I received the following letter today by email:
Dear Dr. Koons,
My name is Anthony and I am 14 years old. I am a fan of yours and was wondering if I could receive your comment on some concerns that I have. Because I think you are a very good person with wisdom who can help me with this.
I’m asking for some advice on why I shouldn’t worry about tougher atheists like Oppy or Sobel or any heavy and deep books defending naturalism or atheism. Because from answering all of the new atheist and Richard Dawkins level atheists made me feel like the truth of theism is indisputable. but after hearing about the more philosophical atheism its been giving me anxiety.
But my concern is that how can I not feel intimidated by tougher atheists? It feels as if anything that I find to be obvious like the past is finite, problem of evil doesn’t work, there must be a necessary being, etc, there always seems to be a smart and rigorous rebuttal to that by some very smart people.
What I want to ask you is what are some good reasons why I shouldn’t fear tougher atheists or their works? Why should I have confidence in the arguments for God’s existence now even if I haven’t heard much atheist replies?
If an atheist and theist were to have unlimited time discussing Gods existence, what are some good judgements to say that the theist will have the upper hand in discussions?
And why do so many smart people fall for such basic delusions like the denial of the PSR or an infinite regress? Is it that they aren’t absurd because there are clever arguments defending it? Are these clever arguments on a par with theism?
Also, what do you think the future of atheism will be like? Will the atheist naturally be staggered because of their views? Will it always be neck and neck?
Anyways I hope you have time to respond. I think this is an important thing to teach people who might not have time to answer these philosophers. Especially if there mission of faith is something other than growing intellectually like doing more ethical works.
Thanks,
Anthony
Here is my reply:
Dear Anthony,
I was quite moved by your message. You remind me of myself at your age.
I want to pass on to you some advice from C. S. Lewis. This comes at the very end of his excellent 1945 essay on Christian Apologetics (Christian Apologetics – by CS Lewis (1945) | VirtueOnline – The Voice for Global Orthodox Anglicanism):
One last word. I have found that nothing is more dangerous to one’s own faith than the work of an apologist. No doctrine of that faith seems to me so spectral, so unreal as the one that I have just successfully defended in a public debate. For a moment, you see, it has seemed to rest on oneself: as a result when you go away from the debate, it seems no stronger than that weak pillar. That is why we apologists take our lives in our hands and can be saved only by falling back continually from the web of our own arguments, as from our intellectual counters, into the reality–from Christian apologetics into Christ Himself. That also is why we need one another’s continual help–oremus pro invicem. (Let us pray for each other.)
Bear in mind that Christ is not a proposition to be deduced but a Person to follow, know, and love. Your own spiritual growth and development should always take priority over intellectual sophistication. Don’t neglect prayer, worship, the sacraments, Christian fellowship.
I think it’s unlikely that we will see any time between now and the Day of Judgment when the endless back and forth of theistic and atheistic arguments will come to an end. From a sociological point of view, atheism is the privileged position. We are always Davids against Goliaths. This isn’t to say that the vocation of Christian philosopher, theologian, or apologist are unimportant, but we should avoid thinking that they are all-important, or even of the very highest importance. The most important evidence for Christianity is the well-lived Christian life.
Yours in Christian fellowship,
Rob Koons
The Analytic Thomist 