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| Carl A. Anderson |
Over the last several years a number of books have been published attacking the idea of God: The God Delusion, God is Not Great, God: The Failed Hypothesis, Atheist Universe and The End of Faith, to name a few. Some have even become best sellers. The authors of these books find no room for the idea of God in their lives or the universe. For them, God is an abstraction or the imagined author of a universe controlled by impersonal laws and mechanisms.
Of course, they are free to believe or not believe in God. They are not free, however, to reject history, nor those who have lived and made history. And so they are not free to easily dismiss the person who entered history and who changed it forever. They are not free to dismiss the person of Jesus Christ: the one who has changed hearts and changed lives for more than 2,000 years and who loved – even to the cross.
This God is not an impersonal, abstract or mechanical God. He is someone entirely different. This is one reason why in celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Knights of Columbus we have chosen to do something to highlight the reality of God in history in an enduring way. We have made possible the creation of a beautiful new work of art in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in honor of the Incarnation.
Indeed, the new Knights of Columbus Incarnation Dome testifies to the central tenet of our faith: that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son into it to redeem it (cf. Jn 3:16). This is not the God of a delusion or a hypothesis; it is the God who enters history, who changes lives and who changes the world. This is the message that all those entering the great basilica in Washington, D.C., will find as they walk beneath the impressive Incarnation Dome.
While it may be easy to dismiss an abstraction, it is not so easy to dismiss the millions of lives that have been changed and the millions throughout history who have chosen to suffer persecution and even martyrdom because of that change. This reality was brought home to me recently when I was privileged to visit the bishops attending the World Synod of Bishops of Ukrainian Rite Catholics.
In remarks to those bishops, I said the Knights of Columbus recognized that during the last century their country had suffered a form of “national crucifixion” – a persecution of the Christian faith that has had few precedents in history. Ukraine is still recovering from this dreadful time and it will continue to do so for many years. But what is remarkable is the Ukrainian people’s witness to the faith in the midst of suffering and their choice to remain united with the love of God expressed through the Person of Jesus Christ. This history and a personal witness by millions is not understood by those who claim God is a failed hypothesis.
Not all of us can write books to refute the claims made by atheists or those who challenge God’s existence. But each of us can make an even more compelling response through the concrete and personal witness of our own lives. Members of the Knights of Columbus have a unique opportunity to do so through our families, councils and parishes – to build through our own lives an Incarnation Dome from living stones.
Advent is the perfect time to take up or renew this effort. Dorian and I wish you and your family a blessed Christmas and a great fraternal new year.
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