A REASONING FAITH
Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion says that Christian Faith is non-thinking. He believes religion was responsible for the 9/11 bombings. "Get rid of God and all religions, and you will have peace on earth."
Atheists buy into the thought that the natural sciences have displaced God. Atheists would argue for the non-existence of God, and that God’s non-existence is a fact. Belief in God is by faith. Christianity is about faith and atheism is about fact.
Here’s how a conversation might go between a believer and an atheist according to Alister McGrath, professor of theological history at Oxford University, in the book, Beyond Opinion, Living the Faith We Defend, by Ravi Zacharias. McGrath says the conversation might go like this:
Atheist: There is no God!
Christian: Are you sure about that? Can you prove that?
Atheist: I don’t need to! It’s obvious.
Christian: Well, humor me. Prove it!
Atheist: Well, I can’t prove it with total certainty. But it’s the best option.
Christian: I see. So what you are saying is that you can’t prove that there is no God --- but that you believe in the nonexistence of god is the most likely option.
Atheist: That’s right.
Christian: So atheism is a belief, then.
When your faith is challenged, and it will be, you need to know what you believe and why you believe it.
Source: Ray Ellis, "A Reasoning Faith" 3/2/2009.