Idolatry

I am an atheist about atheists. I don’t really believe they exist. I know that some people say they don’t believe in God. When I talk with such people my question is, “Tell me about the God you don’t believe in?” Almost in every case I find myself answering, “If that is the god you don’t believe in, then I don’t believe in that god either.” They usually tell me about the abuse and wars perpetrated in God’s name or by God’s servants, or of suffering and death not prevented, of Biblical stories of anger and violence ascribed to God, of stories like creation and miracles which contradict the laws of nature and common scientific belief. They might also tell me that God is part of primitive mythology which is no longer believable in the 21st century.

When Israel decided they no longer believed in God, they made a golden calf and worshipped that as the god who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Moses was up Mount Sinai receiving the ten commandments and even Aaron turned his back on God. He actually forged the golden calf for them. The stories of the Old Testament suggest that either people believe in God, or an idol of some kind. I think there might be a primitive truth here, that might also apply in the 21 century as well.

Religion is about belief frameworks which are held to be sacred. God is seen as the one who reveals these sacred truths to humanity, but even where people reject the reality of God, they still hold that certain beliefs are absolutely true and trustworthy. They still hold to belief frameworks they relate with as sacred. They reject one understanding God and effectively create their own.

That “god” is very often to do with cultural conformity, or group identity, or some view of politics or science which makes absolute sense to them. Usually they seek out others who agree with them and often find thinkers and writers who can provide the rationale for their ongoing belief system. Thus they take on the structures of organised religion. Everyone has a “ground of being” as the theologian Paul Tillich describes it, and whatever that foundation is, it give order and structure to life and is the basis of that person’s faith.

Richard Dawkins is a really good example of this. Dawkins is a scientist who seems to have a passionate desire to defend science, particularly from the attack creationists make on the theory of evolution. He has become so evangelical about this mission, that has written books about it and travels the world “preaching” his gospel of scientific revelation everywhere he can, calling people to follow him and his truth. His “ground of being” is faith in Science. His belief framework is science and he is absolutely committed to spreading that truth to the exclusion, even the ridicule, of others. So Dawkins calls himself an atheist. In my view he is not an atheist. He has simply chosen to create a different god; his golden calf.

Many others do the same thing with socialism or capitalism, nationalism or globalism, individualism, cultualism, secularism, militarism, conservationism, materialism, consumerism, popularism and combinations of these, or with others like health, sport and the like. Where these things become the “ground of being” for any person or group they are setting up an idol no less real than the golden calf of Israel.

The danger even for Christian people is that we try to follow Jesus and worship the golden calf as well. They will assert their faith in Jesus but if you scratch the surface you might find that something else is actually their “ground of being”.

For Christian people the purpose of faith in Jesus is not to support our cultural traditions, values or belief frameworks, but to critique them with the values of God. Then every other …ism and the like, finds its proper place in the priorities of a balanced life.