By Fr José LaBoy
I’m always surprised when I see those food products with the labels stating what would seem to be the obvious. Take a carton of milk, for example, where the label says it contains “real” milk. What is it suppose to contain? Not so obvious I guess. In a consumeristic society you can’t always expect that you are really getting what you think you are buying.
Got Faith?
The same can occur in Christian life. There exists the temptation to think that one really believes in God, but lives as if he didn’t exist. This is called practical atheism, something both John Paul II and Benedict XVI have spoken about as one of the major obstacles to the New Evangelization stating that “many live “etsi deus non daretur” — as if God did not exist.
Practical atheism can seem very convenient. You apparently calm your conscience convincing yourself that you believe in God, but then your actions have nothing to do with that belief. It is putting into practice the phrase which is usually used to sum up Ivan Karamozov’s view in Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov: “If God doesn’t exist, everything is permitted.” Sound familiar? There is no problem in God existing, as long as he remains outside of my world, as long as he doesn’t impose anything on me. In order to do whatever I want to do, I need God to be absent. The mind or the heart might not say this literally, but the actions speak loud and clear. Thus we can conclude that if for someone everything goes, God doesn’t exist for that person at least in the moment the person acts that way.
The error behind practical atheism is that it creates a false dichotomy, an existential rift, making you think you can believe, but that your actions do not have to be conformed to what you believe. A 12th Century Abbot, William of St. Thierry, thought otherwise. In helping his monks acquire a greater authenticity of life, he would explain to them the strong relation between what we think and what we do. When something becomes a constant object of our thoughts, it affects our actions. For example, the more you hear about a product you don’t have, you will probably end up buying it. The opposite is also true. If you constantly carry out actions that are not right, you will end up justifying those actions.
When we allow ourselves to act against the truth, we end up creating a different truth. And if our truth is not really true, then we will believe lies.
Pope Benedict, in his Apostolic Letter, Porta Fidei, goes directly against this principle of practical atheism when he states: “Faith implies public testimony and commitment. A Christian may never think of belief as a private act. Faith is choosing to stand with the Lord so as to live with him. This ‘standing with him’ points towards an understanding of the reasons for believing. Faith, precisely because it is a free act, also demands social responsibility for what one believes.”
Christianity does not consist in living our faith in an external or merely formal way, but in loving God to the point of showing that love in one’s personal and public behavior.
If a practical atheist says he believes in God, but lives as if God doesn’t exist, then does he really believe in God? For Pope Benedict true faith is not mere belief. Faith is both a content we believe and an act by which we believe what we believe. “Knowledge of the content of faith is essential for giving one’s own assent, that is to say for adhering fully with intellect and will to what the Church proposes. Knowledge of faith opens a door into the fullness of the saving mystery revealed by God. The giving of assent implies that, when we believe, we freely accept the whole mystery of faith, because the guarantor of its truth is God who reveals himself and allows us to know his mystery of love.”
How well was this understood by the first Christians. A man whose faith was not mere content he believed but a life he lived, Saint Ignatius of Antioch, prayed: “That I may not merely be called a Christian, but really be one.” Every Christian should avoid the temptation of practical atheism and make St. Ignatius’ prayer their own.
Faith has got to be real or else it is not faith at all!
Note: You can see some interesting videos on who the Practical Atheist is at http://www.lifechurch.tv/watch/practical-atheist/1
Fr Jose LaBoy
Biltrix 
We get to listen to the rants of atheists at 12 Step meetings I attend for alcoholism (the name of which is anonymous) but if we find recovery in Christ must keep mouth shut not to offend anyone(stupid jerks, we recite Lord’s Prayer at end of meeting). But listening to atheists I have concluded that it is not a matter of not believing in God but a matter of not wanting anything to do with Him due primarily to matter of unmerited suffering. Despite all the eloquent explanations(alleged) about unmerited suffering they aren’t buying the nonsense and I lean toward agreement with them on that a bit. In any event, when the time comes, God and I will have a very “heated” or should I say “spirited” discussion on the matter.
Unmerited suffering is a tough issue, more so, obviously, for the one who suffers. Most of us have experienced it to some extent, if not first hand at least second hand — a child lost to cancer in the family, for instance, and all the suffering each person had to endure. We cannot but ask why.
I have to empathize with the difficulty of understanding why or how it is possible that a benevolent God who is all powerful could allow this type of suffering. As you said, you have heard the answers, so I won’t attempt to add to them. The problem of suffering is a scandal to many people. Like you, I hope to have that face to face conversation with God. I figure I may learn something I don’t already know, because, despite the speculative answers I could share, I personally have to conclude that it is a great mystery, and I don’t have the answer. I just have faith and trust. Beyond that, all I can offer is compassion and hopefully greater understanding towards those who grieve and suffer.
Love this post. It’s so true. It’s so easy to ratiionalize that God is not as big as he is and that we can make up our own minds about what we do. Then we have relativism and we lose our truth. James said it. If we don’t behave synced with our faith, we have no faith.
I pray to be His light.
So many lessons from St James that we must return to again and again to keep us on the straight path. This just is fallen nature, but I’m not blaming Adam and Eve. We have to own up to our shortcomings and when we scandalize others because of hypocrisy, we must accept the consequences and make amends.
This post of course, is about love for God. I also believe that if we loved others — truly cared about them and for them — more than ourselves, we would see more clearly what a grave sin scandal is. Even in the little things, when we say one thing and do another, we run the risk of hurting other people’s faith in God and trust in humanity.
Reblogged this on tannngl and commented:
“Ivan Karamozov’s view in Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov: “If God doesn’t exist, everything is permitted.””
Thanks for the reblog!
Good post. I’m Protestant and was raised with a “faith alone” doctrine but recently I’ve come to seriously question it. I’ve watched people descend into sinful lifestyles and justifying it saying “Well I’m still a Christian and going to heaven. I still believe Jesus is my savior.” (I’ve even seen myself justify certain actions like this.) It seems faith should be so much more than simply believing. It’s Catholic authors (like your post here) that make more sense to me, both experientially and Biblically.
Thanks for your comment, Dapper Dan. If faith is not a lived experience, there’s no telling if it is real.
You are stating the difference between believing in God and believing God. Do we believe what He says; better yet do we know what He says?