Interview With An Atheist + Welcome To This World
There have been two videos doing the rounds of late which have been put together by athesists. I want to share them with you as they are both compelling and insightful in differing ways:
The first is called Welcome to this world and was made by The Thinking Atheist however, the major flaw is simply their lack of understanding of our faith. Sadly, they appear to have latched on to a certain type of Christian expression, namely, fundamentalism and extremist literalism.
The second is an interview with an atheist and again although there is a fundamental misunderstanding of our faith, I discern that there is something important to be learned from it:
Let me know what you good blog readers make of these.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:29 pm
If you allow fundamentalists and literalists to flourish within the Church then you should expect this kind of thing to increase. It’s much easier to mock fundamentalists, and unless you speak out and explain why you are different, why would those who are not theologians care to find out?
Yours is a more nuanced approach and your task that much harder, but wouldn’t it be worth investing some time in explaining it without trying at the same time to “sell” it, in terms of evangelising – which just makes most outsiders switch off.
Harsh words maybe, but otherwise it’s the extremists who grab headlines, be it religious fundamentalists or the likes of Richard Dawkins.
July 23rd, 2010 at 7:51 am
I’ve come to the conclusion that the moderate voice is the quietest of all.
As you rightly point out the extremists garner all of the headlines. Time and again on atheist websites they will link and provide exposure to the extremist sect of Christianity, nobody really wants to hear the moderate voice as it is not controversial enough.
When I make efforts to try to explain the more nuanced approach, those posts are always the least read and commented upon.
Ironic and sad.
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:33 am
I am currently writing a rather long article on Christian Fundamentalism and why the mainstream church seems to ignore it.
Here is a paragraph of that (unfinished and rough) article:
“Why do mainstream churches seem to be avoiding the issue?
It is very difficult for the mainstream church to enter this debate because it does not want to be seen as critical of other people’s faith, especially when that faith is superficially so similar to their own. There is also the risk that criticism by moderate church leaders would be seen as persecution by the fundamentalists. Fundamentalists view criticism as persecution and persecution is clear evidence to them that they are doing the right things. The more a fundamentalist is criticised the more they believe they are correct.
Mainstream churches are seeing some growth at their Conservative Evangelical fringes. Whilst these members are not fundamentalists there is reticence to be seen as critical of evangelical ideas which on their own are not necessarily harmful.
An increasing number of fundamentalist churches are from the African immigrant community and there is a reticence to be seen as critical of them in case this is viewed as racial discrimination.”
July 23rd, 2010 at 10:35 am
And further:
“How big is the challenge of fundamentalism?
There is a perception that the number of fundamentalist Christians in the UK is increasing, but I am not sure this is the case. Its a complex picture which contains a number of elements:
[bullets]
As church attendance has fallen evangelicals and fundamentalists have become a larger part of what remains while still being of a similar numerical size.
The increase in Christian television channels has given fundamentalist ideas a wider platform and greater currency. There are currently 16 Christian channels on the Sky satellite TV platform and 14 of these hold strongly fundamentalist positions.
Whilst there is anecdotal evidence of a decrease in the number of congregations within mainstream denominations who permit fundamentalist ideas the number of independent churches, especially in the west African immigrant communities, has increased.
The collapse of the Christian Bretheren in the UK and their members assimilation into Baptist and Independant Evangelical churches has caused their theology to become more mainstream.
Fundamentalist ideas are closely associated with the political right in the USA and they have mastered the use of the Internet to make their ideas appear more mainstream than they might otherwise be.
Strong connection between popular conspiracy theories and similar theories put forward by well known fundamentalist writers and speakers (e.g. the secular anti Europe feelings and the wish to maintain the pound, and the fundamentalists being opposed to Europe because they see it as a recreation of the Holy Roman Empire).
The Internet and Christian Television has allowed individual church members to be influenced by apparently persuasive arguments outside the community of their own church and the influence of a theologically trained minister.
Declining church attendance has caused some churches to look at successful American churches and duplicate their methods and theology while funding from US based Christian organisations to UK based evangelical groups has encouraged them to become more open to the ideas of their benefactors.”
July 24th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Here’s a link Jim, to Gordon’s piece on Christian Fundamentalism and it’s well worth a read:
Should the church challenge Christian fundamentalism?
July 24th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Thanks Webmaster.
It seems to me that Fundamentalism is ironically probably the single greatest threat to mainstream Christianity if the mainstream does not (as Gordon suggests) treat it as another faith rather than feeling embarrassed about criticising a wayward part of the same family.
Unless the mainstream Church makes a stand they will be branded with the same bizarre ideas as the Fundamentalists, and unjustly ridiculed by the anti-religious.
July 24th, 2010 at 9:57 pm
That’s dead right Jim…