Atheists don’t believe God exists, so why do they get so angry when Christians call them out for it? In my Watchman on the Wall column earlier this week, I wrote about how the atheist agenda wants you to turn your back on Christ.
As of Friday morning, there were 1,158 comments on the article. I am not sure I’ve ever seen so many comments on a story on CharismaNews.com. The atheists swarmed all over the article because Hemant Mehta, who refers to himself as “the friendly atheist” made some not-so-friendly remarks about me in his Patheos column, “Christian Publication Warns of ‘Atheist Agenda’: They Want You to Lose Your Faith!” But Mehta was pretty friendly compared to the folks who read his article and commented on mine.
After a long diatribe against me and my article, a CharismaNews.com commenter named “David The Sandman,” concluded his spew by saying, “When your church pews are, like the ones in my country, gathering dust and mostly empty you know who to really blame—intolerant and deceptive fools like yourself who clung on to those privileges and bigotries and needlessly slagged off any who didn’t want to adhere to your own narrow definitions of faith. Lying for Jesus is lying all the same. Shame on you.”
Another commenter, Stephen Leavy, wrote, “Christianity: Because you were so bad you made god kill himself.” And “OhioAtheist” quoted the Bible and told me I had no right to speak, according to 1 Timothy 2:12. Meanwhile, an anonymous commenter suggested, “If you can sit down and tell a four year old that they will go to hell if they don’t follow your religion, you aren’t fit to have children.” And Mario Rodgers opined, “I would laugh if you stupid f***wits weren’t so sad in trotting out the same stupid tired arguments about what’s ‘an abomination’ in the sight of your stupid puny god. I can not get a person to turn his back on his faith.” Another guy who calls himself the “Cranky Humanist” told me I just don’t get it on my Twitter account.
I’ll stop there, but it doesn’t get any friendlier. So why are some atheists so angry? I’m hardly the fist one to ask that question. In a video, our friendly atheist Mehta tackles the question “Why are atheists so angry?,” asking, “Why do we get so worked up about something that we don’t even believe exists?” He admits there are angry atheists and acknowledges that it doesn’t seem to make any sense that atheists would get so worked up about something they don’t believe in. Then the friendly atheist offers the reasoning behind so many “ticked off” atheists:
“But you try living in a country where just about every elected official believes in God and then believes that God and their faith should be the basis of policy making. You would get upset too. Or if you had to say prayers in school or recite the Pledge of Allegiance, saying, ‘We’re a nation under God,’ or you saw religion everywhere you went in city council meetings, in your family, at every event you attended—then, yeah, you might get a little upset that all this delusion that’s all around you. And it’s not just someone’s private beliefs. It’s something they want you to be a part of as well. You might get a little ticked off as well.”
Mehta also mentions the many abuses in the name of religion and went on to say a few other things that weren’t so friendly toward Christians. He’s right about that part.
The bottom line, and any Christians reading this should feel free to correct me if I am wrong, is this: Christians want atheists to be “part of” our faith because we don’t want them to spend an eternity in hell. It’s called love. And true Christians are sharing their faith for the right reasons. I can’t speak for all Christians, but I don’t think born-again believers are inherently better, nicer or more trustworthy than atheists, as Mehta suggests is the Christian mindset in his video. All humans have the same carnal nature, and I know plenty of Christians who have poor attitudes. I don’t defend poor attitudes or poor character, and I don’t think Christians should shove their beliefs down anyone’s throat. But friendliness alone won’t take you any place you want to go when you die.
Atheism is rooted in an antichrist spirit that has made man his own God. Atheists have separated themselves from God in this life, yet He still blesses them with an opportunity to repent every day. In the next life—eternal life—atheists won’t be so brazen about insisting God doesn’t exist because they will bow their knee to Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:10; Rom. 14:11) before spending forever apart from His presence in the lake of fire. Calling Christians nasty names and insulting God isn’t going to change that or stop Christians from sharing their faith.
I would challenge every atheist who is reading this article to truly seek God with an open mind. I guarantee if you open your heart, ask Him to reveal Himself to you, and seek Him sincerely, you will find Him.
Jennifer LeClaire is news editor at Charisma. She is also the author of several books, including The Spiritual Warrior’s Guide to Defeating Jezebel. You can email Jennifer at [email protected] or visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter.
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