Our Newsletter
Our newsletter, "Cross Current" is published each Sunday.
Along with an up-to-date rundown of congregational activities, each edition features an interesting and challenging cover story that connects faith to real life. Written by Rick Gamble, these articles are published the following week in the Brantford Expositor where Rick is the Religion and Ethics columnist.
To have these free, no-strings-attached articles delivered weekly to your mailbox, drop Rick a note at info@followers.ca
Our newsletter, "Cross Current" is published each Sunday.
Along with an up-to-date rundown of congregational activities, each edition features an interesting and challenging cover story that connects faith to real life. Written by Rick Gamble, these articles are published the following week in the Brantford Expositor where Rick is the Religion and Ethics columnist.
To have these free, no-strings-attached articles delivered weekly to your mailbox, drop Rick a note at info@followers.ca
An Irrational Rationale
Atheists will find it hard to believe. But the latest science says they're more like people of faith than they like to think.
As it turns out, most unbelievers don't reject religion purely on intellectual grounds.
Researcher Lois Lee of Kent University in southeast England says believers often become atheists because “eureka moments” convince them religion doesn't make sense. But she notes atheists also have epiphanies that convince them unbelief simply isn't rational so they become believers.
“The problem any rational thinker needs to tackle,” Lee says, “is that the science increasingly shows atheists are no more rational than [believers]. Indeed, atheists are just as susceptible... to 'group-think' and... can end up following charismatic individuals without questioning them.”
Nor does rational thinking and evidence always determine whether or not people pursue faith. According to recent studies, children don't usually reject the faith of their parents because of intellectual concerns. Instead, they reject faith because they see their parents don't practise what they preach.
“So,” Lee adds, “if a parent says they’re Christian but not doing the things they say should matter – praying or going to church – their kids... just absorb the crucial information that religious belief doesn’t appear to matter in the way parents are saying it does.”
Likewise, emerging research shows that atheistic parents pass on their beliefs to their kids in the same way as believers — through their attitudes and family culture, not just their intellectual arguments. Generally, if the parents don't pray or worship, neither will the kids.
Lee also say many parents who want their children to choose their own beliefs actually pass on assumptions about faith, without realizing it. “Like the idea that religion is a matter of choice rather than divine truth,” she explains. “So it's not surprising almost all of these children... end up 'choosing' to be atheist.”
In another twist, Lee's research shows that believers and atheists are both reacting to science in ways that defy stereotypes. She points out that rational, scientific thinking is key to the beliefs of many people of faith who take the view that it's humanity's duty to investigate and understand a God-given world.
“Meanwhile,” Lee says, “ a new postmodern generation of atheists highlight the limits of human knowledge, and see scientific knowledge as... problematic even — especially when it comes to [questions about existence] and ethical questions.” Specifically, they point to moral dilemmas posed by those who embrace “transhumanism”, the idea that technology will eventually conquer disease, aging, and even death.
Lee calls for balance. Believers, she says, should understand that not all atheists are caught in a cold clinical, meaningless world of facts and logic; that science brings many skeptics meaning and comfort in much the same way belief in God does for people of faith. In fact, psychologists have shown that belief in science increases among atheists in times of stress and crisis, just as faith among believers intensifies in those same conditions.
But Lee also encourages unbelievers to recognize that their atheism is seldom based on rational thinking alone; that attitudes, assumptions, family background, and the need for comfort and meaning also come into play. In short, being an atheist is not just about being intellectual, and being a believer is not just about being spiritual.
This stream of research matters because it destroys the widely-held notions that Christians would be skeptics if only we were smarter or more open to science; that atheism is based purely on facts and logic so it must be right; and that believers are weak because we seek meaning and comfort in our faith.
What the science says is — regardless of beliefs — we're all complex humans with an intellectual and emotional side. We all seem hardwired with a need to believe in something that helps us make sense of our natural world, our place in it, and how to live with morality and meaning. To me, that inherent craving points to the reality that we have a spiritual dimension, too.
As I've said many times, I see little contradiction between science and faith. Science is about the how and when. Faith is about the Who and why. We only get into trouble when we try to turn the Bible into a science text and make it say things it doesn't, or when scientists make the assumption that nothing exists if it can't be measured and tested.
