A Conversation With Mr. Atheist
(I claim no originality to this argument. I'm sure someone has already made it somewhere because it's so obvious)
In my many travels and wanderings through this world, I chanced upon a man I had seen before but never spoken too. Now this man's name was Mr. Atheist, from the well known city of Skeptic in the country of Disbelief. As we walked down the road a bit, and he discovering I am a Christian, we began talking about all those things related to God and His ways. Now it chanced that Mr. Atheist made this remark:
Mr. Atheist: Well, I shall never believe in any deity whatsoever, and I certainly don't want my children hearing such nonsense.
Me: But tell me, I pray, why not? If it is nonsense, and if your children are as smart as you, don't you think they'll eventually realize it's nonsense?
Mr. Atheist: Well I uh, yes....I think they could realize that on their own, but what with all those influences like yourself, and churches telling them it is true, they may believe it all their life. Huh, it's like believing in Santa Claus!
Me: Interesting you should mention Santa. Tell me, do you tell your children that Santa is real?
Mr. Atheist: Sure, what's the harm? They like it, and it's helps them behave all year ya know.
Me: I see. Tell me friend, why are okay with telling your children that Santa Claus exists, but not God? Seems to me like a contradiction of principles.
Mr. Atheist: No it's not. Santa doesn't cause all the problems in this world that Christians do with their religion.
Me: In what way?
Mr. Atheist: Christians infringe on our right to live as we please. They scare little kids into being good with stories of hell and so forth.
Me: And Santa? Doesn't he only give toys to the nice kids? Doesn't he have a "naughty and nice list"? Who's to say who the naughty or nice kids are if there no absolutes? In fact, the very act of telling your kids about Santa is to admit there is such a thing as right and wrong, that there's a higher power in this world than them.
Mr. Atheist: That may be true but Santa's followers aren't rabid radicals and fanatics who actively try to get others to believe in him.
Me: Not sure about that. Are you okay with your local school putting up decorations with Santa Claus?
Mr. Atheist: Sure
Me: What about a Nativity?
Mr. Atheist: Why not?
Mr. Atheist: Because that impose on my desire to have my kids uninfluenced by Christianity.
Me: So.........what I feel the same way about Santa Claus?
Mr. Atheist: Okay you're just confusing everything! This is two different things we're talking about!
Me: How?
Mr. Atheist: It's just not the same.After all, kids realize that Santa isn't real before very long, so there's no harm done.
Me: So wait a minute. How come your kids can realize Santa doesn't exist without any help from you, but they need your help not to believe in God?
Mr. Atheist: Well that's because there are no outside influences telling them Santa is real and perpetuating that belief.
Me: Ooookay, have you tuned into the local Christmas station? Seems to me like some impressionable kids could get the idea that "Hey all these grown ups believe Santa is real!"Then's there's Hollywood....you know, all those movies where Santa is real but nobody believes it?
Mr. Atheist: Yeah but they're not serious like you guys, and the kids eventually stop believing.
Me: I'll grant that but it's not the point. We're talking about how outside influences can effect a child's ability to determine whether something is real or a myth, like Santa. I think the fact that kids don't continue believing in Santa despite the radio or TV shows that they can resist and think apart from influences. My point is, this happens with Santa but not with God. Kids who believe God exists when they are young with often continue to believe this when they older, if they stop it's because of someone like you not their own realizing "hey, my parents just made this up." Children in the past and even today are dying for the name of Christ and their refusal to deny Him. Know any kids who'd die for Santa?
Mr. Atheist: Your argument isn't really getting you anywhere. You've only showed that kids, if told Santa is real, stop believing in him eventually, despite Hollywood and the radio, but that kids, if told God is real, don't stop unless acted upon by an outside influence. It doesn't prove if God is real or not, it's just a discourse in child psychology.
Me: But I'm not finished. What I'm getting at is this- the reason you won't let your kids be told that God exists is because you're afraid that, unlike when you tell them of Santa, they'll actually continue to believe because deep down you know there's something true about what we Christians say. You're not afraid to tell kids Santa is real because he isn't. You are a afraid to let your kids be told God is real because deep down you know He is.
