Atheist challenges youth at church
Why would a Christian pretend to be an atheist?
BARRIE, ON—Imagine having a stranger show up at your church’s youth group arguing for atheism: “I have come to tell you that God does not exist.” That is exactly what happened at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Barrie, Ontario. But it was not quite what you think.
The youth group meeting took place during the Apologetics Canada Conference 2015 that was hosted at the church from April 24 to 25. Apologetics Canada is an organization based out of British Columbia that “seeks to inspire and challenge believers to think and thinkers to believe.”
The “atheist” who showed up at the youth group was actually Canadian apologist, Tim Barnett, one of the keynote speakers at the conference.
Barnett began his talk by introducing himself as an atheist professor from the University of Toronto. He then went on to argue against Christianity and belief in God.
Why would a Christian pretend to be an atheist? Barnett explains, “Quite simply because it is a proven strategy to get young people motivated to know what they believe and why they believe it.”
Jon Fitter, the youth pastor at Emmanuel Baptist Church, explains his reason for inviting Barnett, “My initial intention was to give the students a different learning experience.” Having seen this type of presentation previously on video clips, Fitter was eager to see his students challenged in their faith.
This type of experience is relevant to our culture. Fitter explains, “In our society, there are a lot of smart sounding arguments made that quite frankly fool a lot of people. I want people to see that just because people believe it and they sound intelligent, doesn't necessarily mean they are holding to a thought process that holds water.”
Fitter’s goal was not just to see if his students could defend their faith, but how they would defend it. In previous youth meetings, Fitter had emphasized the need to respond to differing opinions with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). Such a response is difficult even for the most experienced adults. According to one of the youth present, “There was too much pride and hostility in the room and many people were attacking (rather than respectfully questioning) the atheist.”
Barnett’s acting was convincing. Most of the students believed he was a real atheist. Many were shocked that the leadership would allow an atheist (into their house of worship) to attack their faith. Others were suspicious because of the apologetics conference taking place at the same time.
Of course Barnett did reveal his true identity and did not leave the students with a battered Christianity.
What impact did this have on the youth group?
For one teen, the learning experience was as much about the emotional response as it was the academic knowledge. “What I think needs to be learned from this is not how to answer an atheist’s questions, but how to represent Christ in ALL conversations and not get our backs up about it. Being defensive is a manifestation of pride.”
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