The Unauthorized Homily

By Bill Dunn

A commentary on the Scripture readings from the Sunday Lectionary

(Scripture reading for Sunday, November 30th: Isaiah 63:16-64:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37)

IS FAITH BEING ‘EXPELLED’ THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON?

This week is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of our four-week long buildup to the celebration of the birth of our Savior. (As opposed to the retail industry’s four-MONTH long buildup to the celebration of the birth of maxed-out credit cards.)

We should take a moment to stop and think about exactly what we are celebrating during this season. As Christians, we believe God is real, and we believe His only begotten Son came down from Heaven and for our sake became a human being. That is a one-sentence summary of the Christmas story.

As has been the case for many years, some people in our culture do not believe this story. They neither have the general faith in a divine Creator, nor the specific faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior. But a recent phenomenon is the fact these non-believers have abandoned a “live and let live” attitude, and now actively, and sometimes viciously, denigrate religious faith.

For example, in the last few years there has been a rash of best-selling books by leading atheists mocking religious people. Unsubtle titles such as “God Is Not Great” and “The God Delusion” have turned cranky atheist authors into multi-millionaires. (So don’t be surprised if a steady stream of similar hate screeds continue to appear, as other secular writers try to cash in on this wave of faith-bashing.)

In recent years the Christmas season has become ground zero in the ACLU’s war against religion. All signs and symbols of the holiday with even a tenuous connection to Christianity—such as crèches on public property, traditional carols that dare to mention the name Jesus, and even candy cane decorations in schools—are passionately opposed via lawsuits, as if red and green paper taped to classroom walls is more dangerous than, say, Al-Qaida.

As usual, the small minority of angry atheists are setting the agenda, while the vast majority of Christians are too timid to say anything (don’t want to be labeled as “intolerant,” of course) or simply have no clue that there is a culture war raging in our country.

The secular attack against faith got an early start this year, when a 13-year-old student in New Jersey was sent home from school on Halloween for dressing up as Jesus. The school principal said his costume was “offensive.” Let’s see, the entire student body of a middle school dresses up for Halloween, and with the way kids dress these days, only ONE costume in the whole school was considered offensive? What are the odds of that? Something seems fishy to me.

In a different country with a Christian heritage, England, a new marketing campaign put advertisements on the sides of the famous double-decker buses. Sponsored by an atheist group, the billboards read: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”

One person who made a sizeable donation to this ad campaign is Dr. Richard Dawkins, the author of “The God Delusion.” (More about him later.)

I’m puzzled why they put the word “probably” in there. If they are such hardcore atheists, why didn’t they say, “There’s DEFINITELY no God”? Does this mean that deep down they think it’s a possibility that God might exist? Hmm, that’s a pretty dangerous gamble, if you ask me. Also, the ad campaign plays on the stereotype that Christians worry too much and do not enjoy life. Sure, there are enough believers out there who fret and moan and make life miserable for others, but all in all, my experience is that people who embrace the Lord’s love and forgiveness, and who try to avoid sin and selfishness, are a whole lot more happy and peaceful than non-believers.

Last year at this time I recommended that everyone purchase the DVD of the movie “The Nativity Story,” which did fairly poorly in the theaters. Maybe if a large number of Christians bought the DVD and made the movie profitable after all, I theorized, then Hollywood would not shy away from making faith-friendly and family-friendly flicks.

This year another movie falls into the same category. Back in the spring Ben Stein released a documentary titled “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.” The movie explores the fact that in colleges and in the scientific community today, neo-Darwinism is the only philosophical worldview allowed.

What this means is everyone who wants to teach science or be employed as a scientific researcher must adhere to the view which says: all life on earth came into existence by random, accidental, natural, unplanned processes. If anyone even suggests that there might be evidence of “design” in nature, then his or her career will be ruined.

Stein does an excellent job of explaining this totalitarian “thought police” situation. He interviews a number of respected scientists and professors who had their careers derailed because they committed the unpardonable sin of simply mentioning the phrase “intelligent design.” Stein also interviews many of today’s leading atheists, including Dr. Richard Dawkins.

The segment of the film with Dawkins’ interview is worth the price of the DVD alone. I don’t know how in the world Stein got him to be so open and honest, but Dawkins makes some remarkable statements. He acknowledges that although the scientific community publicly claims that Darwinism and religious faith can coexist, the truth is that the modern neo-Darwinian philosophy makes it utterly impossible to believe in any kind of god, any kind of spirituality, any kind of life after death, or any kind of supernatural occurrence in the universe.

In the most stunning moment of the entire movie, Dawkins admits that scientists have no clue how life on earth first began. They always proclaim in public that the matter is settled, that Darwinism can confidently explain how that first ever complex single-cell organism originated, but in reality they have no idea. And their philosophical foundation—which says: natural explanations ONLY!—prohibits them from ever considering that an outside intelligent agent may have played a role.

Except…and here’s the real eye-opener, except if an outside intelligent agent happened to be purely natural itself. Dawkins proposes a theory that highly evolved beings on another planet assembled the basic building blocks of earthly life, amino acids, proteins, DNA molecules, etc. Then these super aliens “seeded” our planet with these living organisms. From that moment on, so the theory goes, Darwinian mutation and natural selection took over, and the rest is history.

Stein’s incredulity upon hearing this fantasy story is comical, which is not surprising. After all, he just heard one of the most renowned and respected atheists of our time claim that God cannot possibly exist or have anything to do with life on earth, but super evolved space aliens who “seeded” our planet with living organisms is perfectly plausible.

So anyway, go out and buy multiple copies of this DVD. Keep one for yourself and give the rest to your friends and loved ones as Christmas gifts. Then, after being both entertained and educated, spend a few moments giving thanks to our Creator God for His love and mercy. Also, thank Him for sending His Son to save our souls, the event we are preparing for during this season.

©2008