The Real Rebels

By Thomas C. Reeves, a Senior Fellow of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute. Among his dozen books are biographies of John F. Kennedy, Joseph R. McCarthy, Fulton J. Sheen, and Chester A. Arthur.

In reading a book of conversations with St. Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, I came upon this stunning sentence: “Religion is the greatest rebellion of men who do not want to live as beasts, who are not satisfied and will not rest until they reach and come to know their Creator.” How wholly countercultural. Among the self-described “brights” in the media and in academia, the explanations of reality have long rejected the supernatural. It is simply not fashionable to be pursuing Eternal Truth and personal holiness. Should we care?

On July 16, Peter Berkowitz of the George Mason University School of Law wrote a piece in the Wall Street Journal called “The New New Atheism.” It was a fascinating critique of several new books on the “horrors” of religious faith. Titles such as “The God Delusion,” “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” and “God: The Failed Hypothesis: How Science Shows that God Does not Exist,” have sold close to a million copies in less than a year. Berkowitz observes that “unlike the anti-modern atheism of Nietzsche and Heidegger, which regarded the death of God as a catastrophe for the human spirit, the new new atheism sees the loss of religious faith in the modern world as an unqualified good, lamenting only the perverse and widespread resistance to shedding once and for all the hopelessly backward belief in a divine presence in history.”

Berkowitz’s main target is the eloquent book by Christopher Hitchens, which sees all religion as an evil and destructive pathology. The law professor argues that the volume’s arguments are weak, sloppy (e.g. linking all faiths together as “religion,” regardless of content), and themselves based on rigid dogma (i.e. faith) and crude scientism. Berkowitz wonders “why the 20th century embrace of secularism unleashed human depravity of unprecedented proportions,” especially in light of Hitchens’ belief that atheism will subdue evil in the world and yield happiness and peace. He also calls attention to the vital contributions made by Christianity in the West’s respect for individual dignity and freedom.

I left the Berkowitz article thinking that however admirable his piece, he had overlooked the larger point, especially about Christianity. The truth or falsity of religious faith is not tied to scientific findings, quibbles about Scripture, or to the foundations of civil liberties and civil rights in Western Civilization. The question that must be asked about Christianity is simply this: Is it true? Is Jesus Christ alive (for without the miracle of the Resurrection the faith is a delusion) and at work in the hearts and minds of his followers? We must face facts: Billions of people over the centuries have personally and directly experienced the presence of God--his love, mercy, and forgiveness. The power of the Eucharist, for example, cannot be scrutinized scientifically, but it is very real. Like love, the sacrament defies scientific scrutiny, but untold millions have known its solace and inspiration. The same is true, of course, of other vital aspects of the faith, including Bible reading, sermons, and prayer.

Christianity has shaped and enriched lives for nearly 2,000 years and continues to be a major source of strength and hope all across the globe. It is a faith that emphasizes love, humility, self-giving and surrender to God. It’s not about politics, economics, or fashion of any sort. Thus it has always had many bitter enemies, especially among narcissists, radical secularists, and intellectuals who cannot abide the cross of Christ and what St. Paul defiantly calls the “foolishness of God.”

In our wealthy and hedonistic age, Christianity is clearly countercultural, and serious (as opposed to pro forma) Christians are by definition rebels--spiritually, ethically, and morally. St. Josemaria understood this completely, and he spent his life telling others, by word and example, that they were depriving themselves of the good life and eternal glory by choosing to live as mere beasts.

From: http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/41103.html