Introduction
Since time, memorial discussions about how the world came into existence have never yielded a definitive answer because people believe in different things. Scientists believe that the world and everything in it evolved into what is seen today (Basso, 2020). On the other hand, religious beliefs of various kinds argue that supernatural powers or beings are behind the emergence and existence of the world (Clayton, 2018). The view of atheism and Christianity can provide an understanding of how differently people perceive how the world came to exist and its continued evolution. This paper intends to discuss the perceptions of Christians and the ‘new atheists’ and highlight lessons each group can learn from the other.
New Atheism
Atheism is the idea or belief that there is no God; in a broad sense, it is a rejection of any acceptance of the existence of deities. Though the first English term ‘atheist’ emerged in the early sixteenth century, historians argue that atheistic ideas and their influence existed before then (Williams, 2019). Atheism has since continued to evolve as the world diversifies. In 2006, Gary Wolf established the term New Atheism to describe an advanced position endorsed by various atheists of the twenty-first century, including Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett (Johnstone, 2018). New Atheism argues that superstition, religion, and irrationalism should not be tolerated.
New atheism strongly believes in the naturalist worldview and puts a great emphasis on the utilization of reason, rationality, and science as the only means of comprehending and interpreting reality. Atheists treat religious beliefs and doctrines as created by men to instill fear in people, and for this, they reject them because there is no sufficient evidence to support them (Fahs & Hussein, 2021).
New atheism additionally upholds that religion is not merely wrong but irrational, compulsive, and exclusively precarious. According to atheists, they stand against religion and supernaturalism because they promote beliefs and actions that accentuate cosmically designed guidelines, regulations, and ways of life (Fahs & Hussein, 2021). Atheism opines that religion promotes discrimination, violence, and disputes among people of different religious backgrounds. The above-mentioned reasons give atheists the basis to attack all forms of religious beliefs and advocate for a free mode of life. New atheism encourages people to live largely and enjoy life without regretting their actions.
Religion has greatly been known across the world, while atheism, though it has been in existence for quite a long, has not gained the kind of popularity religion has. The main goal of establishing new atheism was to separate churches from the state and campaign more on the recognition of atheists’ civic and legal rights (Cusack, 2018). Additionally, the founders of new atheism intended to normalize non-religious beliefs, change negative views on atheism, and convince people to accept atheism ideologies.
The atheists have even taken measures like the use of billboard advertisements to push their agenda. For instance, an advert in London in 2009 read, “There’s probably no god. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”) (Cusack, 2018). The campaigns were made to motivate followers to come out and join the movement. Moreover, atheism organizations’ purpose is to inspire the free expression of metaphysical perception among persons who reject faiths, denominations, and dogmatic beliefs and protect them from stigmatization, oppression, assassinations, insults, and humiliation.
Another important element that fueled the development of new atheism was the advancement in global media and communications, which took place in 1980, primarily due to the dramatic increase of the Internet. The former enabled atheist advocates to promote their ideas and critiques of religion without geographical barriers (Azak, 2018). Through the Internet or social platforms, the campaigners could push for their beliefs in the comfort of their houses while reaching a large base at the same time (Azak, 2018). The majority of the most popularly new atheist groups and opinion founders function predominantly, if not entirely, virtually.
Christianity
Christianity is the most widely practiced religion in the world, with more than 2 billion followers. The Christian belief centers on dogmas about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Kappelle, 2018). According to historians, Christianity started as a movement within Judaism during the first century C.E. During this period, the Jewish rabbi, presently known as Jesus of Nazareth, began a preaching ministry where he preached about the forthcoming Kingdom of God (Jackson-McCabe, 2020).
As documented in the Holy book, ‘the bible,’ Jesus selected a group of twelve Jewish disciples and many other followers who helped him preach the gospel (Matthew 10; Mark 3; Luke 6). Jesus led the disciples, and together, they ministered to the poor and outcasts in present-day Israel and Palestine. Around the year 33 C.E., Jesus was arrested and executed by the Roman governor. However, Jesus’ followers argued that he conquered death and rose on the third day (John 11). Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God who was sent on earth to live like normal men so that he could save.
Christians believe that Jesus came to the world to rekindle the relationship between man and God that was lost in the Garden of Eden as stipulated in the Bible (2 Corinthians 5; Romans 5; Colossians 1). As their conviction grew, they named Jesus the “Christ”— which means Messiah or Anointed One as per the prophecies of the Jewish Bible. The former was the source of the name “Jesus Christ” and led to Jesus’ supporters being referred to as “Christians.” The Christian religion, unlike atheism, believes in the existence of a supreme God who created heaven and earth. They are guided by the teaching of the Bible, which they believe to be the word of God that guides humanity.
Christians opine that God created the world and everything in it. The Bible even documents the events of the creation story and how God created everything in Six days and rested on the seventh day (Genesis 1). Christians argue that God is a supernatural being and that without Him, nothing exists. Christians view atheists as just people who have refused to acknowledge that God exists because they want to live in sin.
Christian living is guided by the word of God, which is written in the holy book, the Bible. It has the dos and don’ts of how to live once one receives Christ as his/her savior. The Bible also contains inspiration and bible stories that keep the believers encouraged to worship God. The Bible contains scriptures that promise Jesus’ followers that if they live by the word of God, they will have eternal life (John 5:24; John 3:16). Christians view atheism as one of the ways the devil uses to deviate them from the main goal of following Christ and achieving the main goal.
