The Friendly Atheist

**Edited: I put an * where I accidentally misrepresented Mehta about what he believes. If you go to the post about HU and read the comments following my comment you will see how there is a difference in saying you don't believe in God and that there is no God. I am pretty ignorant in the semantics of atheism, in fact in the whole idea of it, and so I apologize for any mistakes**

Yesterday evening I went to hear the friendly atheist, Hemant Mehta speak at Harding University.
I had actually saw the book of Mehta, I Sold My Soul on E-Bay (it's just a catchy title, that is not what he really did...click on the link to learn of his project and what happened and how the book came about) just a few months ago on one of my luxury visits to the library on my own.
I encourage you to go read his post on his visit to Harding which you can click to it here.
I am pretty proud of the Harding/Christian community that showed up last night for I felt we treated the guest speaker with due respect, even though we have such different beliefs and come from polar opposite sides, and I appreciated the eagerness and interest everyone had, the desire to have open communication and to learn from both sides. And I appreciated the 'friendliness' and kindness of Mehta, who disclosed a much-less known truth, that not every atheist is hateful towards believers nor are they threatening and always ridiculing our beliefs. I am glad we could show the same thing, in reverse!
I also very much appreciated what Dr. Cox had to say and I loved that he wanted, along with us, to publicly apologize for the way some Christians he has encountered have acted, for the ways they have disrespected and mistreated was totally un-Christian. It reminded me of my favorite chapter on confession of Don Miller's Blue Like Jazz book (you really should read it!)

Here are some things I have learned (or was able to re-affirm) from going to listen to an atheist speak about his experience going to different churches (that is what the project, and book, is about):

• Atheist and Christianity actually have many similarities in that they both are belief systems (Dr. Cox thanked him for acknowledging that- it makes dialogs easier when they admit that they *"believe" there is NO God and that this belief affects most if not all of their lives in one way or another, just like my belief that there IS God, and one only, does).
• Another similarity was the fact that not all atheist can answer every questions regarding their non-belief. Mehta was put in the spot a couple of times, and he often answered that this is not what his book and his presentations deal with (explaining atheism and why it is true). His 'expertise' did not reside in debating reasonable atheism like it is for Richard Dawkins.
• The previous point brings me to another thought that my ex-atheistic father told me once and has always impacted me: you must have faith to be an atheist. (Faith that there is no God, for that is hard to prove just as it is hard to prove that there is one.)
• Some other random things that seem to point to similarities in our experiences, believer or non: we are not always like the media or the most 'news-worthy' and 'attention-seeking' advertising portrays us. Hehmant spoke a lot about how it was frustrating that most people see atheist as haters, as ignorant and crude. He gave specific examples and proceeded to describe to us how many atheist are not Christian-haters, that they are very approachable and open to dialog and to accept a person who disagrees. That is the idea he gave me. Of course there are those (and they are the loudest out there, the ones who are being heard and even applauded by atheist it seems) that think cruelly and look down on us. But then again, many Christians (the loudest and most misleading) also speak cruelly and mistreat non-believers.
• One other thing that caught me by surprise (not sure why it did!) Atheist are insecure about themselves too! They feel unsure on how to be open and 'share' their beliefs and live in a more religious society (more about this in the next bullet-point). When in college he started an atheist club, for support, just like campus crusades and other Christian college associations. They need to associated with like-minded people too, obviously, but also it seems for encouragement when perhaps they find themselves the minority, for they are.
• The last phrase is what I wanted to comment on: Atheist (and perhaps agnostics combined) are a minority here in the U.S. Most Americans consider themselves religious, the majority of some Christian affiliation. Now, if they are church-goers or not or if they truly exemplify Christ (most of u s not :( ), is another topic. But the fact remains that the truly secularist are a minority. I hear often from Christians that there is not enough 'faith' in the public sphere, that we need more religion in politicians. However, Mehta argued that the opposite is true. Most politicians do at least affiliate themselves to some kind of religion, and most probably to Christianity. He provided information on how one group of secularist (perhaps the national alliance, can't remember) sought to find out who, if anyone, in any public government role (from high-status to 'lowly'--NOT!-- garbage collector worker) would ascribe himself as atheist (or agnostic at least). One congressman did come out, and as far as I heard, him alone, without making a big deal about the issue, and said the he didn't believe in God. One. I believe there are probably more who are 'closet' non-believers, but the point is that the open-secularist in power are not that many. Perhaps we should stop worrying about world power and government and who is going to be in charge and how our world is crumbling because there are no Christians in power. If there are no Christians in power is because those who are are not acting according to Christ's teachings-- or they are misleading on what those teaching really are about. They have been probably corrupted by power and fame. And probably a 'perfect' Christian world is not attainable as long as we try to do it with our own human efforts and 'virtue'. "For my kingdom is NOT of this world" Jesus said. I am not saying to not vote for a good Christian man or woman who is running for office, but do not put your faith and hope in him and her, as you shouldn't put in in a worldly government to make life as you wish it to be. Okay, so I went way off topic here. Sorry! I think it is the first time I shared about this 'stuff' openly. And no, I am not the expert on politics and religion :)
  