Mr. Atheist didn't answer but just walked, muttering something about Christians and Santa Claus and something I couldn't quite make out.
In my many travels and wanderings through this world, I chanced upon a man I had seen before but never spoken too. Now this man's name was Mr. Atheist, from the well known city of Skeptic in the country of Disbelief. As we walked down the road a bit, and he discovering I am a Christian, we began talking about all those things related to God and His ways. Now it chanced that Mr. Atheist made this remark:
Mr. Atheist: Well, I shall never believe in any deity whatsoever, and I certainly don't want my children hearing such nonsense.
Me: But tell me, I pray, why not? If it is nonsense, and if your children are as smart as you, don't you think they'll eventually realize it's nonsense?
Mr. Atheist: Well I uh, yes....I think they could realize that on their own, but what with all those influences like yourself, and churches telling them it is true, they may believe it all their life. Huh, it's like believing in Santa Claus!
Me: Interesting you should mention Santa. Tell me, do you tell your children that Santa is real?
Mr. Atheist: Sure, what's the harm? They like it, and it's helps them behave all year ya know.
Me: I see. Tell me friend, why are okay with telling your children that Santa Claus exists, but not God? Seems to me like a contradiction of principles.
Mr. Atheist: No it's not. Santa doesn't cause all the problems in this world that Christians do with their religion.
Me: In what way?
Mr. Atheist: Christians infringe on our right to live as we please. They scare little kids into being good with stories of hell and so forth.
Me: And Santa? Doesn't he only give toys to the nice kids? Doesn't he have a "naughty and nice list"? Who's to say who the naughty or nice kids are if there no absolutes? In fact, the very act of telling your kids about Santa is to admit there is such a thing as right and wrong, that there's a higher power in this world than them.
Mr. Atheist: That may be true but Santa's followers aren't rabid radicals and fanatics who actively try to get others to believe in him.
Me: Not sure about that. Are you okay with your local school putting up decorations with Santa Claus?
Mr. Atheist: Sure
Me: What about a Nativity?
Mr. Atheist: Why not?
Mr. Atheist: Because that impose on my desire to have my kids uninfluenced by Christianity.
Me: So.........what I feel the same way about Santa Claus?
Mr. Atheist: Okay you're just confusing everything! This is two different things we're talking about!
Me: How?
Mr. Atheist: It's just not the same.After all, kids realize that Santa isn't real before very long, so there's no harm done.
Me: So wait a minute. How come your kids can realize Santa doesn't exist without any help from you, but they need your help not to believe in God?
Mr. Atheist: Well that's because there are no outside influences telling them Santa is real and perpetuating that belief.
Me: Ooookay, have you tuned into the local Christmas station? Seems to me like some impressionable kids could get the idea that "Hey all these grown ups believe Santa is real!"Then's there's Hollywood....you know, all those movies where Santa is real but nobody believes it?
Mr. Atheist: Yeah but they're not serious like you guys, and the kids eventually stop believing.
Me: I'll grant that but it's not the point. We're talking about how outside influences can effect a child's ability to determine whether something is real or a myth, like Santa. I think the fact that kids don't continue believing in Santa despite the radio or TV shows that they can resist and think apart from influences. My point is, this happens with Santa but not with God. Kids who believe God exists when they are young with often continue to believe this when they older, if they stop it's because of someone like you not their own realizing "hey, my parents just made this up." Children in the past and even today are dying for the name of Christ and their refusal to deny Him. Know any kids who'd die for Santa?
Mr. Atheist: Your argument isn't really getting you anywhere. You've only showed that kids, if told Santa is real, stop believing in him eventually, despite Hollywood and the radio, but that kids, if told God is real, don't stop unless acted upon by an outside influence. It doesn't prove if God is real or not, it's just a discourse in child psychology.
Me: But I'm not finished. What I'm getting at is this- the reason you won't let your kids be told that God exists is because you're afraid that, unlike when you tell them of Santa, they'll actually continue to believe because deep down you know there's something true about what we Christians say. You're not afraid to tell kids Santa is real because he isn't. You are a afraid to let your kids be told God is real because deep down you know He is.
Mr. Atheist didn't answer but just walked, muttering something about Christians and Santa Claus and something I couldn't quite make out.
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