Even an Atheist Can Spot Good Works

In an earlier blog I mentioned the fact that when we were at Ground Zero there were no atheist groups to be found among the thousands of volunteers. Nor were groups of philosophers, Communists, Socialists, or political parties. 99% of all the people handing out clothes, water, food and coffee were conservative, even Fundamentalist Christians.

In some cases, hardened atheists have come to the same conclusion. Roy Hattersley, an ardent, militant atheist and author of many anti-Christian screeds has seen the light. Writing in the London Gaurdian, Hattersley says:


"It ought to be possible to live a Christian life without being a Christian," laments Roy Hattersley, a columnist for the U.K. Guardian. An outspoken atheist, Hattersley came to this conclusion after watching the Salvation Army lead several other faith-based organizations in the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina."

Notable by their absence," he says, were "teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers' clubs, and atheists' associations—the sort of people who scoff at religion's intellectual absurdity."

According to Hattersley, it is an unavoidable conclusion that Christians "are the people most likely to take the risks and make the sacrifices involved in helping others."Hattersley also notes that this pattern of behavior goes beyond disaster relief:

Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags, and—probably most difficult of all—argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment.

"The only possible conclusion is that faith comes with a packet of moral imperatives that, while they do not condition the attitude of all believers, influence enough of them to make [Christians] morally superior to atheists like me."

Roy Hattersley, "Faith Does Breed Charity," Guardian.co.uk (9-12-05)

This man has more courage than almost anyone I know. He openly admits he was wrong to indict Christians in the past and, ifact, we are morally superior to him. (I disagree. We are not morally superior but the love of God compels us to love those who are unlovable.)

Pray that the Holy Spirit will continue to show Mr. Hattersley the truth and bring him to salvation.