Most of us find it challenging to engage with people whose philosophies of life differ from and are critical of our own. Christians faced it some years ago when responding the attack by Richard Dawkins and others on belief in God’s existence. Many Christian writers rallied in defence of theism, rebutting their opponents’ arguments and marshalling their own. The defence was appropriate. It reasserted the claim that theism is true as well as beneficial, and also helped reassure people whose belief in God was shaken. It was also, however, strangely dissatisfying. It was like achieving a scoreless draw in a soccer game – saved a necessary point but won no new followers to the team or the game.
Is that the only way to engage with people who hold a life view different to our own? Christians might seek advice from Peter’s first Letter on how to respond to opposed views: ‘Always be prepared to give an account to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.’
The text suggests engaging in conversation rather than confrontation, but not unequivocally. Many translations suggest giving a ‘defence’, and not an ‘account’. ‘Giving a defence’ suggests a discussion that is adversarial and in which defendants focus on themselves and not on the inner world of their conversation partners. ‘Giving an account’, taken together with the commendation of gentleness and respect might suggest an exploratory conversation between equals, each of whom would speak of their personal and operative faith. It would go beyond the logical arguments for their beliefs to explore why they found those arguments persuasive. It would also commit them to an internal conversation which may lead theists to engage with their inner disbeliever.
From this perspective the starting point of such a conversation is not that a theistic view is the only coherent and benign view of the world, nor that it is superior to others. It is that belief in God, as distinct from the belief that God exists, is a gift that is worth exploring and sharing. It takes them beyond a general argument about the existence of God to a personal reflection on why they find their belief in God to be a gift. The conversation also invites their conversation partners to speak of their fundamental vision of the world at the same depth.
If this argument urges the importance