Believe it or not, I meet a lot of atheists in my line of work. Some reach out to me simply to tell me I’m wrong, but many come lost, looking for answers. Both present interesting opportunities for conversation.
For the latter, I try to figure out what they do believe in, what inspires them, what they’re looking for in life, and try to guide them to someone tangible they can explore. Their openness to dialogue is always exciting to me.
The former are a bit different. Given their disposition and desire to compete, I know that I’m not going to make a lot of headway, and so I don’t usually push too hard. Instead, I try to turn the conversation on them with a simple question. That question… is this open letter I’ve posted to YouTube.
Breaking In The Habit 
Wonderful video. Thanks for sharing. Great questions for all of us.
I wish …. I am going to forward your video to one of my brothers and one to a god friend… I just hope they receive this with an open mind. Both are good people BUT I wish they would believe in something that was logical, They seem to have that 30 second TV Blurb.
Hi,
I wanted to leave a comment for another Catholic, James Martin, you know the famous and successful one but I will settle for you.
When I see you in a video the following words and associations come to mind: full of shit, insincere, liar, inauthentic,salesman, desperate,cares what other people think of him, uses his position to travel the world and do what he wants in the name of religion, fake smile.
I thought you should know, and since your a good Christian you will graciously accept my insults.
These people who claim to be servants of God are the ones bringing shame to Jesus. How can you call yourselves priests, pastors, bishops and evangelists when you are watch porn, you lie a lot, you are not humble, you are racist, you look down on people, you steal money offered for church service…
Servants of God, the Bible didn’t say you should pray for a Republican president and criticize a Democratic president. The Bible says respect and pray for your leaders.
Why do you love your guns more than you love God? You trust your guns more than you trust God? I mean, isn’t America one of the safest places to live on earth? So, why then are you so angry about guns? These people are disgusting.
Even if they are not being prosecuted, they start crying that we Christians are being prosecuted by the government. First of all you are not being prosecuted. And if you are being prosecuted for being are a Christian, are you that weak? Are you that soft? Where is let Gods will be done? Where is let’s trust in God? Where is Christians are to expect these? Crying like a baby 👶 for absolutely no reason.
You so called servants of Christ are one of the main reason America is not at her best. How can Americans be united when even churches deeply hate each other? You guys are so racist/divided that whites and blacks to worship together. Since when did God create two churches?
If you are a true servant of God, you should live your life that people will want to be like you. Almost everything time I see riots, murder, porn, prostitution, drug addiction, divorce, white supremacy, rapes and racism going on in America, I blame you who call yourselves servants of God. Why blame y’all? Because you have never shown me that you are showing people how to lead a life that honors God. You have not been an example of Christ. Stop fooling around and do God’s work with seriousness.
God is dead my friend and it’s as apparent in Casey as it is in an atheist
If you really look at him you will see he is godless.
I appreciate the effort you have made to reach out to atheists. I personally am not sure if there is or isn’t a god so you might categorize me as agnostic. You listed several references that an atheist should read before you consider him a “good atheist.” I have to admit, I have not read them. My question is, how many Christians do you think have read those references? Using your line of reasoning, would that not make the vast majority of Christians “bad Christians.”?
He never replies lol. He is not very engaged in his online media. It seems like a lark for him.
Casey falls into the classic athiest trap my asserting you can only be good or moral because of God/religion. Let’s look at this through several lens. First morality predates Christianity and for example Greek philosophers introduced a morality based on harm which is very similar to Christian morality. All religious morality is the same basically, from Judaism to Christian to Islam to Buddhism, Hinduism. It’s not rocket science. Then you could say there is a “conscience” so we know right from wrong and of course the religious people will say ” my god” put it there. Now if I was in government I would want morality to come from religion (which the founding fathers thought too) because it’s the most effective, hence a civil society and controlled population. That doesn’t mean it’s right, it’s effective because it’s coercive with an all knowing god and threat of damnation.
That’s a problem of Christianity, incidentally because a person’s actions are not sincere and being moral does not per se make you a good person. Many crimes, wrongful acts fall outside of morality and they could have a wicked heart. Also if there is predestination that means some people regardless of their moral deeds go to heaven. Also God could elect even the most moral man to go to hell which Jesus implies.
Another aspect of this is a question of good and evil and does it exist. It could be said it doesn’t and one’s actions can transcend the notion.
Last I would say that Christianity has a preoccupation with morality. It’s not the beginning and end and in a way it belittles God if God exists. It all you care about is scruples when something more important is at stake. But then for some all they want to do is be immoral and debauched and so forth but then still it’s all they care about. And so what you have in the typical religious person is the repressed “sinner” and it’s not really honorable or good because deep inside that’s who they really are.
I want to start off by saying this is a very measured and polite approach to a difficult subject. Before I answer your question, let me adress something.
This is not an open letter to atheists. This is an open letter to anybody who doesn’t believe in the Christian faith. Atheists simply have no reason to believe a God exists. Whether someone is an Atheist tells you nothing about whether they believe in the afterlife, whether they think sacrifice and compassion is important, whether they believe in mircales or prayer or what have you. All it tells you is that this person does not believe in a God/Gods.
Having said that, i still happen to fall in the category of people youre adressing. I do not believe in prayer, or the Bible, or that Jesus died and was reborn. So, finally, allow me to adress your question.
I hope I am a good atheist. I don’t believe my lack of belief in the christian God has left me more prone to being ‘evil’ than any christian I know. I think we all make mistakes, and Ive met people from all kinds of religious and secular backgrounds with great character who were truly honorable, kind, loving people.
Let me assume something, here – you come across very genuine in that you have accepted that not everyone believes in your God. But rather than act out, or drive yourself insane trying to conceptualise it, you adress it head on. You speak your mind and you do it well. Do you believe I and other non believers should be allowed to do the same? Will you look down on me for judging and picking at your scripture in an attempt to show it’s potential flaws? Can you and I learn from each other, and neither stand so stubborn that nothing ever changes? If so, I certainly think youre a good christian. And if thats how we can speak on these things, if coexistance without supression of ideas is truly an option, I think we truly are both good people and your belief in God just isnt the reason I think that. It can be someone elses reason – mine is the effort you put in to be true to yourself, voice your opinion, but still respectful to those who challenge you or those you wish to challenge. Cool video man.