Three Main Ideas
1) There are two types of atheism: positive atheism and practical atheism. Positive atheists make a deliberate and conscious decision that God does not exist. They consider it an essential part of who they are, as a person who has Faith in God does. Generally, positive atheists view religion as a hindrance to human progress. Practical atheists are people who claim to be people of faith and call themselves "Catholic" or "Muslim" or whatever church they belong to, but they do not live out their faith. They simply wear it on the outside, but that is as deep as it goes. These are called practical atheists because they might as well be atheists since they do not let their faith have a role in their lives.
2) Friedrich Nietzsche and the Attack from Atheism - Friedrich Nietzsche is one of the most famous atheists in history, due to his passionate way of expressing himself, and the power he gained as a philosopher. First of all, Nietzsche was a nihilist, meaning he believed that truth could not be found by reason, but this did not matter to him because he also believed that people were more swayed by emotion than reason. Nietzsche believed in relativity of values and morality. He believed that values are solely dependent on the person who questions them. According to Nietzsche’s philosophy, “If you wanted to say revenge is a good thing, then you have every right to say so, and as far as you’re concerned, revenge is good." He also believed that because everything is always changing, morality is relative, so what is good in one part of the world fifty years ago may be different than what is good today in the United States. Both of these things contradict Christianity’s teachings, for we believe in a universal code of morals and values that is objective to all places and times. Nietzsche also believed one of the most important things for a society is a “superman” which he describes as a person who has unbelievable will-power and passion to make their dreams come true. He condemned Christianity and Judaism for being too weak for a religion, and that to prosper, they needed strength, power, and will.
3) Science and Religion - The relationship between science and religion has undergone major changes since it started in 500 BC. At that time, the two existed in an “unreflective unity” in which science and religion were grouped under the name “philosophy” which included science, mathematics, logic, rhetoric, music, grammar, religion, etc. At this stage, the two existed in a sort of strained co-existence, for the Church had begun to dominate science by means of things like the Spanish Inquisition (“a church-police which persecuted people whose theological or scientific views contradicted Catholic doctrine”. Eventually, this strain became too strong, and the two split in a “reflective disunity” where by a greater understanding of each other’s differences, they broke the unity between them. In this stage, around 1500 AD, scientists started making theories, scientific laws, etc. that contradicted Catholic teaching. Eventually though, the scientists and Church realized that they each had qualities and aspects that they could learn from each other, which is called a "reflective unity" in 1900 AD. The scientists realized that they cannot answer the biggest questions of human existence by reason alone, and the Church realized that some of the doctrines they adopted were incorrect and outdated.
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Challenges to faith/Faith in my life
A lot of challenges to my faith that I have to deal with are related to media. Tv advertisements, magezine articles, and billboards all send messeges to me everyday. Another major challenge is peer pressure that I get from other students that I hang out with. I get pressured into doing something that I don't want to or something that I don't believe in.