Defending the faith in the 21st century

Dec 3, 2008
DAVID ETTINGER
Special to the Witness

ORLANDO (FBW)—Defending Christianity in today’s world is not nearly as simple as it was 50 years ago, Christian apologist Dinesh D’Souza said.

“We are told in Scripture to contend for our faith,” the

New York Times best-selling author told a crowd of about 1,500 at First Baptist Church in Orlando recently in a message he called, “What Is So Great About Christianity,” which is also the title of his bestseller.

“What that means is that we should not be surprised if we encounter some resistance and opposition,” D’Souza said.

You can pretty much consider that word “some” an understatement.

“Fifty years ago in America, we lived in a society where Christian assumptions were largely taken for granted,” said D’Souza, who grew up in Bombay, India, and moved to the U.S. when he was 17. “Even someone who wasn’t a believer might accept the authority of the Ten Commandments and that Jesus was a great, moral teacher.”

But we are no longer living in the 1950s.

“Today, those Christian assumptions cannot be taken for granted,” D’Souza said. “Moreover, in the past few years, we have seen something rather surprising. And that is, for the first time, atheism has become a real option in our society—particularly for young people.”

D’Souza attributes this to what he calls “a new atheism.”

“It’s very different from the atheism of the past. We’ve had atheism in America for a very long time, but a generation ago atheism was not something with mass appeal. Moreover, the atheism of the past had a narrow agenda—to police the boundaries of Church and state. In other words, they said, ‘If you wanted to practice your faith, do it in private.’ “

That, D’Souza said, is no longer the case.

“The new atheism is different in that it attacks belief in the private sphere. Its goal is to eradicate, demolish and discredit Christianity. Many atheists want to make each and every Christian feel like a complete idiot.”

D’Souza knows precisely what he is talking about. In fact, he has taken on in public forums some of the world’s leading atheists such as biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion, author Christopher Hitchens, who wrote God is Not Great, and writer Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith.

“These atheists are more suave, sophisticated and cool than they were in the past,” he said. “They have good academic credentials and are influential in the media and the universities.”

It is no surprise then, D’Souza said, that these new mavericks of atheism have very consciously targeted young people.

“They say, ‘We know we are a minority in society, but that’s OK because we have great influence in the press and education,’ “ D’Souza said. “They say it is all right to let parents program Christianity into their children, because it is [the atheists’] job to de-program it out of them.”

So, how does the Christian defend his or her faith against such opposition. First of all, D’Souza said, the Christian can’t combat atheism by using the Bible.

“It’s a book they don’t believe in, so they give no credence to it. They reject the authority of the Bible to substantiate anything.”

Rather than use the Bible, D’Souza urges Christians to know their facts and use science and history to their advantage. In other words, believers need to be “bilingual”—to speak one kind of language in the Church, but a more secular language out in the world.

“For instance,” he said, “atheists tell you that the war on terrorism is all about religion. They say that in Iraq, the tensions between Shias and the Sunnis are about religion. And what about the Catholics and Protestants in North Ireland? They’re fighting over religion. Atheists say that the world would be a much more peaceful place without religion.”

Not so, D’Souza said.

“What are all these guys fighting about?” he asked. “They are fighting about land. They are fighting over who gets to rule that nation. Religion is not the primary issue.”

Another argument made by atheists is that virtues do not require belief in God.

“On the face of it, that appears to be right,” D’Souza said. “Christians can’t claim a monopoly on virtue. But the truth is, most of the virtues atheists believe in came to the West, and really, into the world, because of Christianity. For instance, you look at other cultures—ancient Greece and Rome included—and find that such virtues as compassion and the sacredness of human life are non-existent.”

D’Souza also sees the same wrongful thinking by atheists in the field of science.

“They say science is based on reason and Christianity is based on blind faith,” he said. “This notion is bogus. In reality, modern science is based on three faith-based assumptions that can in no way be corroborated by evidence.”

D’Souza went on to say that these assumptions are the direct legacy of Christian theology. They are: 1. The universe is rational. 2. The universe is lawful. 3. The rationality of the world is mirrored by the rationality of our minds. In other words, the same rules that apply to human beings also apply to the world.

“As Christians, we can understand this,” D’Souza said. “Just as God gave us laws to rule our lives, so He gave the laws of physical nature. But if you’re an atheist, you can’t make any of these assumptions; you have to believe 100 percent in faith. Therefore, science is based on an unacknowledged kind of faith.”

D’Souza also warns believers not to take seriously the overexaggerated claims of atheists regarding the “destruction” committed by Christianity. Here are a few of those false claims and the truth behind them:

•Claim: Thousands of people were killed in the Salem Witch Trials. Truth: 19 people were killed.

•Claim: Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in The Inquisition. Truth: 2,000 people were killed over the course of 350 years, which comes to between five and six people per year.

In contrast, D’Souza said, atheistic regimes have led to a massive amount of deaths in such places as China under Chairman Mao Zedong, Russia under Joseph Stalin and Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler.

“Those ‘big three’ of atheism in a very short time managed to kill about 100 million people,” D’Souza said. “But that’s not even the tip of the iceberg. That doesn’t include people like Nicolae Ceasescu [Romania], Kim Jong-il [North Korea], Fidel Castro [Cuba] ... the list goes on. Consider, a ‘junior league’ atheist like Pol Pot [leader of the Khmer Rouge of Cambodia]. No one even mentions him. Yet, following the Vietnam War, his regime wiped out about 2 million people. Atheism—not religion—is responsible for most of history’s bloodshed.”

D’Souza closed with what he considers the “motives of modern atheism.”

“What is the atheist reason for the rejection of God?” he asked. “In most religions, there is a ‘cosmic justice’ that says we are accountable for the way we live. It’s the idea of moral responsibility and moral scrutiny. The atheist, however, has found a beautiful solution to the problem of moral judgment: Just abolish the Judge. If there is no God, there are no Ten Commandments—everything is permitted. To atheists, that is a gospel of liberation.”

So, where does this leave Christians?

“We need to have some arrows in our quivers,” he said. “We need to be able to counter the atheists. We need to be able to give a reason for the hope that is within us. We need to know not only what we believe, but why we believe it. We need to be aware of what’s going on around us. We need to have answers. We need to examine the foundations of our beliefs so that we can communicate them in today’s culture.”

You may learn more about defending your faith in today’s culture in Dinesh D’Souza’s book, What’s So Great About Christianity or by visiting his website at www.dineshdsouza.com. You may also find some of D’Souza’s debates with atheists on YouTube.

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