Wired Magazine published a story about the New Atheists last October. These new atheists “… condemn not just belief in God but respect for belief in God. Religion is not only wrong; it’s evil.” The concern is that religion is irrational and naturally leads to irrational and violent behavior, including crusades, wars of religion, and most recently, suicide bombers.

These new atheists want to eradicate religion and have a society based on atheism. They seem to forget, however, that this has already been tried; it was called Communism. Over a century ago, Karl Marx was also blaming religion for all of the problems of the world, and many political leaders took him at his word and tried to eradicate religion in their country and establish an atheistic society. However, this did not result in a utopia of freedom and prosperity. Indeed, atheist leaders such as Stalin, Mao Zedong and Pol Pot committed some of the greatest atrocities of the 20th century.

The problem is not the particular world-view, whether it be theistic, pantheistic, or atheistic. The problem is when people use power to impose their world-view on others. Whether it be the Taliban or the Khmer Rouge, such coercion results in loss of liberty and loss of life. The peace of the world today is not only threatened by Muslim extremists, but also the atheistic leader Kim Jong-il.

The controversial address that Pope Benedict gave at Regensburg addresses the problem of the use of violence and force in order to propagate a religion. He says, “The decisive statement in this argument against violent conversion is this: not to act in accordance with reason is contrary to God’s nature.” Not only is religion not the problem, but the Christian view of the rational God is the key to the solution.