Faith Angles (Part 3)
When CNN’s Belief Blog (which focuses on the “faith angles” of news) marked its first year, its religion editor Dan Gilgoff posted the “10 things the Belief Blog learned in its first year” article. The first thing Gilgoff saw was that, “Every big news story has a faith angle.” (I already discussed it in the first two parts of “Faith Angles”) The second thing that he noted was that, “Atheists are the most fervent commenters on matters religious.” They would pour out “an avalanche of alternately humorous and outraged atheist responses on virtually everything the Belief Blog publishes. They’re more evidence that atheists are coming out of the closet to trumpet their disbelief, argue with the faithful and evangelize their godlessness.”
They are so aggressive that they put up ads that promote atheism such as “God-LESS America” (which is a play of “God Bless America”) and “Atheism is patriotic.” In fact, there’s an indie film, “The Ledge,” that will be screened in New York and Los Angeles a few days from now that openly advocates atheism. Written and directed by an “outspoken atheist,” Matthew Chapman, the plot is about “religion, love and revenge that pits a conservative Christian husband against an atheist who has seduced the religious man’s Christian wife… it’s Hollywood’s first offering to feature an openly atheist hero in a story about religious conflict.” Chapman declared that he came up with the movie “to help create a more positive image for atheism, which he says is often misunderstood and maligned, for audiences who may otherwise not be exposed to it.”
Now, I wonder why we believers are not as fervent as the atheists in trumpeting our belief, arguing with the faithless and evangelizing our godliness? While the atheists are coming out of the closet, we Christians seem to be retreating into our comfort zone. We hide into our closet when we focus more on what we can get rather than what we can give, when we delight ourselves rather than deny ourselves. Just look at the latest Christian bestsellers. It appears we want to talk more about “me, myself and mine” such as“becoming a better you” or “improving your life” instead of reaching the real world out there. By doing so, we could lose this belief (yes, unbelief is actually a belief also) battle by default. We are called to “fight with everything [we] have in [us] for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.” (Jude 3, The Message)
Brethren, let us be more outspoken about our faith.
They are so aggressive that they put up ads that promote atheism such as “God-LESS America” (which is a play of “God Bless America”) and “Atheism is patriotic.” In fact, there’s an indie film, “The Ledge,” that will be screened in New York and Los Angeles a few days from now that openly advocates atheism. Written and directed by an “outspoken atheist,” Matthew Chapman, the plot is about “religion, love and revenge that pits a conservative Christian husband against an atheist who has seduced the religious man’s Christian wife… it’s Hollywood’s first offering to feature an openly atheist hero in a story about religious conflict.” Chapman declared that he came up with the movie “to help create a more positive image for atheism, which he says is often misunderstood and maligned, for audiences who may otherwise not be exposed to it.”
Now, I wonder why we believers are not as fervent as the atheists in trumpeting our belief, arguing with the faithless and evangelizing our godliness? While the atheists are coming out of the closet, we Christians seem to be retreating into our comfort zone. We hide into our closet when we focus more on what we can get rather than what we can give, when we delight ourselves rather than deny ourselves. Just look at the latest Christian bestsellers. It appears we want to talk more about “me, myself and mine” such as“becoming a better you” or “improving your life” instead of reaching the real world out there. By doing so, we could lose this belief (yes, unbelief is actually a belief also) battle by default. We are called to “fight with everything [we] have in [us] for this faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.” (Jude 3, The Message)
Brethren, let us be more outspoken about our faith.
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