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Ethics produces an even greater quandary. Moral laws have changed less over the millennia than the recognized laws of physics and mathematics. The ethical principles that undergird the Ten Commandments' prohibitions against stealing and murder are recognized by people in New York, New Guinea, Timbuktu, and even bin Laden's cave, while scientific theory has undergone numerous revolutions—and will continue to do so.

So what explains the uniformity of moral laws? As former atheist Antony Flew notes in There Is a God, musings about the origin of life and virtue lead directly to God. So when atheists invoke natural law standards, they embrace the Creator they most wish to deny.

On the broader issue of faith and reason, D'Souza states the obvious: "Religious faith is not in opposition to reason. The purpose of faith is to discover truths that are of the highest importance to us through purely natural means." He quotes philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein: "[E]ven if all possible scientific questions are answered, the problems of life still have not been touched at all." Darwinists may be able to describe how older bees, wasps, ants, and termites help their younger siblings, but they can't explain why Raoul Wallenberg became a martyr for captive Jews.

Atheism fails as a creed because it lacks humanity. It destroys the wall of sanctity that defends the weak from the strong. It spawned history's most savage movements—from the French Terror to the Stalinist purges. None of the atheistic alternatives has survived because reason just doesn't make a satisfying god.

This leads us to perhaps the strongest argument against atheism, which D'Souza makes only indirectly—the argument from experience. Atheism cannot reach our hearts. A rigorous atheist cannot console in a time of grief, cannot explain love, cannot sigh in happy wonder at life's endless surprises. He can only utter, "What is, is."

Christianity, in contrast, offers the divine "I Am"—God, speaking through Scripture, saying what he means and meaning what he says. In the person of Jesus Christ, he taught. He ministered. He saved. He chased away the moneychangers and wept at the news of Lazarus's death. He lived so boldly that he had to be killed—yet did not stay in the tomb.

No other religion dares claim that God walked among us as fully human. None describes the Lord as a servant rather than overlord. None contemplates an Almighty who humbly offers the bread and cup of love or gives his children complete freedom to grasp his outstretched hand or slap it away.

Every child has felt a shiver of God as night closes and the world grows quiet. Adults, amid the bustle and din, know he's there. When trouble comes, we whisper his name. We cannot see, hear, or yet walk with him. But from time to time we experience a presence that defies description. The God of love is also the God of surprise. Atheists deny something profoundly obvious, something deeply unforgettable, that's woven into our souls.

This explains D'Souza's opening assertion that "God is back. … Christianity is winning and secularism is losing. … God is the future and atheism is on its way out." Atheists may be selling books, but they're not making converts. Christianity is, especially in places and congregations that take Scripture seriously—and joyously.

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March 2008, Vol. 52, No. 3