The Tolerance Memo

As Stan Guthrie points out, atheism is in, and as we have seen with some recent volumes from their ranks, they are clearly in a bad mood. In his article "Answering the Atheists" from the November issue of Christianity Today, Mr. Guthrie quotes from Christopher Hitchens's book God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything showing their new edgy approach: "Many of the teachings of Christianity are, as well as being incredible and mythical, immoral." Richard Dawkins, Guthrie notes, "suggests that believers 'just shut up.'" To which he the adds: "Apparently, they didn't get the tolerance memo."

Guthrie makes a profound point in those last few words tinged with tongue-in-cheek humor. Atheists make much of the supposed intolerance of the church that chooses to believe in absolute truth as apposed to the relativism of popular culture. The mere fact that we might insist (at the direction of God's own word) that only those who believe in Christ will gain eternal life, labels us hopelessly rigid and even hateful. Yet when these vitriolic unbelievers take their shots, their unwillingness of allow equal showing in the marketplace of ideas is incredibly transparent. Yes, Guthrie may have a point: Apparently they didn't get that tolerance memo....

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