Disaster awaits if we turn science into a god, or God into a science. Yes, we can study Him and understand Him. But ultimately we need to experience God as He reveals himself in creation and our everyday circumstances. It's not about figuring Him out, it's more revelation than investigation.
Simply put, faith is not anti-intellectual but refuses to be limited to the realm of rational thought which limits our vision. So, for the atheist, “Seeing is believing.” But for the Christian, “Believing is seeing.”
By Rick Gamble. Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications. Originally published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of Followers of Christ, an independent, nondenominational church in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
Atheists will find it hard to believe. But the latest science says they're more like people of faith than they like to think.
As it turns out, most unbelievers don't reject religion purely on intellectual grounds.
Researcher Lois Lee of Kent University in southeast England says believers often become atheists because “eureka moments” convince them religion doesn't make sense. But she notes atheists also have epiphanies that convince them unbelief simply isn't rational so they become believers.
“The problem any rational thinker needs to tackle,” Lee says, “is that the science increasingly shows atheists are no more rational than [believers]. Indeed, atheists are just as susceptible... to 'group-think' and... can end up following charismatic individuals without questioning them.”
Nor does rational thinking and evidence always determine whether or not people pursue faith. According to recent studies, children don't usually reject the faith of their parents because of intellectual concerns. Instead, they reject faith because they see their parents don't practise what they preach.
“So,” Lee adds, “if a parent says they’re Christian but not doing the things they say should matter – praying or going to church – their kids... just absorb the crucial information that religious belief doesn’t appear to matter in the way parents are saying it does.”
Likewise, emerging research shows that atheistic parents pass on their beliefs to their kids in the same way as believers — through their attitudes and family culture, not just their intellectual arguments. Generally, if the parents don't pray or worship, neither will the kids.
Lee also say many parents who want their children to choose their own beliefs actually pass on assumptions about faith, without realizing it. “Like the idea that religion is a matter of choice rather than divine truth,” she explains. “So it's not surprising almost all of these children... end up 'choosing' to be atheist.”
In another twist, Lee's research shows that believers and atheists are both reacting to science in ways that defy stereotypes. She points out that rational, scientific thinking is key to the beliefs of many people of faith who take the view that it's humanity's duty to investigate and understand a God-given world.
“Meanwhile,” Lee says, “ a new postmodern generation of atheists highlight the limits of human knowledge, and see scientific knowledge as... problematic even — especially when it comes to [questions about existence] and ethical questions.” Specifically, they point to moral dilemmas posed by those who embrace “transhumanism”, the idea that technology will eventually conquer disease, aging, and even death.
Lee calls for balance. Believers, she says, should understand that not all atheists are caught in a cold clinical, meaningless world of facts and logic; that science brings many skeptics meaning and comfort in much the same way belief in God does for people of faith. In fact, psychologists have shown that belief in science increases among atheists in times of stress and crisis, just as faith among believers intensifies in those same conditions.
But Lee also encourages unbelievers to recognize that their atheism is seldom based on rational thinking alone; that attitudes, assumptions, family background, and the need for comfort and meaning also come into play. In short, being an atheist is not just about being intellectual, and being a believer is not just about being spiritual.
This stream of research matters because it destroys the widely-held notions that Christians would be skeptics if only we were smarter or more open to science; that atheism is based purely on facts and logic so it must be right; and that believers are weak because we seek meaning and comfort in our faith.
What the science says is — regardless of beliefs — we're all complex humans with an intellectual and emotional side. We all seem hardwired with a need to believe in something that helps us make sense of our natural world, our place in it, and how to live with morality and meaning. To me, that inherent craving points to the reality that we have a spiritual dimension, too.
As I've said many times, I see little contradiction between science and faith. Science is about the how and when. Faith is about the Who and why. We only get into trouble when we try to turn the Bible into a science text and make it say things it doesn't, or when scientists make the assumption that nothing exists if it can't be measured and tested.
Disaster awaits if we turn science into a god, or God into a science. Yes, we can study Him and understand Him. But ultimately we need to experience God as He reveals himself in creation and our everyday circumstances. It's not about figuring Him out, it's more revelation than investigation.
Simply put, faith is not anti-intellectual but refuses to be limited to the realm of rational thought which limits our vision. So, for the atheist, “Seeing is believing.” But for the Christian, “Believing is seeing.”
By Rick Gamble. Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications. Originally published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of Followers of Christ, an independent, nondenominational church in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.
