My dear friends, we have a problem of theology in our time and culture. I am not talking about the headline issues of human sexuality. I am talking about God.

It is fascinating that recent best-seller lists of books contain titles such as The God Delusion and God Is Not Great. I read another book recently of the same mindset titled Letter to a Christian Nation that argued that God is a hoax and religion is a detriment to healthy society. Interestingly, I discovered that I agreed with many statements that the author made because religion in general, and Christianity specifically, can be used to launch fear, mistrust and destruction. Clearly, though, the God I worship is real and does not operate from fear and violence.

I noticed several things in reading this book. One is that the author valued something that Anglicans also deeply value: human reason. Our faith tradition encourages questions and the seeking of truth so as to deepen faith.We do not see faith as an attribute that avoids the intellect.

I also noted that the author cherry-picked Holy Scripture to prove his points and did so with, in many cases, clumsy scriptural interpretation. Again, the use of human reason is necessary to comprehend the fullness of what the Bible has to say. There was also nothing stated about human knowledge of transcendence. There are other ways of knowing reality besides the analytical.

Finally, perhaps the most important thing I noticed from reading this book is this: The writings of atheists keep people of faith honest. It is fair for them to raise difficult questions. It is just as fair for people of faith to think deeply and attempt to answer difficult questions in loving ways.

I encourage each of you to recognize that in our time the Christian faith is sometimes hijacked and presented as intellectually shallow, judgmental and mean-spirited. It behooves us to exercise our minds spiritually so as to articulate our faith with clarity and awareness.

For example, the prevalent argument continuously made against the existence of God is this. There is such tremendous evil in the world and God is supposed to be all-powerful and good. Evil exists and, therefore, God must not. The argument raises a difficult and valid question. We do not need to be afraid of the question. We do need to try and reasonably respond to it.

I would recommend re-reading (or perhaps reading for the first time) The Problem of Pain by C.S. Lewis. This work addresses the question of “how can there be a good God in a world of pain?”

We have a problem of theology in our time and culture. Start a book club in your congregation for education, reflection and discussion. Read a book on the best-seller list that presents the arguments of the atheists. Then read a good book of theology that responds to those questions. Talk to your clergy about helpful resources. Do not be afraid of the questions.

Whether we like it or not, the questions that belittle faith are being raised. There is religion in our culture that is not spiritually sound and can, indeed, be described as counterfeit. This counterfeit expression of faith often reveals itself by a certain lack of charity toward others. People who do not know the difference between real, reasonable faith and counterfeit faith will think it is all the same. We know it is not. We can respond to the anti-God statements and questions in our culture with clarity, hope and faith expressed with reason.

Stretch your minds and grow your faith. Reveal your Christian faith with both charity and clarity.