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    How Much Do You Really Know About Atheism?

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    Here are some more questions…

    3.  When did the word atheism appear in the English language?

    a.  1568
    b.  1580
    c.  1517
    d.  1545

    4.  Who was called an atheist in ancient Rome?

    a.  Pantheists
    b.  Christians
    c.  Jews
    d.  Gentiles
    e.  b and c

    5.  When did Atheism become a publicly recognized worldview?

    a.  1st century Rome
    b.  18th century
    c.  19th century
    d.  Early 20th century

    6.  What was the name of the cover story Time magazine published in 1966 that
    seemed to usher in a new secular age?

    a.  Where is God?
    b.  Do You Believe in God?
    c.  Is God Dead?
    d.  The Death of God

    7.  What % of the U.S.  adult population reports they do not believe in God?

    a.  2%
    b.  6%
    c.  10%
    d.  12%

    8.  Who of the following was not an atheist?

    a.  Sigmund Freud
    b.  Karl Marx
    c.  Albert Einstein
    d.  Friedrich Nietzsche

    9.  Why are New Atheists considered “new”?

    a.  Evangelistic in intent
    b.  Believe God is downright dangerous
    c.  Do not mourn the fact there is no God
    d.  All of the above

    10.  What are some of the components of New Atheism?

    a.  A clear and specific rejection of the Christian God of the Bible
    b.  Attack on toleration
    c.  Believe in separation of church and state
    d.  a and b
    e.  a, b and c

    Here are the answers...

    So… how did you do?

    Todd

    OK... Al Mohler has a new book coming out called "Atheism Remix". And to help promote the book, his publisher is providing this quiz, which I thought was quite interesting. How much to YOU really know about atheism? Take this short quiz:

    1. What do Atheists believe in?

    a. A supernatural God just not Jesus Christ
    b. Their questions about God
    c. No beliefs - they deny belief in God
    d. A supernatural, personal God who intervenes in human history

    2. The opposite/antonym of Atheism is

    a. Agnosticism
    b. Theism
    c. Deism
    d. Communism

    Comments

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    1. Mark Triplett on Thu, July 03, 2008

      Ouch! Only 3 out of 10.


      6 was a trick question though. I thought “Is God Dead?” was a book title.

    2. CS on Thu, July 03, 2008

      7 for 10.   Questions 3, 4, and 5 were my bane.  I got question 7 right because of the Barna poll that says 94% of people believe in God.



      CS

    3. Samuel Skinner on Sat, July 05, 2008

      Some of your questions are misleading-


      1 ) should be lack belief in God, not deny belief in God


      7 ) Subject to revision- according to Pew, one in five atheists believe in God.


      8 ) Einstein was a pantheist. No one knows exactly where to place them.


      10 ) Actually e- many of the New atheists have stated they would be fine if believers did not seek to impose their beliefs on others or inject them into politics.


      They are agressively attempting to remove religion from the public sphere though. I’d have to check throughly- Dennet is considered a New atheist and doesn’t share any of those views.

    4. Dr. James Willingham on Mon, July 07, 2008

      Dear Sirs: Your test re: atheism was funny as all get out…especially to me.  I once was a professing, evangelistic atheist, making converts to atheism.  Then that all changed.  Why was I an atheist?  My argument was: How could there be a God who let children suffer?  That came from my own childhood experience of being deprived of both parents, being raised on a sharecropper’s farm in Arkansas by maternal grandparents, going to work in the fields at the age of 4 (sunup-sunset), and, most important, no experience of God at all.  Richard Dawkins is hilarious in his talking about being raised in Ark. in a Christian home.  Evidently, he doesn’t realize that man is born with the inability to really know God..until God contacts him..although reason from the evidence should be enough.  But evidence does not work to well with a dead person.  50 yrs. ago this past Dec. 7, 1957, Jesus appeared to me (vision /hallucination?), knocking at a door, looking right at me.  I, naturally, wanted no part of Him.  I ran, but about an hr. later he opened my heart (Rev.3:20 & Acts 16:14), 20-30 minutes later I askd the Lord to forgive me of my sins, a load was lifted off of my heart, and I cried tears of joy. When God shows up, atheism begans to look ridiculous.  However, such experiences do not mean that we can manipulate God or people.  I have a number of experiences of the Lord’s presence & work, and I found that He doesn’t manipulate worth a flip.  Furthermore, He doesn’t want his people to be so imperious in presenting His Gospel.  After all, LOVE is quite gentle and easy to be entreated, and LOVE wins by being willing to suffer many rejections and maltreatments.  Years of research in church history and on AGAPE LOVE and the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross on the theology of AMAZING GRACE (the theology of the First and Second Great Awakenings and the Beginnings of the Great Century of Missions) has led me to believe that we might be on the verge of another Great Awakening, THE THIRD GREAT AWAKENING, the one in which the whole world awakens to Christ in one generation.  We really need to take another look at Edwards “Humble Attempt” and the texts he cited in support of prayer for revival and the propogation of the Gospel among the heathen.  Remember the promise to Abraham that his seed by faith would be as innumerable as the sand by the seashore and the stars of heaven which cannot be numbered. So why get bent out of shape over a few atheists?  After all, all they can do, even if they get to exterminate us, is make more converts than they can possibly imagine.

    5. Samuel Skinner on Mon, July 07, 2008

      Funny- I know a person who claims to have seen Zeus. Admitadly the Illiad is OLD, but the Gods pop up repeatedly.


      What makes you more credible?

    6. Peter Hamm on Tue, July 08, 2008

      Samuel,


      I’m guessing you might be coming from at least a non-Christian perspective.


      If so…


      The only thing I can point to (and this is merely me talking, because you can’t see this from where you are) is the changed lives I see around me because of what God has done in people’s lives. I’ve seen plenty of extraordinary things because of Jesus.


      But if you want a surety like “I know there is a God like I know there is this table” I doubt any of us can offer it to you. I know I’ve experienced and know God in my life. Sure there is tons of “evidence” you can point to for the Gospels and for Jesus, but it won’t be enough.


      I’d love to talk more about that if you wanted to click on my name and email me.

    7. Dr. James Willingham on Tue, July 08, 2008

      Dear Samuel: Zeus might show up, but does he hang around like Jesus? Not that Jesus is so familiar that He gains one’s contempt.  He rather comes and visits and acts when and where He pleases.  Like I said, “He doesn’t manipulate worth a flip.”

    8. Dr. James Willingham on Sat, July 12, 2008

      Sirs: According to my e-mail monitor, some one wanted to know what I knew about atheism.  I use to make converts to it in my teenage years.  Later I taught American history, Philosophy, & Political Science in College.  Having been one, from my experience, I would say atheism is where one really has no experience or perception of God, and due to reason can find no justification for believing in one.  My view as one was founded upon the moral argument, “How could there be a God and let children suffer.” Naturally, I have some knowledge of the so-called weaknesses in the arguments for the existence of God. I found that even Hell on earth will not make one a believer,  However, when God Himself shows up, the whole picture does a paradigm shift of 180 degrees.  There was evidence all around, but when your blind you can’t see it.

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