Atheism Alive and Well In The Big Apple?

Now it is their turn, according to the Big Apple Coalition of Reason, a group of organizations untied by one overriding principle - atheism.

Beginning on October 26th, the group will blanket subway stations in Manhattan where some 5 million computers travel each day according to the Metro Transit Authority. The advertisements will ask one simple question. "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?" The New York City campaign is just one component of a "nationwide effort" that will see billboards and postings in transit systems across the United States.

Michael De Dora Jr., executive director of the New York Center for Inquiry, defends his group, citing the recent American Religious Identification Survey. The study found that those checking "none" for religion was 8 percent of the population in 1990 but has almost doubled to 15 percent in 2008. This effectively makes "no religion" the fastest growing religious identification in the United States. He also says that the ads are not meant to be anti-religious. They are rather to raise awareness about people who don't believe in a god and to show that individuals don't need religion to be good people and productive members of society.

Many people view atheists as those who have just considered the available options about God and have come to the conclusion that He simply does not exist. That is not a very good option according to Psalm 14:1 where the writer says, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'"

But disbelief in the reality of a Creator-God takes far more than a simple decision based on simple evidence or supposed lack of it. According to Paul in Romans chapter one, it takes a great deal of conscious effort and the mental stiff-arming of obvious facts to arrive at such a conclusion. He shares his reasoning, beginning in verse 18 of the chapter. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)

The Big Apple Coalition of Reason is just partly right when they claim that people don't have to believe in a god to be good people and productive members of society. They may indeed be great cultural assets, using their God-given gifts and abilities. They may even be ‘good’ by the standards of society. But Psalm 14 totally dismantles the definition of ‘good’ when it is applied against the standard of a holy and just God. Verse 3 reads, ”They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one.”

For any ‘good’ or productive member of society to someday face the living God, and avoid His righteous wrath, will require that they first stop suppressing the idea of His presence both in the universe and in their lives. Hebrew 11:6 puts it like this. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” God requires the believe that He 'is' real.

But that faith must be more than only admitting He is there somewhere and somehow. That is just the start. The faith that turns a lost soul into a living saint is spoken of later by Paul in Romans 5:1 where he writes, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” And in verse 8-9 he carefully records that God’s love and redemption is open and effective even while we suppress and reject his existence or plan of salvation. Verse 8 declares, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”

The question to appear in Manhattan on the 26th is, "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?"

The answer again that most profound of all questions, at least on the spiritual level, is ‘no’. Why? Because, "There is none righteous, no, not one.”

But even that wretched 'no' can be instantly changed to a wonderful ‘yes ’when the truth of 1 Timothy 4:10 is personally applied from the heart.

“Because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe." (1Timothy 4:10)

Bill Breckenridge