Chair for Study of Atheism Established at University of Miami

The Wired Word for the Week of May 29, 2016
Although it has not yet been officially announced by the University of Miami, that school will soon become the first to have an academic chair "for the study of atheism, humanism and secular ethics," according to a report inThe New York Times.

Within academia, a "chair" is a teaching position established with endowed money. In this case, the endowment is in the amount of $2.2 million from Louis J. Appignani, 83, the former president and chairman of Barbizon International, a modeling school. Over the years, Appignani has given money to several humanist and secular groups, but the donation to the University of Miami, which is a private, nonsectarian institution, is his largest to date.

"I'm trying to eliminate discrimination against atheists," explained Appignani. "So this is a step in that direction, to make atheism legitimate."

Given that goal, it is perhaps ironic that the idea of academic chairs originated from the Medieval church where teaching was said to take place ex cathedra (from the chair), because each bishop had a throne (cathedra) in his principal church. In academia, creation of an endowed academic chair typically makes the subject of the chair -- atheism in this case -- a priority area of study. The funding enables a school to recruit faculty from among the best scholars in the world.

The University of Miami, however, was quick to say that the goal of the new chair is not to encourage atheism but to study it. "We didn't want anyone to misunderstand and think that this was to be an advocacy position for someone who is an atheist," said Thomas J. LeBlanc, executive vice president and provost of the Miami school. "Our religion department isn't taking an advocacy position when it teaches about Catholicism or Islam. Similarly, we're not taking an advocacy position when we teach about atheism or secular ethics."

Of course, the professor occupying the chair, just as any other professor teaching a subject he or she cares about, could personally be an advocate, one way or another.

While this chair is the first in any U.S. institution of higher learning to have the word "atheism" in its title, Pitzer College, a liberal arts school in Southern California, has a program and major in secular studies, founded five years ago by Phil Zuckerman, a sociologist of religion. Only two students have opted to major in that area, but the classes in the program are popular, often attracting more students than the courses have room for.

"There is a real need for secular studies," Zuckerman said. "As rates of irreligion continue to rise, not only here in the U.S.A., but all over the world, we need to understand secular people, secular culture and secularism as a political and ideological force."

According to the Pew Research Center's 2014 Religious Landscape Study, 3.1 percent of American adults say they are atheists, up from 1.6 percent in a similarly broad survey in 2007. While 3.1 percent may not sound like a large figure, when applied to the adult population of the United States -- 245.3 million in 2014 -- that translates to 7.6 million self-declared atheists. What's more, the Pew study found that an additional 4.0 percent of Americans call themselves agnostics, up from 2.4 percent in 2007. Beyond that, the percentage of Americans who claim no religious affiliation has risen sharply, from 16 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2014.

More on this story can be found at these links:

University of Miami Establishes Chair for Study of Atheism. New York Times 
7 Facts About Atheists. Pew Research Center 

The Big Questions

1. In what ways, if any, can developing scholarship about atheism, humanism and secularity be useful to the church and its responsibility to spread the gospel? In what ways, if any, can it impede that mission?

2. Is the increase in the percentage of unbelievers in our society a threat to Christianity itself? Why or why not? Is the increase a reflection of a lack of evangelism and teaching on the part of Christians?

3. Is the increase in the percentage of unbelievers in our society a threat to your personal faith in Christ? Why or why not?

4. Since college is already the place where some students abandon the faith in which they were raised, what impact, if any, might such classes as those connected to this new chair have?

5. The donor whose money established this new chair said that it was a step toward making atheism "legitimate." Does that square with the university's stated intention not to advocate disbelief in God? Since there are millions of people who claim no belief in God, is atheism already "legitimate"? What is the difference between something being "legitimate" and something being "true"?

Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope
Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:

Psalm 14:1 
Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God." (For context, read 14:1-7.)

It seems that in any church discussion of atheism, somebody eventually quotes this verse from Psalm 14. We are quoting it too, but not to call nonbelievers fools. While there is no doubt truth in this verse (see next paragraph), it's not likely to be helpful in reaching out to nonbelievers if "fools" is our baseline opinion of them. And the fact is, some very intelligent people who are not fools by any earthly measure have arrived at a position of atheism -- just as some very intelligent people who are not fools by any earthly measure have arrived at a position of belief in God and commitment of their lives to Christ.

But to give the verse its due, the foolishness here is not so much a lack of knowledge but an unwillingness to acknowledge and trust God. Without God in one's personal equation, some of one's priorities will be different from those things that God calls us to prioritize. Thus, the verse should be understood not as a statement about philosophical atheism, but about atheism in the practice of one's life -- acting as if one is ultimately responsible to no one but one's self. The foolishness is in "being a law unto oneself."

Questions: Where have you acted as a law unto yourself? How does it affect your outlook on life? Are there any ways you might call such an approach foolish? Why or why not?

Colossians 2:8
See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. (For context, read 2:8-15.)

Paul's letter to the Colossians seems to have been prompted by reports that some in the Colossian church, in addition to worshiping Christ, were acknowledging -- if not actually worshiping -- certain heavenly powers associated with the stars; that is, some form of astrology. Or perhaps he was referring to what we nowadays would call the Zeitgist -- the spirit of the times -- or possibly some concept of the "arc of history" or even some commonly felt ideal.

In any case, in the verse above, Paul references these powers as "elemental spirits of the universe," and he wants his readers to have nothing to do with such belief. So when he warns his readers to avoid being taken "captive through philosophy," he's not speaking about philosophy in general but the particular belief in these so-called elemental spirits.

