They call themselves “Brights”

Another brilliant atheist bedazzles us with his discovery that Jesus, you see, said we should help the poor. But when people get rich, they tend to stop relying on God. So he advocates helping the poor as a way to get rid of religion.

Clever fellow! What’s interest to me is the curious way in which he regards charity to the poor, not as an end in itself (because these are humans made in the image of God with intrinsic dignity) but as a way of whacking “religion” (he means “God”) with a stick. Of course, what he really means is “My illusory picture of God”, which may well be worth whacking with a stick.

Typically, for atheists of the shallow American variety, God is perceived as a threat because (as John Paul points out) the mark of original sin is that it cannot see God as Father and can only perceive him as Master. At the back of a huge amount of pop atheism is the notion that only by throwing off the yoke of the Divine Master can we be truly free (note, for instance, the title of the blog I linked above). Pop atheism is perpetually talking about freedom–all while yoking itself to a crude materialism that has no room, in the end, for human freedom since we are all ultimately simply the product of material forces doing what chemicals do in the blind crap shoot of time, space, matter, and energy. At some level, Seavers is aware of the ennui that lies at the back of this lifeless philosophy, which is why he has “spent most of my waking hours in a frantic attempt to escape boredom.” Who wouldn’t be bored in the universe he believes in? Indeed, the only scraps of life he still seems to be able to find all come courtesy of the God of Israel, from whom he derives what dull excitement he finds in life by opposing.

Which sort of brings things back to the curious paradox of Christ’s will to bless his creatures, even if they misuse his blessings. It’s quite true that sometimes we will take Christ’s gifts (including financial wealth) and use them to move ourselves away from Christ. That’s hardly evidence of divine tyranny. If anything it’s evidence of a divine generosity and of an abundance of freedom–freedom even to reject the love of God–that guys like Seaver are too dull to think of.

All all the forms of slavery and bondage in the world, I think self-proclaimed “Free Thinkers” are the most tightly bound and captive. A man in chains can still sing with gratitude to God who made his soul free. A free thinking materialist can’t, even for one second, think it possible he may be wrong. His only feeble entertainment is to whack his tiny little phantom God with a stick and repeat “Down with religion” like an ancient pagan shouting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” His jailer is himself.