“For some,” wrote Rev. Cantwell, having an atheist minister “is simply a natural extension of our commitment to be an open, inclusive, and questioning church,” adding that “diversity in our church has been and will continue to be a source of strength.”
I believe these types of churches, **ones that believe anything goes, will not be around too **much longer. We need God.
Just because something no longer meets any human need, does not mean it “will not be around too much longer”. Lots of things that meet no human need, or are harmful, do in fact linger, sometimes even expand. Communism was totally useless, counterproductive economically as well as morally. It lingered. Lots of other things.
People like to have a sense of religious experience, frequent self-affirmation, sense of community. I would trace this back to George Bernard Shaw, who preached about the so called “Life Force”. This was utter nonsense, but millions of people have latched onto this worship of commitment - not commitment to this or to that, but commitment to
commitment. He and others spread the idea of faith in faith, spirituality as “good” in itself.
In a way it’s a healthy sign that a few unbelievers, clergy and laity, are explicitly identifying as such. C S Lewis wrote somewhere that sincere, honest rejection of the faith is at least a step in the direction of sincerity and honesty; maybe the first in a long time. There is hope for such persons. They may be stepping on the right road.
The real danger to Christianity are those who redefine all their opinions as Christianity, who are no more converted than the atheists, but continue to hide behind their pulpit.
