Atheism Remix r. Albert mohler jr. The New Atheism Atheism Remix r. Albert mohler jr.

Atheism is Not A New Concept David said in the Psalms: “The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God" They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good” (Psa 14: 1) As a worldview, atheism is overrepresented among the intellectual elites

The New Atheists They are in their own way: Evangelistic in intent Ambitious in hope They see Atheism as the only reasonable worldview for our times

The New Atheists For them: Religion = Organized Ignorance Theistic beliefs lead to violence, while atheism is liberation Belief in God= Artefact (Object) of the Past that we can no longer afford to tolerate New Atheism = Revolution where its most important audience is the young

A Challenge to Christianity Atheism has long had a niche audience, but it has now become a mass phenomenon in terms of publishing and media attention It is a significant challenge that demands our closest attention

Four Horsemen of The Modern Apocalypse (Late 19th Century) 1- Friedrich Nietzsche In his book “The Gay Science” , he declared flatly and celebrated the death of God. In his book “The Anti- Christ” , he referred to Christians as the domestic animal, the herd animal, the sick animal 2- Karl Marx Religion is the Opiate of the Masses

Four Horsemen of The Modern Apocalypse (Late 19th Century) 3- Charles Darwin “The Descent of Man” - 1859 4- Sigmund Freud Religion is merely an illusion that would eventually pass away

Evil as A Catalyst In the twentieth century, the holocaust along with other tragedies became the great cause of atheism Evil became a catalyst for a form of atheism that argues that if there is a God, he cannot be a God like this. If this is God, then there is no God.

If God is God, He is not good. If God is good, He is not God

Secularization Theory (Irreligious Theory) What we see in the rise of the new atheism is the endgame of secularism. Lying behind secularization theory were two great assumptions: 1- Theism is basically an inherited belief that is necessary to provide meaning, coherence & comfort (No longer needed, as people find other sources of comfort and meaning in life) 2- Forms of Religious Belief were supported by the acknowledgment of its social functions (Education, Technology & Breaks with traditions that came with modernity would lead to a massive loss of belief)

Secularization Theory (Irreligious Theory) History was driving the utter removal of belief in God Belief in God was a part of prehistory, a part of the intellectual infancy of humanity - as per Nietzsche –but as humanity has now come of age, belief in God is no longer necessary. Freud put it this way: “ The more the fruits of knowledge become accessible to men, the more widespread is the decline of religious belief.

Six Aspects of Secularization Differentiation: Between religious subjects and other life subjects Institutional: Hospitals & Universities are no more Christian Activities (Education): Not anymore done by churches Mentalities & Worldviews should be secularized Secularized Identity & Belief: I am not Christian in Europe – Separation from the Christian Heritage Secularization of Religion, the attempt to accommodate Theology to a secularized world

Impact of Secularization Western Europe followed the theory perfectly, rates of church going is around 1 to 5 percent of the population, fewer than 10 percent of these populations claim to believe in God The secularized global intellectuals, are in all nations a minority of the population, but a very influential one

Three Stages by Taylor Impossible not to believe (Medieval): Belief in God was absolutely necessary in order to make sense of the world, there was no other explanation that could explain all that human beings experienced. Possible not to believe (Enlightenment): The individual himself became the centre of meaning, and God became an object of study which one could take him or leave him

Three Stages by Taylor Impossible to believe(Intellectual Development): Now there are not only alternatives to the biblical worldview available, but these alternatives are declared to be superior

Conditions of Belief under which we now live Theism is not just something we have moved beyond, not just something we ought to put behind us as belonging to an infantile or adolescent period of human development. It is actually DANGEROUS, because people who believe in God are dangerous people who do dangerous things. They are deadly toxins within the culture.

Lord Have Mercy