Gospel Prism

I wonder what an anti-Gospel Train would look like? For those of you who don’t know what Gospel Train is, it’s the name of our children’s ministry. Well, we need not look any further than the Humanist Community of Palo Alto where they have an Atheist Sunday School. Here’s what the anti-Gospel Train looks like:

Kneisley, 26, a graduate student at the University of Missouri, says she realized Damian needed to learn about secularism after a neighbor showed him the Bible. “Damian was quite certain this guy was right and was telling him this amazing truth that I had never shared,” says Kneisley. In most ways a traditional sleep-away camp–her son loved canoeing–Camp Quest also taught Damian critical thinking, world religions and tales of famous freethinkers (an umbrella term for atheists, agnostics and other rationalists) like the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The Palo Alto Sunday family program uses music, art and discussion to encourage personal expression, intellectual curiosity and collaboration. One Sunday this fall found a dozen children up to age 6 and several parents playing percussion instruments and singing empowering anthems like I’m Unique and Unrepeatable, set to the tune of Ten Little Indians, instead of traditional Sunday-school songs like Jesus Loves Me. Rather than listen to a Bible story, the class read Stone Soup, a secular parable of a traveler who feeds a village by making a stew using one ingredient from each home.

I know one thing. If I was not a Christian, the last place I would want to be would be a Sunday School for atheists. I’d rather be at a football game, playing golf, at a bar, on the beach, traveling, etc. The most pitied of all people according to Paul are religious people who are living by their works, who are worshipping no God, and who are fulfilling the requirements of religion. This is what Paul is essentially saying in 1 Cor. 15:19: “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” ‘Christians’ who have this hope only in this life are following a pipe dream. It is the resurrection of the dead (of Christ and of us in Christ) that makes faith in Christ worthwhile. Otherwise, it’s merely the burden of religious rituals.

Well, this is the same for the atheist. They would argue they believe in no god at all. But their belief in no god is religion, whether they want to admit it or not. If they were so free to live apart from God, this woman wouldn’t be bothered at all by someone telling their child about the Bible. She could just say, “That’s just nonsense. Let’s just go out and have a good time on Sunday and play.” But instead, she recognizes that she wants to teach morality, but a morality apart form God. She wants to do the works of religion claiming she’s not religious. Paul would say that the non-Christian who tries to be religious in their own way is no different than the religious non-Christian in the Christian church pews on Sunday. Both are to be pitied above all because at least the non-religious non-Christian is enjoying pleasure, though temporary and lower pleasures at best.