The Preacher and the Atheist

Check out the Newsweek-sponsored discussion/debate between Rick Warren and Sam Harris. Rick is the pastor of one of America’s largest churches and author of the mega-bestseller, the Purpose-Driven Life. Sam is a noted author and an atheist who recently wrote a provocative column called God’s Dupes.

Newsweek introduces the discussion this way: “On a cloudy California day, the atheist Sam Harris sat down with the Christian pastor Rick Warren to hash out Life's Biggest Question--Is God real?" Jon Meacham summarizes many of the issues in an essay called Is God Real? The Debate Over Religion that accompanies the discussion between Warren and Harris.    

It's all very interesting and well worth reading, even though I doubt anyone will be convinced one way or the other as a result. A brief perusal of the blogosphere reveals that responses tend to vary along party lines. Atheists think Sam Harris got the upper hand, critics of Rick Warren think he could have done better, fans of Rick Warren think he did a good job. And so it goes. Your response probably says more about what you already believe than anything else.

Sam Harris raises some good points about prayer, the problem of evil, and he points out some problem passages in the Bible. Rick Warren argues that evidence for God’s existence can be plainly seen in nature, culture, law, and in every human heart. They argue a bit over the inerrancy of the Bible and the virgin birth. Sam says the Bible supports slavery. Rick says he misrepresents the Bible and points out that Christians such as William Wilberforce led the fight to abolish slavery. They argue about presuppositions. They argue about atheism and the atrocities committed by the Communists in the 20th century. The discussion over the true source of morality points out the vast difference in worldviews between the two men. Sam clearly has a strong moral code that guides his life, but he evidently finds the source of that morality within himself. He notes that "empathy and compassion are our most basic moral impulses," but does not believe they come from God. Sam says Rick is intellectually dishonest to say he is sure Jesus was born of a virgin. Rick makes a Romans 1-type argument for the "God-shaped vacuum" (he didn’t use that term) inside every human heart. Sam likes the good works that missionaries do to help people, but he doesn't like the fact that they preach the "divinity of Jesus" to followers of other religions. He would prefer the missionaries stick to feeding the hungry and healing the sick. He also thinks that it is dangerous to live in a 21st-century world where so many people follow "first-century superstition." Rick points to the resurrection of Jesus as the hope of the world. Rick makes one statement that I do find unusual: "(E)ven if there were no such thing as heaven, I would put my trust in Christ because I have found it a meaningful, satisfactory, significant way to live." I think he was trying to point out the life-changing power of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (which is true), but I don't think the Apostle Paul would have said it in precisely that way. In fact, Paul seems to say the opposite in 1 Corinthian 15:19 when he declares that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, our faith is futile and we are of all people most to be pitied because we have deluded ourselves by believing something that is not true.