I believe we are now on the cusp of an atheist reformation.
Atheism, as an explanation of our reality, is not adequate just as Sixteenth Century Christianity was not an adequate explanation of our reality to our current age. I am most referring to the teachings of the Richard Dawkins/Bertrand Russell teapot in the sky idea. Interestingly, I learned from some atheists that they do not appreciate Dawkins either.
Dawkins, citing Russell, explains since we do not see God, he must not exist. We can assume he exists, just as we can assume there is a teapot in space, but we cannot see such a teapot although we may believe in it.
I explain atheism assumes we can perceive either aided or not by technology all that exists in the universe. We have no scientific proof we actually can. In fact, science would seem to disprove this. Evolution indicates that we may not have yet evolved to the point that we can perceive everything that exists. If you go back to the Christian scriptures that is not too dissimilar from the message of the epistle writers.
Atheists may start to see this but they are not ready to appreciate an existence of God. They may be open to a change in atheism.
Physics and truth
Harvard University surrounds my parish, so when I preach, I always use the physics department of Harvard in my examples. If a physics professor tells you what an atom is, you can take that teaching as the truth. Whether you agree with the politics or beliefs of any member of the university, when a physics professor speaks, believe it. Physics is really not something you can believe or not believe, it just simply is and everything that is the nature of physics is true.
I teach that when Jesus speaks in the Bible, he speaks with the full knowledge of all the science in the universe including evolution. He had to temper his speech so that his followers could understand his theological teachings. Therefore, he could have easily taught about atoms, as two centuries before Aristotle addressed this theory but only Jesus at the time understood the existence of protons, neutrons, electrons, valences, quantum mechanics, etc. This would have to come to humanity over the millennia. We would have to develop our understanding to the point that we could appreciate these elements of physics.
St. Augustine taught on this principle three hundred years later and St. Thomas Aquinas built on Augustine. Their basic teaching is that human understanding develops over time, so what one generation cannot yet understand, a later generation can. Augustine was explaining the point of John 21:25 that much of what Jesus did and said was never written down. If it was there would not be enough books in the world to contain these accounts.
Augustine explains by saying: We are not to believe that in respect of space the world could not contain them: … but that by the capacity of the readers they could not be comprehended. And if Christ had committed His doctrine to writing, men would have had no deeper thought of His doctrine than that which appears on the surface of the writing.
Thomas Aquinas. (n.d.). Summa theologica (Fathers of the English Dominican Province, Trans.; Vol. 9, p. 569). Burns Oates & Washbourne.
The Protestant Reformation and today
Our religious belief took a turn in 1517 and opened the door for deeper scientific study. However, in the fifteen hundreds people still believed that the Sun revolved around the Earth and God created human beings in a static form.
We now know that the Earth revolves around the Sun and human beings are evolving and have been for tens of millennia. Our ability to understand this starts with the Protestant Reformation. Ironically, Catholics are more science-oriented and we have built strongly upon this newer understanding.
Are we now on the cusp of the Atheist reformation?
I believe so. Atheists will come to understand that God may exist but that he is not an old man in the sky and never was.
Just as the current theology of 1517 was not complete and could not explain all, so too does the current science remain incomplete and unable to explain all.
I believe that you will within one hundred years see a break in atheism that begins to understand that there is a God even if God will not be fully understood. A true theologian will explain that Christian Scriptures teach God will not be understood until the day we meet him face to face. We have to be transformed in order for that to happen. So too will atheists come to understand that their science does not need to include God but it will not any longer deny his existence.
This means that both believers and non-believers will have to allow their understanding to evolve until, as the Christian scriptures explain, both come to agree that God is real.
We are at the beginning of that transformation, however, remember true atheism is only now about two hundred years old. Hence, the reason why a man who lived in the 1800s can be described as the father of modern atheism—Ludwig Andreas Von Feuerbach. He was Karl Marx’s teacher.
I explain virtually all my teaching using the physics department at Harvard University as an example of truth. Just as one hundred fifty years ago, no one understood things like relativity, black holes and the deeper realities of time. We are learning more and more of the deep truths of science and true theologians are deepening their understanding of God. Eventually, you will see these two disciplines meet together.
Fr. Robert J. Carr is the pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA. He podcasts for the parish at CatholicAudioMedia.com
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