Tuesday 21 October 2008

Is Jesus a zombie?

According to the BBC website, an atheist group is going to be putting posters on London's buses which will read: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."

I have to say my first response to this was to giggle. On reading further and seeing that Richard Dawkins, arch-critic of Christianity (or at least of what he likes to think of as Christianity) was involved, my smile broadened. "This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think - and thinking is anathema to religion," the BBC quotes Dawkins as saying. Really? Strangely enough, as a Christian I'd be delighted if the posters made people think. And I don't think the atheists would always get the response they're hoping for.

"Stop worrying and enjoy your life." If only it were that simple. The fact that this is happening so soon after the national Alpha advertising campaign suggests it's a direct response to their posters, based around the question, "If there was a God, what question would you ask?" Looking at the Alpha website here are some of the questions people are asking:

Why do we have diseases?

Why is there suffering?
Why did you create us to be capable of so much evil?
Is our free will worth all the suffering in the world?
Can I get out of this mess?
Are you on facebook?
Why doesn't God come back to earth from the moon?

Apart from the last two (yes, they're real questions, see for yourself) these are obviously questions written by people who have real concerns and are thinking very hard about them, whatever Dawkins may say about thinking being anathema to religion. I don't think that they would find "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" a satisfactory answer to their problems. Enjoy your life, when so many people are starving, dying of cancer, being made redundant, suffering as a result of the financial collapse? It seems to me that it's the not the Christians (at least, not those I respect) who are discouraging thinking, but this group of atheists who seem to want people to ignore their questions about the point of life and be content with superficial happiness.

I'd also like to know what the poster designers mean by "probably." How do you gauge the probability of there being a God or not? Any ideas? Of course, God's existence is not something you can scientifically prove. That's not what science is for (see here). It's a matter for faith.

So I don't see these posters as anything to worry about. The response of 'Christian pressure group' (why does that title set warning bells ringing in my head?) "Christian Voice" (I'm not sure I'd want them speaking for me) did amuse me though: "Bendy-buses, like atheism, are a danger to the public at large."

The Methodist church had a much more sensible response. It 'thanked Professor Dawkins for encouraging a "continued interest in God".' I bet he loved that.

Oh, and in case you hadn't guessed, the title of this post is another question from the Alpha website. From a heart that's crying out to its creator for answers, don't you think?

1 comment:

  1. you are 100 % right

    - white nationalist christian

    ReplyDelete

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