On Atheism

There seems to be some concern with the affects of atheism on society today. I have had many conversations with people who called themselves atheists and I found them to be thoughtful and interesting discussions. I have also been surprised by the similarity between their beliefs and my own.

I have hypothesized that most atheists don't really reject the idea of spirituality and even a creator spirit I would identify as God. It seems that most atheists I have known are mainly rejecting the version of God depicted by their childhood church, by vocal religions and by society in general. I have listened to Richard Dawkins and when he says God would have to be unbelievably enormous to really exist, I say exactly!!! God is.

In testifying to my faith, I have often felt that calling God by the name "God" is to attach all the connotations and stereotypes people have ascribed over time. My image of God is often so far removed from some mainstream religions that it's difficult to reconcile that they are the same entity. I have to spend a lot of time explaining that my concept of God is far different from what they learned in Sunday school or Catechism class.

I suppose many atheists have travelled a similar path to my own and threw out that traditional image of God from their youth that didn't fit their beliefs. Unfortunately, in the whirlpool of "hate the sin, love the sinner" they have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Instead of retooling their misconceptions, they find it easier to reject all of it.

I admit atheism is easier than apologetics and sometimes think to claim the label myself simply to have a cleaner slate to expound from.

But in the darkest night of my crisis in life, in faith, in relationships, when all was in doubt, the one thing I could definitively attest to was God's presence in my life.