Let’s wrestle with what the church believes, and how the church should act within the church.

What science and religion are asking is “Where did the universe come from? How did it come to be here?” Science wants to say that the universe exists because of impersonal forces that have no love or compassion for mankind. Religion says that God made the universe and that God loves everyone and everything that he made. Science says that qualities such as love and morality are relative in scope and are a product of human ingenuity. Religion says that love preceded humankind itself, because God is (in a mysterious way!) a living expression of Love. Religion also says that moral qualities such as good and evil aren’t for humankind to decide, but have been decided ahead of time by God and aren’t subject to redefinition.

I think it’s fair that some Christians don’t feel “called” (to use a churchy word) to apologetics and to this kind of direct engagement with science and atheism. That’s perfectly O.K. There are many, many ways for the Body of Christ to participate in God’s mission on the earth. Apologetics is just one way. Chris, it’s obvious that you feel called to engage with the popular culture of the world and to reach out especially to those people who have a bad taste in their mouth from the misbehavior of Christians they have known. That’s O.K. too. We need apologeticists, and we also need cross-cultural missionaries. We are many parts, but we are all one Body.

Asking the deep, old questions of where the universe came from and whether there was a person behind it all or whether we are alone in the universe is a crucially important question. I think we have to be fair to our brothers and sisters who feel called to participate in that debate and not dismiss their calling as irrelevant or damaging.