Truth matters, regardless of beliefs

[Mary Naeem]

Truth matters, regardless of beliefs.

Integrity is a most important point. You as an individual should be able to explain why you accept or reject some particular view of the world. And your explanation should reflect the actual beliefs in question. This requirement applies universally, even if you prefer to define your atheism as merely “a lack of belief.” We mention this because distortions of religious belief tend to drown out the real thing. It’s common to hear descriptions of Christianity that are profoundly divergent from what Christians actually believe.

In other words, you can’t honestly say you’ve considered the message of Christianity unless you actually know what that message is. Dismissing the existence of George Washington on the basis that stories about him throwing a silver dollar across the Potomac are myths isn’t good reasoning. We cannot allow a caricature to crowd out actual facts and then make a judgment based on the caricature.

We are not suggesting that all atheists are uninformed. On the contrary, we acknowledge that many atheists can articulate the Christian position accurately. However, in our experience, many more self-professed atheists, when asked to give an explanation of Christianity, present a cartoonish view. If we are belaboring this point, it’s only because misrepresentations of Christianity are so often a key component of atheists’ arguments.