The word of God gives Christians hope that though their bodies die, they will resurrect in the second coming of Jesus (John 11:25-26). In addition to the word of God, Christians also have worship days where they meet and are reminded of the will of God in their lives. They believe that going to worship places gives them time to fellowship with other believers and get a chance to serve God in various capacities. Moreover, Christians also believe in the power of the name of Jesus (Ephesians 6:11-13). They believe that the name has the power to do mighty things in their lives, and so they pray in the name of Jesus (Ephesians 6:14-18). The aspects mentioned above have made Christianity the most popular and practiced religion in the world.
Lessons Christianity and Atheism Can Learn from Each Other
Comparing atheism with Christianity reveals that the two practices are the direct opposite of each other. Christianity was in existence way before atheism and has gained popularity across the globe, while atheism, though it has been around for quite a while, is still fighting to gain its place in the world. This might be because Christianity has a more defined structure of what it stands for, unlike atheism, which fights against the beliefs and behaviors of Christians. Atheism can learn more from Christianity in terms of establishing and defining what it stands for so that its followers know exactly what they are signing for.
Additionally, atheists focus more on demeaning religions instead of pushing their agendas. For instance, they have not come up with a new way of explaining why they believe there is no God; instead, they rely on what has already been done by science. The former makes their movement unauthentic. It would make more sense if atheist had their description of how the world and humanity began. Instead of focusing on what Christianity is doing wrong, atheism should focus on inventing its explanation so that its followers will have a good reason to follow it.
Moreover, atheists argue that religions, including Christianity, are irrational in their operations. It is hard for atheists to prove without reasonable doubt that Christians are not rational people. Given the fact that many people in the world are Christian, it is difficult to believe the world has as many irrational people as there are Christians globally. Instead, atheists should focus on telling their supporters how ration their perspective of the world is. This will be better than criticizing other movements’ rationality.
However, Christianity is the most practiced religion in the world. While atheism struggles to get followers, Christians can still learn something from atheists. Atheists make it clear that they do not believe in supernaturalism like God, whom Christians believe in, hence taking a firm stand on where they belong; on the other hand, many people ascribe to Christianity while they do not follow the Christian doctrines like living as per what the Bible says. This makes these Christians pretenders and not real followers of Christ. Perhaps Christians should emulate the new atheists in making a bold decision on what they believe in.
New atheism believes in world peace, and Christianity believes the same, however, different Christian denominations regularly conflict on ideas. Though they believe in the same God, are guided by the same Bible, and pray through the name of Jesus, most struggles are on how churches or places of worship are managed.
Christians can adopt a universal way of operation that is equal to every member who identifies with religion, just as atheists are united in their beliefs. Christians should, therefore, come up with standardized approaches to handling worship matters. However, the former might be hard to achieve, given the diversity of the Christian religion.
New atheism is very vocal against violence of any kind. One of the major issues with religions, including Christianity, is that most violent crimes and assaults in the world are committed by people who identify with a religion. To some extent, their claim is true because a majority of people incarcerated for violent crimes belong to various religions, including Christianity. According to the new atheism, Christians do not fully follow what the Bible teaches. The lesson Christianity can take from the atheism argument is that Christ’s followers should completely abide by the teachings of the Bible; if this were the case, the world would be a better place as Christianity is the largest religion in the world.
Conclusion
This study has shown that comparing Christianity with new atheism is like looking at two different worlds. Christianity is worldly known and practiced by many people internationally, while atheism has minimal followers. The study has also revealed that Christians are not ashamed of what they believe in, while many New atheists fear coming out. The former might be because Christianity is widely accepted and known for what it stands for, while new atheism is majorly known for speaking against other religions.
The investigation has shown that while atheism has a lot to do to establish what it stands for, Christianity also has a lot to do to ensure that its members fully practice their teachings. Though atheist believes that Christianity and other religions cage people, Christianity follows guidelines that are more similar to many legal laws that atheists have to follow; otherwise, they face legal consequences. More research needs to be conducted in regard to new atheism and other religions to get a clearer picture of the major differences.
References
Azak, U. (2018). Secularism and atheism in the Turkish public sphere. Turkish Policy Quarterly, 16(4), 57-73. Web.
Basso, L. (2020). The scientist and the revolutionary. In A Heterodox Marxist and His Century: Lelio Basso (pp. 186-197). Brill. Web.
Clayton, P. (2018). Religion and science: The basics. Routledge. Web.
Cusack, C. M. (2018). The Atheist bus campaign: Global manifestations and responses, edited by Steven Tomlins and Spencer Culham Bullivant, Leiden, Brill. Web.
Fahs, S., & Hussein, H. A. A. M. (2021). Differences in the Issue of “atheism” among the people of the world. International Multidisciplinary Journal of Pure Life (IMJPL), 8(26), 13-30. Web.
Jackson-McCabe, M. (2020). Jewish Christianity: The making of the Christianity-Judaism divide. Yale University Press.
Johnstone, N. (2018). The new atheism, myth, and history: The black legends of contemporary anti-religion (Vol. 90). Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. Web.
Kappelle, R. P. V. (2018). The new creation: Church history made accessible, relevant, and personal. WIPF and Stock Publishers. Web.
The Holy Bible, King James Version. Web.
Williams, P. S. (2019). Getting at Jesus: A comprehensive critique of neo-atheist nonsense about the Jesus of history. WIPF and Stock Publishers.