I begin 2014 reading
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She is my peer, born just 3 months before
me. She has lived a life vastly
different than mine. A Somali, she made
it out of that Muslim country and out of Islam altogether. I was surprised to see that the forward to
her story was written by noted author and celebrate atheist Christopher
Hitchens. I did not realize her escape
from oppression had led her to atheism, but someone not likely associate with
the late Hitchens unless she was an atheist herself.
I checked out Ali on
google. The summary describes her as “a
Somali-born American feminist and atheist activist.” Her blog confirms this http://give.theahafoundation.org/blog-0/. From the
posts I skimmed, it seems clear that her main subject matter is the abuse of
women in Muslim cultures. I am only a
few pages into her book, and I will read it all the way through. It is a powerful story. I say that even as I am male and an avowed
religionist.
OK, I would never
refer to myself as a ‘religionist,’ but Hitchens was consistent in his contempt
for religion – Christianity, Islam, it did not matter. He was not simply a nonbeliever. He was aggressively opposed to
believers. I have watched You Tube
videos of his debates with William Lane Craig and Alister McGrath. In those instances, Hitchens displayed a
quick wit and a thoroughly unconvincing case for atheism. I took away from both events a great
admiration for the gracious patience of both Craig and McGrath.
Reading Hitchens’
forward in Ali’s book got me thinking about him again and thanks to Google and
my daughter waking at 2:45AM (with a fever which always makes her talk in her
sleep and insist on sleeping with mommy), I am at my kitchen table with time
and reading material. I am particularly
interested in a 2011 Huffington Post
column by Paul Brandeis Raushenbush. He
is an American Baptist minister and was the dean of religious life and the
chapel at Princeton University.
Raushenbush’s column
is titled “When an Atheist dies.” But in
it, he writes “When an atheist dies
it is wrong to wonder what is happening to them now that they are dead.” My question is why? Why is it wrong for Christians who believe in
eternal life to wonder about the eternity of someone who assaulted (through
literature, not violence) Christianity?
Christianity is all about proclaiming that Jesus is Lord. Raushenbush, a Christian minister, was the
director of religious life (a life
lived under the lordship of Jesus) at Princeton University. Why would he say it is wrong to wonder about
the eternity of Hitchens, a man who rejected the lordship of Jesus?
I am not saying Christians ought to rejoice at Hitchens’
death. We should not. I do not definitively declare Hitchens
hell-bound. God did not consult with me
on eternal judgment for Christopher Hitchens or myself or anyone else. But, I am a pastor and have presided over numerous
funerals and have spoken to people about God and life and eternity. I have had these conversations over and over
in my 20+ years in ministry. People want
to know about life after death. People
read. People know when a famous
nonbeliever dies and they ask. I don’t
understand Raushenbush’s assertion that it is wrong to wonder about the atheist’s
eternal fate.
I also don’t understand the dichotomy Raushenbush draws
between focusing on living in the present and longing for eternity in the
Kingdom of God. He quotes a lengthy
passage from Ayaan Hirsi Ali which ends with a John Lennonesque notion that
death replaces the “siren song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. … There is
nothing more [than this life.] But I want nothing more.” Reflecting on this passage, Raushenbush
writes that concentrating on this life “fills
these precious moments that we have on earth with intensity, urgency and
inherent meaning.”
To be fair, Raushenbush is specifically writing about
atheists and afterlife. He might write
something different were he talking about Christians and afterlife. So, I have to ask, does one’s beliefs
determine one’s eternal reality? I think
it does not. I think God is real – more real
than what I can perceive with my five senses.
God is Lord. God will not just
let me fade into oblivion if I choose not to believe in him. When I die, if I die as an unbeliever and as
a God-rejecter, I will be judged by the God I rejected.
And as for living intensely, I really believe Raushenbush has
it completely backwards. The most alive
moments of my life came when I was acutely aware of the reality of and presence
of Heaven. In Ethiopia, with a mission
group, I fed a plate of supper to a handicapped street woman and her
child. Both were clad in rags. All that they owned was on their backs. Maybe sharing supper with the poor doesn’t
qualify as living intensely for Mr. Raushenbush. For me, it was invigorating. I was blessed beyond words. I would never have been there if not for my
belief in God. No, I do not understand
how atheism fills the present with “intensity, urgency and inherent meaning.”
I cannot imagine a more preposterous notion. I get what Raushenbush is saying. The atheist has nothing more, so he has to
get the most out of “the now.” Surely
Raushenbush would acknowledge that Hitchens is an exception and that there are
plenty of atheists who waste their lives on trivial things and hollow
materialistic pursuits. There are plenty
of Christians who do the same, by the way.
Hitchens did not have intensity, urgency, and meaning because he was an
atheist. His life had those qualities
because he was a crusader for atheism.
His mission was to defeat religion and because he was a talented writer,
he garnered the admiration of Christians like Raushenbush. In fact, Raushenbush, again I emphasize, a
Christian minister – ordained to lead others in following Jesus, lauded the
life of someone whose fame came at least in part for this creative and
articulate rejection of Jesus. Hitchens
said terrible things. But, he said them
well. So we must acknowledge that he
lives well.
I am grateful for all three – Ali, Hitchens, and
Raushenbush. I am grateful to Ali for
sharing her story. I pray for women who
are harmed and mutilated in cultures that do not honor their humanity. I am grateful to Hitchens for raising the bar
and forcing brilliant Christians like McGrath and Craig to articulate
reasonable defenses of Christianity. And
I am grateful for the way Raushenbush’s article forces me to think about these things. I pray in 2014, I will focus on the Kingdom
of God. I pray I will see it. I pray
that in seeing it, I will live with intensity, urgency and meaning.
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