Atheism and Eternal Torment

An article by Alister McGrath, an evangelical Professor of Historical Theology, dared to admit that the concept of eternal torment had given rise to atheism.

The most fundamental criticisms directed against Christianity had to do with the moral character of its god. Atheists often focus on the issues of eternal punishment. No theological issue posed greater difficulties for Victorian England.

It was for this reason that Charles Darwin [was] surprisingly unchallenged by his views on evolution.

Others had serious misgivings, “Eternal punishment must be eternal cruelty,” said the secular humanist orator Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899), “and I do not see how any man, unless he has the brain of an idiot, or the heart of a wild beast, can believe in eternal punishment.” Despite its opportunistic overstatement, Ingersoll’s complaint resonates deeply with many who find a contradiction between their deepest intuitions of fairness and the Christian god.

We cannot assert eternal damnation and expect Western culture to nod approvingly. This culture is not predisposed to reject Christian doctrine as a matter of principle. Rather, it is surprised by what seems a massive retreat from society’s fundamental notion of decency and evenhandedness.

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