Atheist Prayer experiment

So I have to admit I’m not an avid Premier radio listener, however I came
across this via twitter (@UnbelievableJB) and it looks kinda interesting.

The Atheist Prayer Experiment is being run by Premier Radio and is based on the
paper by Oxford philosopher Tim Mawson titled Praying to Stop Being an
Atheist. They
say:

‘In it Mawson argues that, on balance, it is in the interests of those
atheists who don’t think it’s absolutely impossible that there’s a God to
investigate the issue of whether or not he exists by ‘the experimental method’
– trying to ask him’

So basically they are asking atheists to ask God to reveal himself to them
by praying for 2 or 3 minutes a day for 40 days. This is a really interesting
idea. On the one hand I think it’s great and actually gives people permission
to try it out, to seek God but with a safety net of an experiment, if you like.
On the other hand, I wonder if this is not putting God to the test. I believe
that people become Christians, or experience God when the Holy Spirit touches
them. Obviously this happens in a wide variety of ways, but is this kind of
experiment a bit like forcing the Holy Spirit into a corner? Kind of saying ‘Come
on God, if you’re real show yourself….’ Is that how we should encourage
people to seek God? I’m not sure.

But that said I will be suggesting to a
couple of my most avid atheist friends that they give this a go… Because, in
my experience, often the reason people call themselves atheists is because of a
bad experience with the church or someone religious; or that they haven’t
actually explored the possibility of faith or Christianity (or any other religion)
themselves.  At least by taking part in
this one could say at the end of it, either way I gave it a go!

I will be watching the results with interest!

 

For more info click here