On "Believing" Atheists | Fr. James V. Schall, S.J. | January 13, 2010 | Ignatius Insight
"Finally, I would like once again to express my joy and gratitude for my visit to the Czech Republic. Prior to this journey I had always been told that it was a country with a majority of agnostics and atheists, in which Christians are now only a minority. All the more joyful was my surprise at seeing myself surrounded everywhere by great cordiality and friendliness, that the important liturgies were celebrated in a joyful atmosphere of faith, that in the setting of the University and the world of culture my words were attentively listened to, and that the state authorities treated me with great courtesy and did their utmost to contribute to the success of the visit." -- Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia, December 21, 2009.
"Life is a jest, and all things know it, / I thought so once, but now I know it." -- Gay's Epitaph in Westminster Abbey. [1]
I.
In a favorite passage, one of C. S. Lewis' young devils is told by a wiser mentor that a"young atheist cannot be too careful about what he reads." That is to say, many traps are our there for the atheist who thinks his system can cover everything. One has to work hard at being an atheist. He has to be prudent. He has to be on his guard. Even more than the believer, he cannot allow himself to doubt. In a way, he is the only"true believer." Even his own reason is worrisome to him, for why, after all, is reason reasonable? His view is by no means protected on the reason flank, nor is the agnostic flank, when spelled out, coherent. Just not to know one way or another still leaves the agnostic with the question of how he should live. He relies on his reason to tell him.
The young atheist never knows when he will run into an act of goodness that makes no sense in his philosophical world. Nor is he immune from the horror that comes to him on beholding a really heinous act deliberately carried out by some politician or philosopher. His atheism may force him to be indifferent either to good or evil, to be not surprised at either. And yet, if he asks himself which model of life is"better," he can hardly choose the latter, the more savage one. Atheists often claim, somewhat illogically, to live"better" lives than believers. Seldom do they claim to live worse ones. Christians know and acknowledge that they are sinners. The"sins" of the atheist are less straight-forward. Against who or what can he sin? Against himself? Against the world? Surely not God. Are there"good" and"bad" atheists? How so?
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