Altizer Atheism
Dr. Thomas J. J. Altizer, Bible instructor at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, recently received much publicity from his brash statement that "God is dead." His theory is that God died through the crucifixion of Jesus. While in Fort Worth, this writer heard professor Altizer speak at Texas Christian University, Tuesday afternoon, April 26th. His speech from beginning to end was devoid of any attempt to prove his assertion that God is dead.
Following Altizer's speech, students were permitted to ask him questions. The very nature of the questions that were asked indicated to us that his speech did not have a favorable reception from too many of the students, even though Texas Christian University has the reputation of being very liberal. The questions submitted were reasonable and intelligent.
As samples of some of the questions that were submitted to Dr. Altizer, one young man inquired, "If the redemptive God is dead, is prayer valid, and if it is valid, to whom do we pray?" This inquiry seemed to put the professor into deep thought, and, after some delay, he responded that he believes the new form of prayer -- that prayer consists of meditation, perhaps even of art and music. Since God does not exist, according to the Dr., it is no wonder that he has to modify his views on prayer.
Another young man asked him why he would not debate Dr. James D. Bales. His response to this question was very frank and honest. He said that he is afraid of Dr. Bales but not Dr. Weiss. (He was to debate Dr. Weiss, Yale University philosophy professor, at TCU the next day.) Brother Bales is head of the Bible department at Harding College, Searcy, Arkansas, and is most capable to debate on the existence of God. From what we could observe, Dr. Weiss is not very much ahead of Dr. Altizer in belief, so it was no wonder that professor Altizer expressed his fear of James D. Bales and gave that as his reason for not meeting him.
A young lady asked Dr. Altizer if he believed in immortality. He scoffed her, tried to make a fool out of her by saying that her question was not even intelligent. He answered what he wanted to answer; what he did not want to answer he ignored by simply stating that he would not answer the question. It was he who showed his ignorance about immortality for he asserted that no one could even find the idea of immortality in the Old Testament. We would liked to have had the opportunity to show him, for example, Dan. 12:2: "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." We just wonder what the Dr. thinks that this passage is teaching, and several other such passages.
Evidence that God exists abounds in the Bible and it is abundant outside the Bible. Truly the psalmist declared in Psalms 14:1, "The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." We are made to wonder what that makes the man who goes about "blabbing" it out loud! All atheists are not found among the nonreligious. Dr. Altizer is a teacher at Emory University, a Methodist school. In an interview with reporters, he said that only part of the Bible can be believed and the New Testament is hopelessly contradictory. He expressed disbelief in the resurrection of Jesus, the trinity, and that man has a soul. When asked the authority for his beliefs, he said that he repudiated any final authority. These statements are from the lips of a teacher in a religious school. Dr. Altizer is an Episcopalian.
The speech and the response to questions by Dr. Altizer were to this writer an arrogant display of rank atheism, a lack of respect for all that is sacred and holy, and ignorance of what the Bible teaches. Most likely no one would have ever heard of Dr. J. J. Altizer had it not been for his statement that "God is dead, he died on the cross, was buried and remained dead."
Actually, .there is nothing so startling about Altizer's statements for they are the reflection of an old attitude, that of all atheists. The new dress, the attitude expressed in a different way is what has created the excitement. That such declarations are not new, we are reminded that the German philosopher, Nietzche, said the same thing in substance nearly a hundred years ago. Voltaire, the renown atheist, once declared that it took twelve men to start Christianity and it would only take one man to destroy it. Indeed the modesty (?) of these atheists is "overwhelming." He died and now on the very spot where such declarations were uttered there stands a print shop, opened by a Bible society where the word of God is printed. Robert G. Ingersoll declared that after his death there would not be a church in the land.
Dr. Altizer claims to be a "Christian Atheist." That term makes as much sense as "fried snowballs. " One is just as compatible as is the other. A man cannot be a Christian and deny God. Jesus said in Jno. 6:44, "No man can come to me except the Father which bath sent me draw him..." Apparently Dr. Altizer thinks that he has learned much in the thirty-two years that he has lived. We assure him that he will have much more to learn, if he does not change his views. He will learn much when he stands before the LIVING God in the day of judgment.