The Decline of Atheism

Last week the top five movies at the box office were:

1. Avatar
2. Book of Eli
3. Legion
4. The Tooth Fairy
5. Lovely Bones

I find it interesting that four of the top five movies last week all have significant religious overtones.  These box office hits say something very interesting about the decline of atheism.  Each of these movies flagrantly tap into deeply spiritual themes that drives the script- reflecting I believe the patently religious nature of the modern audience.

Ironically, popular atheists like Richard Dawkins keep insisting that interest in religion will die out within the next century.  A prediction that is inconveniently contradicted by the unprecedented growth of religion and especially Christianity world wide. As Dinesh D'souza so aptly put it:

The world is witnessing a huge explosion of religious conversion and growth, and Christianity is growing faster than any other religion.  Neitzsches proclamation that "God is dead" is now proven false.  Nietzsche is dead.  The ranks of unbelievers is shrinkiing as a proportion of the world's population…[this growth] has not gone unnoticed by leading atheists. Some of these nonbelievers, most of them Darwinists, express candid puzzlement at religion’s enduring vitality.  (Dinesh D'Souza, What's So Great About Christianity)

Hollywood knows something Dawkins won't admit- the world is becoming more religious, not less.  A hundred years ago during the rise of secularism it seemed people were arguing over the question of the existence of God.  But today there is a heightened interest in everything "spiritual".   People are more inclined toward religion and accepting of religious concepts and supernaturalism.  But this movement toward the acceptance of religion also brings challenges to modern believers.  Though more people are inclined to believe in the concept of God, they also seem to be somewhat confused about exact nature of that belief.

This is why we as Christians must "be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks to give the reason for the hope (we) have." (1 Peter 3:15).  It is extremely important that we be able to effectively distinguish our belief from the multi-religious cutlure we interact with.

It is here that men like C.S. Lewis can be a big help.  Lewis contemplated Christianity in contrast to every other religious world view and wrote extensively about his process of belief.  The writings that resulted from that exercise are a wonderful gift to  the thoughtful Christian.  

Last week I made the point that one of the key issues for C.S. Lewis' conversion was that he found in Christianity something he could not see in other religions- that Jesus Christ was a historical figure and that the account of his life was not written as legend or myth, but that it was an obvious historical account.    Here is the exact quote I cited:

I have been reading poems, romances, vision-literature, legends, myths all my life. I know what they are like. I know that not one of them is like this. Of this text there are only two possible views. Either this is reportage– Or else, some unknown writer in the second century, without known predecessors, or successors, suddenly anticipated the whole technique of modern, novelistic, realistic narrative. If it is untrue, it must be narrative of that kind. The reader who doesn’t see this has simply not learned to read.   (C. S. Lewis, “Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism”)

I don't think this issue can be overstated.  Lewis, as a leading authority of ancient literary style, could see clearly that the claims of Christianity were so patently different from other religions, that they could not be easily dismissed.  And that the historicity of Christ turned comparitive religion "to dust".

When you have a clear picture of the dynamic doctrine of Christianity, as Lewis did, in contrast to all the other religions you encounter, it is much easier to talk to your friends about the difference between Christianity and the other popular trend religions found in Hollywood scripts.  The good news about religious interest is that people want to talk about it.  So as believers it is essential that we clearly identify our underlying belief.  In this way we can contend with culture with the love of Christ and avoid getting sucked into the vortex of competing religious perspectives that may make interesting movies but have nothing to do with spiritual reality.   By this I mean that it is important for modern believers to be both compassionate and thoughtful.

Because after all the box office is teaching us that people are interested.

I would encourage you to take the time to watch the video below for a better picture of how C.S. Lewis went from atheism to theism to Christianity:



For further reading on this topic, I recommend the following books:

What So Great About Christianity
God in the Dock
Mere Christianity