by Tom Hoopes | catholicvote.org

I joined a Facebook group that dealt with questions about God’s existence this month, before the Christmas season overwhelmed me. (It was helpful because I was writing an article for the National Catholic Register about 2012: The Year of Atheism.)

I can’t make blanket statements about atheists in general – they are as diverse as Christians – but I noticed a couple of alarming things about the enthusiastic ones who join Facebook groups.

First, I learned that activist atheists are not satisfied with just disagreeing with theists. Not anymore. They want to make their views obligatory.  In one post, an atheist wrote:

“You can believe god exists because there is evidence, in which case we should discuss the evidence. If it is valid, no one should deny god exists. If it is unacceptable or doesn’t lead to the conclusion that god exists, then no one should believe god exists. Or you can believe god exists on faith, in which case you must admit there is no evidence, and everyone else is free to reject your belief. If it is the latter, then we must immediately abolish any reference to god or religion in our kids’ education, in government and law. We can’t be a Christian nation if we believe god’s existence only on faith. But if there’s evidence, there can be no faith. So it all boils down to the evidence.” (Emphasis added.)

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