The Issachar Report<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
1 Chronicles 12:2
Dennis A. Wright, DMin
 

"The Atheistic Worldview"

Fundamental to the Atheistic Worldview is the concept that God does not exist and that the entire universe came into being as a result of random chance, starting with the Big Bang.  Darwinian evolution is just one consequence of this worldview.  Random chance-just a roll of the dice! 
Albert Einstein once stated, "God does not play dice [with the universe]."  Some have yanked this quotation out of context to show that Einstein believed in the Christian God.  [It actually refers to Einstein's refusal to accept the uncertainties indicated by quantum theory.  Furthermore, Einstein's religious background was Jewish rather than Christian.]
Einstein's worldview can be seen in his own words: "I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings."  Einstein is only partially correct, for God does reveal Himself "in the orderly harmony of what exists."  Romans 1 and Psalm 19 state that God has made His existence known to all men.  This is called Natural Revelation.  King David goes so far as to say, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God' " (Psalm 14:1).
So, just how widespread is the Atheistic Worldview?  It has been wisely stated that there are no real atheists or agnostics in the world, just people who are trying to run from God.  Nevertheless, several religions make the claim to be atheistic-examples would include Secular Humanism, Philosophical Marxism, and some forms of Satanism-but do bona fide atheists actually exist?  We shall see.
 

Those who strive to make <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />America a totally secular society do so by masking the intrinsic religious nature of secular humanism.  The first Humanist Manifesto (1933) says that Atheism is "a vital, fearless, and frank religion" and that the Manifesto was written, "to establish such a religion."  The Humanist Manifesto II (1973) notes: "No deity will save us; we must save ourselves."  The Humanist Manifesto III (2003) adds, "Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life . . . without supernaturalism."
There are those who insist that secular humanism is not a religion.  However, the coup de grâce is the fact that the American Humanist Association is actually registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) non-profit religious organization.
 

Today, as I write this column, H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is opening on the silver screen in New York.  Had he not failed an astronomical physics test and several other crucial exams at the Normal School of Science in London Wells might have become an obscure academician rather than a writer.  Wells flirted with the worst ideas of his era.  After interviewing Vladimir Lenin, Wells called him "creative" and described communism as the best hope for reforming Russia.  The man simply never met a collectivist movement that didn't fascinate him.  "There is good in these Fascists," he said of Italians in 1927.  "There is something brave and well-meaning about them."  He despised Catholicism and mocked Jewish traditions as "nonsense."  It was for views such as these that George Orwell delivered a blunt verdict in 1941: "Much of what Wells has imagined and worked for is physically there in Nazi Germany."
Wells was in fact a strident aficionado of the evolutionary creed, which he learned from biologist Thomas H. Huxley at the Normal School.  The War of the Worlds is best interpreted as an aggressive statement of what C.S. Lewis called "Wellsianity"-the promotion of materialistic science as true faith.  This is certainly not a Christian worldview.
I remember April 12, 1961, when Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin blasted off aboard Vostok I, thus becoming the first man is space.  While in orbit he commented, "I don't see any god up here."  The belief of a good Marxist?  Or was it, perhaps, a bone thrown to Nikita Khrushchev for propaganda purposes?
 
Satanism
While some Satanists do believe in a literal devil that they worship, Anton LaVey, the founder of the Church of Satan, did not.  He said, "Satanism is just a system of religious trappings for hedonism."  And he was quite skillful at practicing hedonism.    
 
 
 
Dennis A. Wright, DMin. is Founder and President of Understanding The Times Ministries.  An accomplished writer and educator, Wright has spoken in churches and conferences all over America on spiritual counterfeits and Christian Worldview topics.  He can be emailed at [email protected] and his new website can be found at www.UnderstandingTheTimes.org.