Cold Case Christianity: Talking with Atheists: A Few Observations from Berkeley

This is my reply to an article by J. Warner Wallace entitled

Talking with Atheists: A Few Observations from Berkeley

Posted: 23 Jul 2020 05:15 AM PDT

Brett Kunkle, Sean McDowell and I took students to Berkeley for several years, creating and facilitating trips to challenge young Christians and expose them to the arguments they may eventually face in their university experience.

If you try to inoculate your kids against atheism, you cannot complain if atheists try to inoculate their kids against Christianity. Unless you are a bigot who thinks Christians are always the special exception whenever playing by the rules would get them in intellectual trouble.

We typically invited local atheists to join us on these trips to make the case for what they believe. In the past we’ve listened to presentations from Richard Carrier, Mark Thomas, David Fitzgerald and Larry Hicok.

Then you aren't following the apostolic example.  Google what John said to Cerinthus at the bathhouse, then maybe you'll think twice before inviting the enemies of the gospel to make their case, you non-Christian hypocrite.

After each presentation we had the opportunity to engage the speaker in a question and answer session.

The apostles did not engage in question and answer with those who are already known to be steadfastly resistant to the gospel.  see above.

We also spent several days on the campus of UC Berkeley, talking with students and answering their questions about the Christian Worldview.

Did any of those students ask you how you could ever view sex within adult-child marriages as sinful, given that there is nothing in the bible calling it sinful?  Or do you tour college classrooms because you are more likely going to get softball objections from people who are more interested in getting their degree than in steamrolling Christianity?

You are a frightened coward, Mr. Wallace.  I will debate you any place, any time, any subject of your choosing.  But you are afraid to do it because you don't have the intellectual know-how to keep up when your stuff starts evaporating under cross-examination.  That's right, fool...just keep pushing all that old bullshit that has already been refuted 6,000 times over.  What are you gonna ask next?  Whether atheists can justify absolute morality?  If you are talking with an informed atheist like me, instead of a fool who hasn't figured it out yet, you might trip them up.  I guess that's why you ignore me like you ignore a land mine.  People might not tithe as much to your ministry if they knew how easy it is to refute your kindergarten Christian bullshit.

We met with the campus atheist clubs and sometimes even engaged in public forum discussions. We learned a lot from these trips, so I would like to share a few observations on what I’ve learned from our interactions.
We asked unbelieving speakers to come to our group to spend some time talking about why they are atheists. They were thoughtful, passionate and happy to tell us the reasons for their disbelief. Some offered classic objections to Christianity. Others argued against God’s existence from the problem of evil. After several hours of careful listening over the years, I’ve begun to recognize a number of commonalities in the stories and explanations I’ve heard from a variety of unbelievers on our Berkeley trips. Here are a few of my observations (in no particular order):

Those don't bother the atheists who use MY arguments.

It’s Not Always About the Evidence
Some atheists are not as unconvinced by the evidence as they are upset with believers. We saw a general disdain for Christians as we talked with our invited atheist speakers. They consistently pointed to alleged evils of Christianity (and Christians), even as they developed an evidential case against the existence of God. The evidence from history, science or philosophy isn’t always the underlying issue. Many skeptics are more troubled by a past experience or some perception about a Christian (or group of Christians).

Doesn't matter, you aren't going to show that those atheists are "unreasonable" to say "fuck you" to whatever held them down in the past.  And regardless, too many Christian scholars deny the literal interpretation of biblical hell, thus robbing you of the only basis you have for pretending atheists are in any danger or urgent danger.

Dad Has A Lot To Do With It
I want to be careful not to over-generalize here, but I often found a pattern in these interactions related to the relationship some of these speakers and guests had with their fathers. When asked to describe their relationship with their dads, hardcore atheists often had little good to say about them. One of these speakers said the best thing his dad ever did for him was to die. Many had fathers who were either absent, mean-spirited or overbearing, and (sadly) many of them had fathers who were involved in Christian ministries of one kind or another.

Doesn't apply to me.

Sometimes It’s About Politics
I also find many of our speakers had an underlying belief we, as Christians, are a monolithic conservative Republican voting block. They resented our ability to sway elections, and many of them would self-identify as “progressive” in their political or social ideology. It sometimes seems as though their animosity toward conservative Republicans informed their approach toward us. We are often able to bridge this divide by sharing our common concern for the poor and for the environment. As Christians, we share a broad concern for the world around us transcending politics. Once they realized this, many of our atheist guests softened slightly in their approach toward us.

Sometimes it is more reasonable to do what will make for peace in the land, than to push the fact that your opponent got it wrong.

They Really Do Think We Are Stupid
Sadly, in the early days of our trips to Berkeley, it was clear our invited atheist guests didn’t think much of us as an audience.

How could they?  YOU don't think much of them, if you read your bible.  You think they are idiotic numbskulls who are worthy of nothing except damnation.  So expect us to yell "fuck you" right back, bitch.

On the first mission trip, our guests assumed we would be simple-minded, culturally primitive, scientifically unsophisticated and philosophically illiterate.

You are.  But you keep that hidden by refusing to debate me.  That's right, now move on and write another article about the evils of evolution, you Jesus salesman who takes a commission, you.

These atheists had spoken to other Christian groups in the past, and their experiences apparently left them with this impression (many of them told us this was the case).

What would you rather? That we pretend stupid Christians are intellectually superior?  Sure, we'll do that just as soon as you start saying atheists are intellectually superior.  Deal?

Hopefully our interaction with them over the years demonstrated the existence of Christians who have reasoned though their trust in the claims of Christianity.

You don't answer the question "can atheists be reasonable to reject Christianity?" by simply pointing out that you have reasons to accept Christianity.  Sometimes two people can be equally reasonable to disagree upon a single alleged "fact".  Christianity's reasonableness, if any, does not automatically imply that non-Christians who know and reject the gospel, are thus "unreasonable".

We obviously come to different conclusions about the evidence than our atheist counterparts, but our path toward what we believe travels down a similar rational, evidential road. Our young Christian groups were engaging, thoughtful and evidentially articulate. Hopefully, we were good ambassadors for Christ in a hostile environment.

You were not.  You cannot find anything in the NT that will support your going around inviting those who serve the devil to make their case so you can then sit there asking them questions about it.  But given that you don't think things through very comprehensively, I can understand why you just take up the "American Christianity" sales pitch and make money with it.  Pleasing your customers is entirely possible even if you misinterpret the bible in the process. 

Many skeptics reject the claims of Christianity for reasons other than the strength (or weakness) of our evidences.

And they can be reasonable to do so in some instances.  All  men are not pigs, but if a young woman was recently raped and reacts by calling all men pigs, you can hardly blame her for such inaccuracy.