• Last but not least, I want to add here my questions which I will post on Mehta's blog, that I didn't get to ask (or might not have, there was lots of people there wanting to ask questions! and it is always a little daunting to speak out at such events, I am always afraid no one will understand my question). Before I write it down I did want to share the last question (more comment) that was shared. A student (I assume) shared with Hehmant about his past day experience with a very disabled young adult or child, who is not able to talk, walk, feed himself and express his needs like most toddlers do. What purpose, does this person have, if there is no God? asked the young guy. He shared how this disabled person touched his life deeply, how caring for him and watching this 'paralyzed' life display in front of his eyes gave him appreciation and humility for what he had, and taught him valuable lessons. Hemant Mehta said something how that this person's purpose is probably to create such valuable insights. But it striked me as odd, speaking about purposes with an atheist. Not that they might not use this term periodically if not often, but what kind of purpose is there in life, in evolution, in science? Not just purpose to survive, to grow in strength, in power, so to surpass all and 'thrive.' But what does science care about that? That we live or not? What does it care that we have a purpose? Who cares? Do atheist care about that? "purpose" is such a buzz word these days among Christians, to an extent I believe it has become self-centered and self-conceited (not a Christian thing). So here's to my question to Mehta and others who don't believe in God/Creator (and I am interested in answers!): What makes a human, human? What makes us different from other animals? Why do we hope, worry about love, about harmony, about being liked or disliked? Why do we care about stuff? Why do we want to learn, to mature, to grow? Why do we think about life in such terms? Why are we so different from every other living being? And for Mehta: what did you learn of new, did anything surprise you, srike you as odd and different from what you previously understood, about Jesus Christ?
  

Here is another few things I think are noteworthy about Mehta's experience with church-going:

• Nobody approached him at church to initiate conversation. At big churches, that *might*--not an excuse- be more understandable, but small churches it was really awkward. Though most were wiling to converse once approached, Mehta said he really didn't experience anyone coming up to him.
  
• Some churches sung about the 'evil people' and how great it was to be Christians and how horrible and bad those who weren't...probably not most people's experience, but I know sometimes things are said in prayers or sermons that kind of go that way-- not very humble and loving in spirit.
  
• There seems to be few outlets for non-Christians (and Christians too!) to ask questions and express doubts within the church. ( I have often said this too! I feel like once you have become Christian you are often left to 'disciple' yourself, as if you won't ever struggle or doubt, and if you do you think something is wrong with you...okay, another topic for another time).

All righty...a long post, but I hope you have learned something like I did. I have usually assumed it was a daunting, scary experience to talk with an atheist. I know that at UofM I felt really unsure about sharing my faith because I was afraid they would immediately allocate me with the weirdo and fanatic Christians that hate all who are not or think everyone who isn't is worthless. But I learned something important yesterday: an atheist might feel the same way I do about his 'unbelief' in relation to my belief. And also, to truly end this post: I felt even stronger about my beliefs-- Lord I believe, help my unbelief!-- not just because Mehta stumbled here and there (I am sure I would in front of a huge group of atheist asking me really difficult questions!) but because I realized that even those who believe there is no God, still have questions, still have fears, still are human: and that distinction, to me, is the mark of God in every human being.