New Course: A Response To Atheism

So I was googling atheism in Canada and I found this interesting story in the Catholic Register about a new non-credit course at Regis College in Toronto.  Regis is a theological college, a wing of the University of Toronto that was originally a Jesuit seminary:

News Regis course a response to atheism

Right.  I didn't make up that title, but I imagine there is something wrong with it.  A missing colon?  One letter s too many?  I also don't expect there to be anything new in the course - at least in the way of arguments!

Religion has always greatly interested me. I very nearly went into Theology when I went to McGill! I decided I wasn't interested in the focus on Christianity - besides, everyone told me the department was full of atheists!  I would have probably more properly fit into some kind of religious studies program.

Anyway...

“You find all kinds of books telling you you’re an idiot if you believe in God,” said Lewis. “It’s a very aggressive attack on belief. I don’t think people of any faith, Christian or non-Christian, can afford the luxury of doctrinal differences now.”

Well, thank God for Atheism.  If there's one thing that gets Christians all together on the same side, it's the atheists.  See, we bring people together!  Without us and a secular judiciary, Christians would likely all be killing each other.

While Lewis is ready to take up Pope Paul VI’s call to arms, he does think there’s a reaction to atheism that really doesn’t work — the blogosphere world of apologetics.

Let's not tell the Catholic bloggers over at Patheos that, okay?  It's interesting, because I believe the blogosphere is working great for atheist counter-apologetics.

People who want to fight against evolution or wage a kind of political war in favour of God don’t advance the idea of faith. Lewis believes debates like the one between atheist writer Christopher Hitchens and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Toronto in 2010 are the wrong way to dialogue with atheism.

Maybe it's because Hitchens made Blair look like an idiot during the debate?  Blair was hitchslapped into the next timezone.  But this could be me being biased.

The course will include a couple of lectures on atheism and the Bible from Lewis, a look at psychology and atheism from Jesuit psychologist Fr. Joe Schner, a serious look at the problem of suffering by spirituality Professor Michael Stoeber, and a theological and philosophical perspective from Jesuit Father Gordon Rixon.

Psychology and atheism.  Hmmm...

Honestly, for now at least, I'm interested in what they have to say.  After awhile of simply not getting it, I expect I'll give up.  But for now theology is interesting for me.  It's something I was never exposed to as a Catholic - now why would they want to do that, huh?

I've been moving away from Catholicism over the past ten years and I'm now in a place where I'm trying to figure out how Catholics think and whether I ever thought that way myself.   This is why I took such interest in Leah Libresco, Josh Horn, Sally Read, Stacy Transancos and Jennifer Fulwiler.

I'm trying to figure out why such intelligent people really seem to belief this stuff.  I was intelligent back when I believed it too, but then, I'd never taken the time to think it over.  After ten years of working it out I rejected it.

It's hard for me to see how someone who has equivalent mental processing power could move in the opposite direction.  I wrote about this about Leah Libresco: Ships With Different Trajectories.

Is it stuff like this course what Leah and the others were exposed to?  Is this like kryptonite for the atheistic brain?  What am I missing here, people?

To get more insight into this, I've started reading Theology And Sanity, a well-recommended book by Stacy Transancos of Accepting Abundance blog.  I'll be reviewing the whole thing chapter-by-chapter.  I've read the first section - I'm confused and cannot understand how any sane person could believe it... Theology And Insanity.  

Here's the official page on the course: http://www.regiscollege.ca/Windows_On_Theology

If one of my (atheist/agnostic) readers wants to take the course and guest blog about their experience, I would be happy to send them big bags of Skittles to eat during class!

Please! Please! Please!

Speaking of Skittles.  At McGill we ate Skittles during the long classes - why?  It's a Mystery! Things seldom make much sense in this world.

But if you do attend the couse, why not ask them to Taste The Rainbow?

Atheists are, of course, welcome to take the course. Lewis concedes that the Regis College crowd tends to be pretty solidly theistic. 

“It’s kind of like preaching to the choir,” he said.

I wish I could be there, but I am in Montreal.