Dear People                       Whom God Loves,

Dear People Whom God Loves,

NEW ATHEISM II

More from God and the New Atheism by John Haught.

He says that everything the new atheists say has already been said. What is new, he says, is their advocating that we must be intolerant of the toleration of belief. That is...accepting any belief. That is...accepting anything that cannot be proved by scientific evidence. My comment is this - Wouldn't we have to eliminate love if we are restricted to what can be proved by scientific evidence?

The new atheists do us a service in reminding us of the horrible evils that have been done in the name of God and religion. My comment is - I have long known and talked about the terrible evil done in the name of God. I still shudder at this. I see this as a misuse of God and religion. I see the answer as being not to get rid of God and religion, but to get rid of the misuse. The Nazi doctors used medicine to do terrible things. The answer is not to get rid of medicine, but to get rid of the misuse.

My own comment, further, is that the new atheists also have a belief. They believe that the whole of reality can be proved today or someday by scientific evidence. Hence it is logical to call this a belief. Science has brought us many wonderful things. We need it. We must remember that scientists as scientists must not pretend to be theologians just as theologians as theologians must not pretend to be scientists.

To use an analogy. We have a tower with two windows. One facing east and one facing west. If you look through one window, you see a beach and the ocean. If you look through the other, you see a lush green forest. Each person looks through only one window and they argue that what they see is the whole picture. How silly. If they would only look through each others windows, their knowledge of reality would increase. But they are too stubborn to do so. This is what happens when scientists as scientists pretend to be theologians and theologians as theologians pretend to be scientists.

Reality is what it is. Science reveals what is measureable. Belief in God reveals what is behind it. Science gives us facts. Belief gives us meaning.

More later.

Smile, God Loves You,

Father Clay

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