"Preach the Word,

Such language is ridiculed by the "New Atheists" such as Richard Dawkins, who says the atheists must "spread the good news. Evangelism [to convert the world to atheism] is a moral imperative." Although the Bible clearly distinguishes Christianity from all religions and separates their leaders (Buddha, Muhammad, et al.) from Christ, who is unique, atheists make no such distinction. Consequently, most of their arguments are irrelevant. The Bible denounces all religions as instruments of Satan to keep mankind in darkness, shut off from the light of the gospel by which alone one can be saved, for "the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not" (2 Cor 4:4).

Atheism is just one of the world's religions, and Satanic blindness is reflected in its arguments against God and Christianity. A recent secular article about the New Atheists was titled, "The Church of the Non-Believers." And it is a church-a church to which everyone must belong, if atheists get their way. In their religious fervor to destroy "religious faith" and to convert the entire world to their religion, they are blind to the true faith that motivates biblical Christians.
Dawkins says, "Faith is one of the world's great evils....[It is] belief that isn't based on evidence [and] the principal vice of any religion." Francis Collins, however (in charge of the Human Genome Project involving 2,300 scientists), who turned from unbelief to faith in Christ, says that Dawkins' definition of faith "certainly does not describe the faith of most serious believers of history nor of most of those of my personal acquaintance."

Many famous scientists, Nobel Prize winners, and some of the greatest historians and legal experts have turned from atheism to faith in the resurrected Christ-not by mystical or emotional experience but from verifiable evidence. The early pioneers in science, like Kepler, claimed that it was precisely their conviction that there was a creator that inspired their science to ever-greater heights. "Religion is not only wrong; it's evil," atheists fume, unaware that biblical Christianity is not a religion but a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Leading atheists harangue against religion, blind to the fact that the Bible is not about religion. In its more than 1,000 pages, the phrase "religious faith" is not found once, the word "religion" appears only five times, all in one verse, and the word "religious" twice in the next verse. All but one of these seven references is critical of "religion." Furthermore, in these few times that it mentions religion, the Bible never means what atheists foolishly denounce.

In their war against God, Dawkins and his fellow crusaders dishonestly equate Christian "fundamentalists" with murderous Muslims. In fact, atheists are themselves fundamentalists, seeking to impose their warped interpretation of the fundamentals of science on the world. Nor can the New Atheists be ignorant of the fact that the fundamentals of Islam (according to the Qur'an, Hadith, the dogmas and example of Muhammad, and 1,300 years of history) teach that Islam must be forced upon the entire world by murdering all who refuse to submit to Allah. Christ taught and lived entirely otherwise. Yet the New Atheists persist in equating Islam and Christianity simply because each is considered to be a "faith." Such irresponsible accusations permeate their arguments.

Yes, some who have called themselves Christians (Roman Catholic popes, Eastern Orthodox leaders, crusaders, numerous televangelists, et al.) have been guilty of all manner of evil. In the process, they have violated the teachings and example of Christ. But Muslim terrorists follow both Islamic teaching and the example of Muhammad and his successors who tortured and slaughtered millions from France to China for 13 centuries. Today's terrorism is just a hint of what Islam would continue to do if it could. The fundamentals of true Christianity promote love, freedom of choice, and forgiveness, not hatred and violence. The latter are the trademark of fundamentalist Islam. To equate the fundamentals of Islam with those of Christianity is reprehensible.

Atheists also perversely equate Christianity with the fanaticism and violence of the Crusades and Inquisition. Yet the crusaders were not biblical Christians; they violated everything Christ taught and slaughtered His brethren, the Jews, everywhere they went. It is gross dishonesty to attribute the crusaders' misconduct to biblical Christianity. From the days of Christ, multitudes of Christians have never given allegiance to Rome but to the Bible and to Christ alone. They were martyred by the millions by the church of Rome for centuries before the birth of Luther. From the 16th-century Reformation onward, millions of Roman Catholics embraced faith in the Bible and Christ alone and were martyred by the hundreds of thousands by the popes and their armies. To fail to distinguish between martyrs and their murderers is unconscionable.

The New Atheists, led by Dawkins, call themselves "the brights" and look upon theists as dimwits. Nobel laureate Steven Weinberg recently said, "The world needs to wake up from the long nightmare of religion....Anything we scientists can do to weaken the hold of religion should be done, and may in fact be our greatest contribution to civilization." Richard Dawkins says: "I am utterly fed up with the respect we have been brainwashed into bestowing on religion." Religion? As we've seen, atheists are tilting at windmills. In their fervor to convert the world to their religion, atheists betray their complete ignorance of biblical Christianity. The Bible is not a religious book and does not promote "religion."

Many Christians try to be "scientific" by adopting theistic evolution as compatible with Christianity. Their compromise does not impress atheists. Unashamedly, Dawkins declares that "evolution must lead to atheism" and "the atheist movement has...a moral imperative...to aggressively spread the good news...." Dawkins declares, "Should [theists] be free to impose their beliefs on their children? Is there something to be said for society stepping in?" This is dangerous totalitarian talk that makes one fear for parents and children alike. James Perloff put it well:

"But remember; 'The princess kissed the frog, and he turned into a handsome prince.' We call that a fairy tale. Evolution says frogs turn into princes, and we call it science....Is that science? Or is it, like the fraud of Piltdown Man, the forgeries of Haeckel's embryos, the misrepresentations of Inherit the Wind, and the coercions of the Supreme Court, merely part of a long effort to deny God?"

Atheists who end up in hell cannot blame the God they hate for excluding them from heaven. We need to rescue as many as we can from atheism's lies.