As the Word teaches us, the Spirit distributes different gifts in the church. Some Christians may be called and equipped to defend the faith publicly. Others, however, demonstrate that faith through a variety of ministries aimed at those in physical need.

The late Christopher Hitchens was fond of saying that “religion poisons everything,” and, in a sense, this may be true. The God-given religious impulse can be twisted into a destructive force.

But Hitchens didn’t mean that religion—an inherently good thing—can be twisted into a monstrous evil, but that religion, by its very nature, is a monstrous evil. And unlike some critics of faith, Hitchens was consistent, training his rhetorical fire even on Jesus of Nazareth. If Jesus could heal a blind person he happened to meet, then why not heal blindness? What was so wonderful about his casting out devils, so that the devils would enter a herd of pigs instead? That seemed sinister, more like black magic.

Jesus, Hitchens seemed to be saying, was nothing special, perhaps a mere conjurer, certainly not the God-Man who came to deliver us from our sins. Christian faith, Hitchens maintained, has opened a Pandora’s Box of ill on the world.

The Challenge

Challenges from the New Atheists, such as the late Christopher Hitchens, can seem daunting. Far too many of us are intimidated by their in-your-face approach. We fret that they’ll bowl us over or present an unanswerable objection. We think they’ll make us—or worse, our faith—look foolish.

I’ll be the first to stand up for the need for intellectual rigor and biblical faithfulness to answer the objections of skeptics. Jesus told us to love God with our minds, and Peter prepared us to give a credible answer for the hope within us. The particular approach we take, however, will look different depending upon our particular personality and calling.

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