Do Unbelievers Evangelize?

The following is a re-post from my old blog. Unfortunately my old blog had be shut down, for professional reasons, however this is probably my favorite post from it and I feel compelled to retain here.

As an Atheist, Skeptic, Agnostic or what ever you want to call me I often contemplate why it is that those of us who fall into these categories feel the need to “evangelize” our lack of doctrine. Is evangelize the right word? I don’t know. Webster’s Dictionary defines Evangelize thus: 1. to preach the gospel to 2. to convert to Christianity. I see many in the unbelieving community preaching their lack of gospel and to some extent endeavoring to convert people away from Christianity by sharing with them the unbeliever’s version of “The good news”.

Writers such as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris have become something of icons by doing little more than providing rational argumentation as to why religion and theism is false (though providing such in a stirring and intelligent way) and providing alternative explanations for things such as social structure and morality, as well as exploring the scientific proofs for things believers attribute to the deity of their choice. Many of the top Blogs in the blogosphere are related to the topic as well, places such as The Friendly Atheist and one my personal favorites Unreasonable Faith draw in thousands of visitors a day, just like their Christian counter parts like , Without Wax (Crosspointe Church).

The other day I was in the garage partaking of my favorite adult beverage (a good IPA) and my friend inquired as to why I was “so hung up on God?”. It really got me thinking. I don’t really think I am “hung up on God”, though I must admit that one of my favorite past times is looking for things in the world and then saying ah ha!! If God is real how can that be? I also thoroughly enjoy looking at the Bible and wondering at the blindness of the believer and the believers pick and choose approach to a book so full of contradictions, untruths and gross immorality. I do however relish in the chance to speak to someone of like mind and conversely I enjoy a stout conversation with someone of opposite mind. I also enjoy a good diatribe as I am doing today.

Back to the question, why does this community feel the need to propagate its self? Here are my thoughts.

1. Habit. Many if not most of us were at some point a member of a religious organization, a good example of the Atheist, Skeptic, or Agnostic’s stories can be found on this interesting thread at Unreasonable Faith . As part of a religious culture we were, from a young age, taught to be good salesmen and that if we truly believed it was incumbent upon us to evangelize, to tell our friends and everyone we meet about the “Good news”. We were taught to not care about the beliefs of others but to endeavor, at all costs, to show them the light and to convert them to our way of thinking by proving how their way of thinking is wrong. We were supposed to “Let our light shine”.

We lost (or rather gave up) our faith but the ingrained behavior of sharing our belief system is still alive and kicking. Try as we might to be indifferent to the principles of spirituality we hold a grudge against our past and feel the need to share our NEW “Good news”.

2. Community. The unbeliever is still in the minority, and discussing and working through some of the remaining questions can be difficult in our daily lives because most people, at least on some level, profess to believe in a higher power. In my experience the Atheist, Skeptic or Agnostic is typically a more intelligent and well rounded individual capable of thought processes that go beyond the easy answer.

This is not to say believers are unintelligent, however they have conditioned their mind and thought processes to be limited and to default to the easy answer when reasoning goes beyond their comfort zone, they hit a mental or spiritual wall along the way.

The community aspect of the unbeliever may appear to some to be an attempt to propagate or evangelize. However, when a place such as The Friendly Atheist is visited, what did you expect to find? If you pick up a book entitled “The God Delusion” What do you think you will read? So these aspects of community are not evangelistic efforts but rather like minded people working through their path to complete truth. I have met some of the most intelligent people in my life through this community.

3. Service. We now believe (as we did then) that there is more to life. More than the mental slavery of guilt, more than the chronic state of inadequacy, more than the feeling of shame, more than questioning whether every action is a sin, more than judging everyone and damming them to hell for a different belief system, more than the internalized regret for questioning ones belief system, more….. Many want to share that liberty with others to explain there is another way. To talk about how life is better now than it was then, that all the things that moved them in religion can and are still moving. The evangelical aspects of the unbeliever are existent because the unbeliever wants to share with his fellow humans a different path.

4. Preservation and improvement. I believe that all major positive changes in society are a result of an unbeliever standing up and crying foul on a practice or belief supported by faith. In days past the unbeliever who stood up may have been beheaded, burned at the stake, drawn and quartered or worse. It is it the unbeliever that has led the fight for human rights and change. Many of these changes would not be possible with out the propagation aspect of the unbeliever. The unbeliever must get the believer to see things a different way in order to create societal changes such as equality for women, the end of racism, sexual preference, a woman’s right to choose, sex education and so on… So part of the need to evangelize the “New good news” is trying to effectuate positive change on the unbeliever’s fellow humans.

5. Defense. The Atheist, Skeptic and Agnostic belief system (or lack thereof) is constantly attacked by the religious zealots. Just the concept of the unbeliever is threatening to them, as if the unbeliever’s bus sign is somehow going to universally disprove the existence of God Almighty. Since the unbeliever is under attack it is the naturally state of any person to resist this attack. Silence would suggest either no reasonable response to the attack or a acceptance of the attack on merit. Neither of which is a valid response. If the believer is going to attack the unbeliever, a response is required.

~AP~

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