Hitchens – God Is Not Great XXX
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I am continuing in my extended review of Christopher Hitchens book “God Is Not Great,” and his defense of atheism in chapter 17. Last time, I looked at how Hitchens deftly attempted to shift the blame for the secular evils of the twentieth century onto religion effectively arguing that Christians are to blame because they did not do enough to prevent the evils committed by atheists. But there is a deeper issue here, one that is a problem for all groups, theists and atheists alike.
As I wrote earlier pointing to the evils committed by atheists, is not so much an attack against atheism per se, but rather atheist’s reasoning. As I wrote in Christianity and Secularism, it is “to point out that any system that involves people can be directed toward evil. I am sure neither Charles Darwin nor Karl Marx intended evil to come from their works. Still, they planted the seeds for the greatest evils in history.” (pg 118)
The key issue here is that good and bad people can be found in and out of religion. While history has show that secular regimes have been by far the worst, that could change. Not all religions are the same. The 20th century evils could be eclipse by radical Islam if its adherents can acquire the weapons of mass destruction they are seeking.
Nor is it impossible that in the future a radical form of Christianity could appear that could be a similar threat. One of the surest ways to run into problems is to focus too much on the evil in other groups, while assuming your own group is somehow immune. The danger from evil is ever present and history has clearly shown that being religious or an atheist is not an automatic safeguard.
This is nothing new. As Jesus pointed out in Matthew 7:3, we can see the speck in the eyes of others, while missing the beam that is in our own. Instead of pointing to the past evils committed by others as an example of how bad the current group is, we should instead focus more on current evils and how to stop them and how to prevent evil in the future. This is not to say that we should ignore past evils, we shouldn’t. We should learn from them, not in an us-versus-them way, but seeking the common traits, traits that can appear in any group, so that we can avoid them.
We should also focus more on the beam in our own eye. One of the easiest ways to fall into evil, is to think you are immune. For Christians, this means acknowledging the great evil that has been done at times in the name of Christ. But for atheists, it also means acknowledging the great evil done by atheists. Neither can just blame it on the other.
It is a simple fact that criticism from within a group will be far more effective at limiting evil than criticism from those outside, as criticism from others is often confused as an attack. While I could be wrong, I believe that if Muslims in general were to be as outraged over those who target and kill the innocent in the name of Allah, as they have been over cartoons of Mohammad and stories about alleged mishandling of the Koran, there would be a lot less terrorism. Likewise, if it were not for the clear and consistent condemnation of the few who have bombed abortion clinics or murdered abortionists, not only by the majority of Christians, but by all anti-abortion groups , I believe there would have been more bombings and murders.
One of the reasons I believe that the teachings of Christ are so important is not because it automatically makes me a better person, but because it teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). In addition it teaches that we have hope. While we are saved by grace, that only begins a process of discipleship in which we should continually strive to be more like Jesus.
This is Elgin Hushbeck, asking you to Consider Christianity: a Faith Based on Fact.
