Atheists for Jesus

Recently a number of well-known atheists have called for an increase in Christian presence. Why? They recognize the power of Christ to shape culture in a positive way and they want to see more of it.

A number of years ago I ran across a column by the British writer, Matthew Parris. Parris has a wide range of accomplishments. In addition to being a writer he has produced television programs and served as a member of the British parliament. He grew up in Africa, then returned more than 40 years later. He wrote about his experiences in the Telegraph, a British national newspaper. The title of the piece was, “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God.” He makes an astonishing admission: “Now a confirmed atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.”

He congratulates missionaries for their many social contributions in ministering to the sick and helping the economy. But missionaries do more than this. They instill in the native populations powerful values: confidence, optimism, and a willingness to engage the wider world. Parris observed impressive Africans involved in aid work and they were invariably Christians. He says, “It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man's place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.”

Parris also noticed that African Christians were not trapped in tribal or groupthink. They were powerful individualists capable of making their own decisions apart from what their social circle demanded. Christianity crashes through the pressure to conform to your peer group. The Christian faith teaches “a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being… It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.”

Parris concludes by saying that for Africa to be changed it isn’t enough to provide material aid. He says, “A whole belief system must first be supplanted.” I have two African Christian graduate students in my church. I assure you their belief system is being built by Jesus Christ.

Matthew Parris is corroborating what we have already argued: Christianity is the most powerful cultural force that has ever existed. This is true in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the United States.

Niall Ferguson is one of the world’s best known academic historians. Originally from Scotland, he has taught in England, at Harvard, and is now at Stanford. He is a regular columnist for Bloomberg News. In a recent interview he made some startling admissions. After many years of observing the world he has come to realize that atheism does not work as a culture builder. He states, “I’ve come to see as a historian that you can’t base a society on that. Indeed, atheism, particularly in its militant forms, is really a very dangerous metaphysical framework for a society.” He then admits that Christianity is a powerful ethical framework and does a far better job of shaping society than atheism. Ferguson then offers this solution for everyone, including himself. “We need to go to church.” He says this in spite of the fact that he cannot “bring himself to believe.”

Douglas Murray is another well-known contemporary historian and has often referred to himself as a Christian atheist. Murray says that as Christian culture declines, Western culture dies.  He is unhappy that the Christian church is not aggressive enough in maintaining its cultural influence. He says, “My fear is that the Church is not doing what so many of us on the outside want it to do, which is preaching its gospel, asserting its truths and its claims.” Murray believes that only the Christian church can save civilization. He calls himself a “disappointed non-adherent.” He recently said that, “The sanctity of human life is a Judeo-Christian notion which might very easily not survive [the disappearance of] Judeo-Christian civilisation.”

I think he’s right about that. Other public intellectuals like Charles Murray and Jordan Peterson have called on the Christian faith to assert itself for the good of society. As Christians, we have built the greatest culture in the history of the world. It’s up to us to save it.

Atheists for Jesus. An apparent contradiction. But it’s not.  These contemporary intellectuals know that Christianity is the only hope to save the things they love. I thank these men for their honesty and pray they will come to see that reason Christianity is so great is because it is true. Pray with me that they will embrace it and find life in Christ.

Thanks for watching. Check the resources below. May our God bless you this day in a mighty way.

Matthew Parris’ column is here: http://www.rootedinjesus.net/docs/Parris.pdf

The interviews of Ferguson and Murray are found in “The Turning Tide of Intellectual Atheism.” https://mercatornet.com/the-turning-tide-of-intellectual-atheism/72999/