Whose afraid of atheists?

A lady classmate asked that we pray for an atheist Filipino philosopher whom she had dinner with here in Baguio. She told the class that this Filipino atheist talked about God being an invention of man and that this atheist enumerated all the atrocities of Christianity to warrant its eradication in the world, etc. Of course our lady classmate was aghast at such blasphemy, and I can imagine her silently praying and exorcising the guy. I can’t blame her.

I told her and the class (I hope they understood me and not misinterpreted me) that it's not blasphemous to listen to atheist. In fact in my experience it is healthy to read cricism of God for it proves that God does not exist.

Now you may ask if I'm making any sense?

To think that God exist is to deny God. For God is beyond essence and exitence. I think it's Paul Tillich who said this.

Anyway, I'll go with Immanuel Kant when he said that there are somehting that's beyond our understanding (reason) and it's no use going in there. Paraphrased, of course.

It is the trademark of people who think that they are smart to prove that they are smart by disproving the existence of God through reason. They do this not so much for intellectual satisfaction but for attention (I mean, all they want is to outrage Christians). I told the class that atheist are lonely people because they have no one to talk to. For heavens sake, they don't even speak English.

The best way to deal with an atheist is to agree with what they are saying. Nothing will irk them more. Agreeing with them does not mean believing in what they are saying.

Atheism (or specifically anti-Christian theism) is, in reality, more of a creation/reaction to the ever widening gap between the ideals of Christianity and the actual Christianity; in these gaps the atheists (the brand of atheism my lady classmate encountered, to be specific) are born.

That's my take on it.