Here I use the word “Christianity”, but it has a broader meaning than what we usually talk about in life. I will mostly focus on the existence of God (Theism) and the Old Testament. Only in the end will I mention a bit of the New Testament and Jesus. In this sense, the major part of this article can also be applied to other religions, such as Judaism[1] and Islam, which believe in the Old Testament as well.
I have encountered many Christians in my life. They consider the Bible as the uttermost truth in life. They place their life in the hands of God and let God make decisions for them. Whenever they encounter an obstacle, they wonder why God has chosen this way for them. Whenever they receive unexpected luck/fortune, they give credit to God. They try to find a way out between science and the Bible. If there is a potential conflict, they would doubtlessly choose the Bible and question science.
Many atheists don’t like the life Christians have chosen. In part, Christians seem to give up part of their lives to the God. Their reasoning seems unscientific. More importantly, some Christians would argue on issues that science has already drawn reasonable conclusions.
Christians, on the other hand, are worried for the atheists because atheists have cut their connections from God. Christians often argue that a true atheist should analyze all religions in the world and conclude that all Gods are fake and thus God does not exist (here they actually mean nontheism). However, most atheists do not even make an attempt to understand different religions and draw their conclusions based on ignorance.
I totally understand the opinions of the two parties. They make different assumptions on the world. Of course their conclusions are different. Atheists believe in science. Christians believe in God. Their conflict intensifies when science draws one conclusion and God says otherwise. But can we find a middle way that science and God can be together peacefully?
[1] At the time of writing, I didn’t know much about Judaism. Now (07/08/2011) I realize that some of my assumptions were not correct. For example, Judaism doesn’t have the notion of Heaven or Hell. It only advocates that when the Savior come, all dead will come back to life. However, it doesn’t mention what happened to those people after they die and before the Savior come. It also does not mention what happened after those people come back to life (live happily ever after?). This, in some sense confirmed my belief. See “Where are we” for details.