LISTEN

As a freshman at Dartmouth College, Dinesh D'Souza realized he had a lot to learn about Christianity. Faced with questions about his childhood beliefs, D’Souza  found that his “mind was getting in the way,” and his faith was faltering. It was his first encounter with what he now identifies as the main strategy of  the new atheism—to “drive a wedge between the brain and the heart.”

In this talk delivered at Fixed Point Foundation’s Latimer House in Birmingham, Alabama, What’s So Great about Christianity author D’Souza zeros in on what he feels to be the new atheism's strongest arguments against Christianity.

Countering each is D’Souza’s way of clearing aside some of the obstacles that prevent our “having an experience of Christianity, an experience of God.” He offers a “bullet-proof vest” for Christians to answer the charges leveled by those who view religion as evil, imagined and unnecessary by making claims such as:

 

• God is inconsequential;
• Virtuous living can be practiced by atheists just as readily as by people of faith;
• Science and religion are at odds;
• Religion has caused or been complicit in the great crimes of history.
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  He then focuses on the motives of the new atheists, what compels the vigor and vehemence of their attacks. For D’Souza the more we know about faith, science and history, the easier it is for us to see the holes in arguments espoused by religion’s detractors.

“We are in an age when we can’t take assumptions for granted,” he explains. “We have to know not just what we believe, but why we believe it….

“In scripture we read, Love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, but also with our minds. We are in a time when these mental tools are very necessary.”