Responding to Aggressive Atheism

The Christian Response to Aggressive Atheism

In this video, I want to talk a little bit about what should be the Christian response to aggressive atheism. You have a very interesting flavor of atheism today, which is very different than the last century, where you had a more, as I would see, a more sophisticated form of atheism, both in the nature of its argumentation and in the manner in which these atheists have conducted themselves.

But since 2001 and on, you have the New Atheism Movement, which is no longer the New Atheism Movement, I suppose. But when 9 -11 happened, for example, there was definitely a reevaluating of the role of religion in everyday life and its impact upon how people live and engage the culture.

Many people perceived Christianity, Islam, and religion in general as producing violent behavior. Of course, this was exemplified in the terrorist attacks in 9 -11. From there, the discussion rather than the debate became much more, as I would say, aggressive, and kind of a cutthroat attack upon all religion.

And then, of course, you have things like Christianity being clumped in to things like, say, radical Islam and things like that. So there's definitely, within our modern time today and our current time today, a more aggressive approach to religion and things like that.

Context Matters: Face-to-Face, Family, and Internet Interactions

So how do we as Christians respond to folks who are aggressive? Well, again, the context is very important. We can interact with atheists face-to-face in an evangelistic context or a family context or friend context where we are speaking with someone face-to-face.

And, of course, there's a lot of interaction between atheists and Christians on the Internet. And, of course, standing behind a computer definitely does change the attitudes with which one engages with those who they disagree with.

It's very easy to hide behind a computer screen and kind of just engage in an emotionless interaction such that people will say things that they would have never have said if they were speaking with someone face-to-face.

So how to respond to aggressive atheism or any form of aggressive unbelief is going to depend on the specific context, the medium through which we're interacting. From the Christian perspective, however, if we take a look at 1 Peter 3, verse 15, which is kind of the charter verse for Christian apologetics, regardless of how the world confronts the Christian faith, the Christian has a specific conduct that they are to engage in, which is just part of our standard as Christians.

For example, 1 Peter 3, verse 15 tells us that we are to set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts, always being ready to give a reason for the hope that's in us, yet doing so with gentleness and respect.

Gentleness and Respect in Christian Apologetics

So whether we are confronting aggressive atheists or non-aggressive atheists or aggressive Muslims or non-aggressive Muslims or whatever kind of worldview perspective, however we are to engage with those perspectives, it's going to have to be done in a way that is in accordance with our standard as Christians, which is the Bible.

Now, of course, 1 Peter 3, verse 15 tells us that we are to engage in apologetics with gentleness and respect, but we don't just take 1 Peter 3, verse 15 as our ultimate standard, independent from other aspects of Scripture.

You see, for example, Jesus, when interacting with the Pharisees and the Sadducees, had different levels of intensity with which he engaged them. On the one hand, we have Jesus showing his gentle and meek side, and on the other hand, we have what?

Jesus saying something like this, you're not the son of your father, Abraham, rather you are the son of your father, the devil. And he called the Pharisees whitewashed sepulchres, right, that look nice and beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of nothing but dead men's bones.

So you have the gentle, meek, and mild Jesus, and then you have the flipping of the tables Jesus in the temple area, right? So I think the level of intensity with which we engage unbelievers is going to depend on the context, but the manner in which we do it needs to be within the bounds of Christian conduct.

Balancing Firmness, Love, and Intellectual Rigour

And within the bounds of Christian conduct, there's a range of responses that we can engage in that will be either much more lighter in our approach, and then there are other situations which call for a more intense and a more aggressive response to aggressive opponents, right?

But in the midst of that back and forth, we need to be sure that we remember who we are representing. And if we're representing the Lord Jesus Christ, we want to allow the Lordship of Christ and the way that He's taught us in regards to how we are to interact with people, we should allow that to govern our interaction, right?

If we're showing love towards our opponent and graciousness towards our opponent, depending on the context, we are to show a level of patience, right? When we're debating with an atheist, we are debating with an image-bearer of God.

And so there is a certain level of respect and gentleness that needs to be included in that, while at the same time engage in tearing down these intellectual fortresses that seek to build itself up against the knowledge of God, right?

We are to destroy arguments. So in the process of destroying atheistic and unbelieving arguments, right, being philosophically ruthless, needs to be tethered with a balanced personality and emotion and intensity that kind of holds these two things together in that on the intellectual side, we are being very rigorous and we are destroying those intellectual fortresses.

But on the other hand, we are doing it with a gentleness and respect and a level of intensity that is in accord with what the Bible says we should be doing. So again, how do we respond to aggressive atheism or aggressive anything?

There's going to have to be a balance engaged in that. We are to show love and respect, but we are not to allow ourselves to be walked all over. Philosophically speaking, the Christian worldview has the chops to respond to any and all forms of unbelief, and I think we should avail ourselves of the resources of the Christian worldview, destroying every thought that brings itself up against the knowledge of God, all right?

Well, I hope this is helpful and gives some perspective. And just always remember out there, guys who are defending the Christian faith, you are representing Jesus. And so however approach, whatever approach you use, you always want to keep that in mind because it is possible to defend the faith and hence engage in a biblically mandated practice.

It's possible for us to defend the faith in an unbiblical fashion. And so we want to be careful with that, all right? Well, that's it for this video. Take care and God bless. Bye-bye.