Questions: When has a new idea or teaching shaken your belief in God and Christ? What helped you deal with the inner conflict? What philosophies do you consider not worth your time? Why?

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God ... (For context, read 2:4-10.)
Romans 12:3
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (For context, read 12:1-8.)

In the Ephesians verse above, Paul tells the Ephesian Christians that the faith through which they've been saved is not their own doing, but rather is God's gift to them. Thus every part of their salvation -- even the very faith through which God worked in their lives -- is God's gift.

And in line with that, notice what Paul said about faith to the Romans: Faith is something that God gives us --and in varying amounts. In other words, some of us are given a great ability to believe while others are issued a smaller measure.

Questions: So, if faith is a gift from God and is given in varying amounts, does that mean that those who don't believe haven't been given the gift of faith? Are there any ways in which skepticism can also be God's gift?

Luke 7:2-5 
A centurion[in Capernaum] had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having you do this for him, for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us." (For context, read 7:1-10.)

TWW team member Frank Ramirez notes that this account of the Roman centurion with an ill slave has an atheist element: The centurion would have grown up thinking Jews were atheists because they did not believe in all the gods the Romans did. But he has evidently taken time to learn the local customs. He has studied the so-called atheists -- the Jews -- and it has made him a better member of the occupying army. He has built a synagogue for the locals, and he understands that coming into his house would make Jesus unclean (see vv. 5-7).

Ramirez reminds us that in the era of the early church, many people likewise considered Christians to be atheists because they didn't believe in all the gods that the pagans did. Sometimes the cry against the early Christians wasAire tous atheous ("Away with the atheists"), as for instance with the martyrdom of Polycarp, the second-century Christian bishop of Smyrna.

Ramirez comments, "It seems to me that all world religions, cultures and philosophies are worth knowing about. The centurion took time to learn about clean and unclean in Jewish culture, and thus become open to Jesus, whereas the imperial Roman culture was more content to spread lies about Christianity, that we ate flesh, engaged in abominations, etc."

Questions: When has gaining an understanding of another religion helped you to view its adherents with more grace and appreciation? When, if ever, has it helped you appreciate more what God has done for us in Christ Jesus?

1 Peter 3:14-16 
... do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. (For context, read 3:13-18.)

This is good advice for Christians. Insofar as our personal ability and gifts allow, we should be ready to testify to the hope that is in us -- our confidence in Christ. This isn't to say that we all have the gifts needed for the cut and thrust of debate with unbelievers, but that our genuine testimony can be offered even when we can't detail all the reasons for our faith.

We don't need to have a polished presentation; simply, we need to convey the impact of what following Jesus means to us. We once heard about a cleaning woman who testified that since receiving Christ, she no longer swept dirt under the rugs. That testimony might not convince an atheist to abandon unbelief, but it should convince him or her that something significant happened in the life of the person offering the testimony.

Question: What sincere testimony can you offer today?

For Further Discussion

1. Respond to this: For some years, Protestant theologian Stanley Hauerwas was on the faculty of Notre Dame, a Catholic university. He was once asked what that experience was like. He said, "For good or ill, what it means to be a Catholic is to be a member of the church. I can illustrate the difference by calling attention to what it means to be an atheist in Judaism, Protestantism and Catholicism. When Jews say they do not believe in God, they mean that God is an unjust [being] and they'll be d----d if they'll worship him. When Protestants say they do not believe in God, they mean this is all there is: You might as well eat, drink, [live life] and die. When Catholics say they do not believe in God, they mean they are mad at the church. 
     "I soon learned that ex-Catholics disbelieved with an intensity I could only admire. They could get angry at the pope or at the priests or at the nuns for taking it out on them in the second grade. What was remarkable is that these 'ex'-es had actually been marked for life." 
     Hauerwas ends: "What a wonderful gift, even if it took the rest of your life to get over it."

2. Comment on this: In writing about the rise of atheism, Lutheran pastor and author Martin E. Marty suggests that Christians "keep cool." "America," Marty says, "has seen cycles like these before and has managed to survive." He also advises, that we "don't sneer," as some Christians have done when challenging atheism. "Where does [sneering] get us?" Marty says, "Who can refute a sneer?"
     He has several other good suggestions as well, but he closes by recommending that instead of arguing with atheists, we "read a good book." He adds, "For more profit, read a novel, a volume of poetry or a sacred scripture. And relax."

3. Discuss this, from Phil Zuckerman, head of the secular studies program at Pitzer College: "There is a real need for secular studies. As rates of irreligion continue to rise, not only here in the U.S.A., but all over the world, we need to understand secular people, secular culture and secularism as a political and ideological force."

Responding to the News

This is a good time to remind ourselves of two passages:

• Matthew 13:23 -- "But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." 
• Matthew 28:19-20 -- "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

All of those words are from Jesus. The Matthew 13 verse is the final sentence of his parable of the sower (read the whole parable in 13:1-8 and Jesus' interpretation of it in 13:18-23). One point of the parable is that our responsibility is to "sow" the gospel seed. The condition of the soil is not our responsibility; it's God's. So we shouldn't let the unbelief of our hearers stop us from sowing the seed.

The Matthew 28 verses are Jesus' "Great Commission" to his disciples and the church. Again, our responsibility is to faithfully obey, not to guarantee the results.

Prayer

Help us, O Lord, to ever be ready to account for the hope that is in us because of Jesus. In his name. Amen.