Evangelistic Atheists

As Christmas time dawns, we can depend on the age-old debate regarding “religion in the public square” like clockwork. The most recent upheaval, at least in the DFW area, involves the transportation system in Fort Worth commonly referred to as the T (read about at http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/11/30/2669603/atheist-themed-ads-appear-on-fort.html#my-headlines-default). A gathering of like-minded atheists have taken to evangelism by purchasing advertising on the city buses with the slogan “Millions of Americans are good without God.” Though they say their goal is not to “convert anyone,” one must wonder their reason. The implication “we don’t want converts, only acceptance” seems duplicitous at best. But that is beside the point.

First, let’s examine the statement that people can be “good without God.” Is this a true statement? Not to play semantics, but that depends on one’s definition of ‘good.’ It is true that there are countless professing atheists who follow a system of morals, they love their wives, love their children, and do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. It is also true that history is replete with the moral failures of Christians, and even ministers of the Gospel. In these far-too-often-heard-of-cases, the tragedy of the people with faith in God is that they could learn a thing or two from the people who have faith in a non-god.

A Christian should not be opposed to the message that a non-Christian, or even an atheist, could live a life of goodness. The Bible teaches that man has been made in the image of God, and though that image has been tarnished, it has not been destroyed, even in the life of a non-Christian (see James 3:9). To be made in the image of God may mean many things, but certainly it has in part to do with the fact that all men and women have an inherent knowledge of right and wrong. Marred as that knowledge may be, it is still existent.

On the other hand, the Bible teaches that “no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:12 ESV). So does this make my above statement contradictory; that an atheist can do good things? Quite to the contrary. Once again, the crux of the issue is what does it mean to be ‘good’? Man’s definition of ‘good’ is obviously lower than God’s definition of ‘good.’ For Man, being good is more a matter of being responsible – taking care of our families, being honest with our neighbor, and not intentionally causing harm to others. All things an atheist can accomplish.

However, God’s definition of ‘good’ means much more than this. The reason the above referenced verse in Romans rejects the notion that a man can be good is not because they can’t do good things, but because they don’t the Good Thing – namely, seek God. In other words, it is not enough to do good things, but one must do the best thing, seek God. Something an atheist obviously does not do. Thus the question is not “can an atheist be good?” This question makes an assumption of the definition of ‘good.’ The question at hand is “can an atheist be good enough?” The obvious answer is ‘no.’

The specific controversy over posting these signs on the bus is whether or not they have the right to do so. I believe they do. I believe their signs are misleading and misinformed, but I believe they have the right. The tragedy is not they would have the ‘right’ to post these signs; the tragedy is that we have come to a point where they would want to post these signs. But, I believe even an atheist has a right to evangelize. They have a right to communicate their message freely. So do I.