The State of Apatheism

There was an article in the Atlantic Monthly in which the author was describing his spiritual condition. Someone asked him about his religion. He was about to say “Atheist” when it dawned on him that this wasn’t quite accurate.

“I used to call myself an atheist,” he ended up responding, “and I still don’t believe in God, but the larger truth is that it has been years since I really cared one way or another. I’m (and this was when it hit him) an... apatheist!”

He then went on to describe his state as a “disinclination to care all that much about one’s own religion, and an even stronger disinclination to care about other people’s.”

But it’s what he wrote next that haunted me.

“I have Christian friends who organize their lives around an intense and personal relationship with God, but who betray no sign of caring that I am an unrepentantly atheistic Jewish homosexual. They are exponents, at least, of the second, more important part of apatheism: the part that doesn’t mind what other people think about God.” Read More

Too many of us act as if we are indifferent to the spiritual condition of others. Are we as Christians suppressing what should be sympathy and concern for them? If so, why? Or have we we become desensitized to their spiritual condition? As I was writing this comment, I found myself think about Paul's description of a seared conscience. A person with a seared conscience no longer feels guilt about his actions even those actions undeniably conflict with God's will. The part of his conscience that would be disturbed by his actions has been burned away. This prompted me to wonder whether our spiritual condition may be worse than theirs.