9. Christmas vs. the Atheists
For each of the 12 days of Christmas, I’ll review and fill out one of the “12 Ways of Christmas” …
In November 2007, a Register editorial counted down Six Myths of Atheism.
Myth 1: Atheists are more logical than believers. (But the reverse is also untrue.)
Myth 2: The burden of proof is on the religious. (Not in an ordered cosmos, it’s not.)
Myth 3: Science makes God obsolete. (No more than knowing what’s in a casserole makes the cook obsolete.)
Myth 4: Science is a reliable guide for us. (Sure. Until the next discovery changes it.)
Myth 5: Religion and science are incompatible. (Religious people and scientific people — now, that’s another matter.)
Myth 6: Religion has led to violent intolerance. (Atheism’s Mt. Everest of body bags in the 20th century dwarfs everything religious people have done for millennia.)
Yesterday, I mentioned how modest God is. Today, I have to say the opposite: He makes himself unmistakably known, leaving little room for atheism.
It’s the Register editorial’s “ninth way of Christmas”: “9. God makes himself clear. But there’s a paradox here. At the same time that God acts quietly and subtly, he doesn’t leave us in darkness and confusion. For those willing to see them, all the signs were there: The star, the angels, the virgin with child. He still shows himself to us, if we take the time to look.”
— Tom Hoopes
