Newsweek on God and Atheism
The April 9 issue of Newsweek carries two articles on the question of the existence of God. The first article, penned by Jon Meacham, managing editor of Newsweek, is entitled Is God Real?. Here’s Meacham’s conclusion on the debate between radical atheists and radical believers: “The key is how a culture manages the different factions contending for influence in a given time and place. The brilliance of the American experiment lies in its creation of a republican arena in which all manner of forces—religious, economic, geographic, what have you—can take their stand within the confines of a system in which checks and balances limit the possibilities of radicalism of any kind. Our government is slow, cumbersome and resistant to reform—by design.”
What follows the article is a revealing conversation between Meacham, Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California and author of The Purpose Driven Life, and Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith: God Debate: Sam Harris vs. Rick Warren. Here’s a bit:
JON MEACHAM: Rick, since you’re the home team, we’ll start with Sam. Sam, is there a God in the sense that most Americans think of him?
SAM HARRIS: There’s no evidence for such a God, and it’s instructive to notice that we’re all atheists with respect to Zeus and the thousands of other dead gods whom now nobody worships.
Rick, what is the evidence of the existence of the God of Abraham?
RICK WARREN: I see the fingerprints of God everywhere. I see them in culture. I see them in law. I see them in literature. I see them in nature. I see them in my own life. Trying to understand where God came from is like an ant trying to understand the Internet. Even the most brilliant scientist would agree that we only know a fraction of a percent of the knowledge of the universe.
HARRIS: Any scientist must concede that we don’t fully understand the universe. But neither the Bible nor the Qur’an represents our best understanding of the universe. That is exquisitely clear.
WARREN: To you.
HARRIS: There is so much about us that is not in the Bible. Every specific science from cosmology to psychology to economics has surpassed and superseded what the Bible tells us is true about our world.
Here’s also part of the results of the Newsweek survey conducted on March 31 that is connected to this discussion: God’s Numbers.
12. Which one of the following statements come closest to your views about the origin and development of human beings? Humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God guided this process (or) Humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life, but God had no part in this process (or) God created humans pretty much in the present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so?
God guided process | God had no part | Created in present form | Other/Don’t Know
Total: 30% | 13% | 48% | 9%
Evangelical Protestants: 18% | 4% | 73% | 5%
Non-Evangelical Protestants: 42% | 9% | 39% | 10%
Catholics: 42% | 11% | 41% | 6%
Agnostics/Atheists: 27% | 45% | 13% | 15%
13. Do you think the scientific theory of evolution is well-supported by evidence and widely accepted within the scientific community?
Well-supported | Not well-supported | Don’t Know
Total: 48% | 39% | 13%
Evangelical Protestants: 25% | 63% | 12%
Non-Evangelical Protestants: 57% | 24% |19%
Catholics: 58% | 33% | 9%
Agnostics/Atheists: 73% | 18% | 9%
14. Do you believe in God?
Yes: 91%
No: 6%
Don’t know: 3%