or away from it.

Since God hears the prayers of everyone, and responds to everyone, this world has almost 7 billion true prophets of God.

If your church or religion says there is only one true prophet of God, then it perpetuates a world of darkness, hate, and war.

Mr. Mclaren,

To all atheists...God is real, and God is only love. It is understandable if your non-belief is based on what has been done by religions in God's name.

God sees no religion, just souls who have the choice to turn towards the Sacred light or away from it.

Since God hears the prayers of everyone, and responds to everyone, this world has almost 7 billion true prophets of God.

If your church or religion says there is only one true prophet of God, then it perpetuates a world of darkness, hate, and war.

Mr. McLaren,
While I appreciate some of your points concerning certain failures of contemporary Christianity, I think you miss the point on atheism. Romans chapter one clearly teaches that men reject God not because of the failures of the church, but because their hearts are sinful and rebellious. Paul writes in vs. 18-22, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 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. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools." While good works and strong community have their place in evangelism, a Biblical approach to atheism must be centered on Scriptural teaching about sin, God's wrath, and His loving plan of salvation found only in Jesus Christ.

Mr. Mclaren,

While I'm sure that you sincerely believe in the platitudes you recite in this posting, I'm afraid that I would have to agree with Pam in the notion that "you miss the point." You say that "Where faith communities are helping people be formed in these qualities of character and daily living, it's hard not to believe in God", but my studies of the Christian faith over the centuries indicate that Christianity has a brutal, horrible record when it comes to tolerating other faith communities--Hindus, Native Americans, pagans, and so on--a record that had a strong part in making Christianity the largest religion in the world today. Even to this day, Christians are spending billions of dollars annually for the express purpose of converting other people to Christianity all over the world without a single thought as how such conversions cause damage and conflict within other faith communities. Tell me: how can Christians such as yourself insist on working with other faiths for a common good, when Christianity's position of power in today's world is grounded in centuries of intolerance of other faiths?

I don't agree with atheists often, but if religious communities don't take each other seriously, why should they?

Hi Bryan,

Thanks for your comments. I think what bugs me most about the Sam Harris crowd is it's (and his) incivility. Harris doesn't comprehend that he upsets people because of his mean spirit, not the strength of his arguments. Most of us who are comfortable with our faith have been through the arguments against God's existence and found them frail. For me, I'm really disappointed in Sam and the Dawkins gang because they simply resort to name calling and dump the elegance of science down the tube by modeling immaturity. That's not new either.

A bold, well integrated commitment to the Beatitudes needs to be promoted anew, and those among us who claim Jesus as their saviour would go a long way in quelling the shrill atheists by walking His talk.

Mike

I'm surprised that no one else commented on this one.

Boy, do you ever miss the point. I'm not an atheist because of corrupt religions, or because it's "too hard" to believe in God (whatever I may be, I'm not intellectually lazy). I'm an atheist because I see no evidence whatsoever for anything supernatural in the world. I have no fear of death (not that I'm in any hurry) and no psychological need to believe in life after death. I see that as the driving force behind religion, and I think it amounts to no more than wishful thinking.