Starlightblog

Who would have imagined we would see atheists outing fellow atheists
for the supposed good of the country? Well that is the thinking
behind the new Richard Dawkins, “OUT Campaign.” Dawkins, one of
the foremost atheists of our day and author of the best-selling The
God Delusion recently published a provocative piece on his website.
In The Out Campaign he challenges atheists everywhere to throw off
passivity and move into assertive mode.

Dawkins is convinced that the religiosity of America is greatly
exaggerated and that great numbers of unbelieving skeptics are out
there who must be found and then empowered to speak their unbelief.
He believes that the unbelieving, “choir is large, but much of it
remains in the closet.” He is convinced that atheists, “are
mouthing the words sotto voce with head bowed and eyes lowered.”

The campaign encourages coming out by publicly confessing unbelief;
reaching out to others who are contemplating such action; speaking
out by organizing conferences, writing letters, lobbying politicians
etc.; standing out by organizing or joining atheist associations,
deploying bumper stickers on your car, and even wearing T-shirts with
an atheistic message. The crusade even pushes breaking out where one
might celebrate the “coming out” of many and honor their courage
in breaking habits of a lifetime, breaking with tradition, and
breaking with religious conformity.

Richard Dawkins is nobody’s fool. He knows that social movements
(including religions) from time immemorial have become hugely
successful by employing precisely the type of strategies he is
suggesting. He is surely aware that in the late 1790’s infidel clubs
abounded in cities across America to such an extent that some thought
the national existence was in danger. To be sure, he doesn’t like
the idea that the community he seeks to build will be described as a
quasi-religious movement, but he is willing to take the flak for the
sake of having impact on society.

I doubt that in the short term there is anything to fear from
organized atheism. But there is certainly something here for
Christians to learn. Dawkins, in brief, wants to out atheists from
their closets, have them live open, confessionally unbelieving lives,
and get them actively pushing their values on the culture at large.
We’ve already seen homosexuals come out of the closet and push a sea
change on Canadian society by their demands for same-sex
‘marriage’, etc. Occultic beliefs exploded out of the closet in
the hippie movement of the ‘70s, and in the ‘90s the whole New Age
panoply of falsehoods erupted from its hiding place and won over a
goodly portion of our culture. Wiccans are no longer closeted, indeed
it has become chic for some women to openly proclaim that they are
witches.

It’s ironic, is it not, that now the only people left in secretive
closets are Christians? Ironic because unbelievers like Dawkins are
now openly aping what Christians have always been called to do. Jesus
described his followers as “the light of the world”, and compared
them to a city set on a hill that could not be hidden. He gave the
clear mandate, “Let your light so shine before men in such a way
that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in
heaven.” Jesus never intended that his followers would be secreted,
secluded and silent.

I would just love to see this wake up call for atheists become
instead a wake up call for Christians. But should believers ever
stoop to learn from the infidels? Well in this case the atheists have
simply stolen biblical truth and applied it to their own purposes.
Those in disbelief have become wiser than the children of light. But
it’s long past time for children of light to heed the simple call of
Jesus.

I call for believers in Jesus Christ to unashamedly out themselves
before friends, neighbors and, yes even enemies. I call for
Christians to pro actively stand out by taking open stands on issues
like abortion, and homosexuality. I call for Christians to speak out
by voicing their outrage with immoral sexual teaching infiltrating
the curriculum in our public schools.

Yes, it’s time we learned. Who would have thought that outed,
committed infidels would be the teachers?