It’s Really Atheism for Kids!

For many years now, Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) has been hosting the Good News Club. This after-school club meets in schools, homes, and churches to “evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living.” I’ve written before about some of the attacks they’ve received from secularists because CEF teaches children the biblical truth that they are sinners in need of a Savior. And now it looks like a group of atheists has decided to organize its own after-school program in reaction to CEF.

According to Religion News Service, the group of atheists began Young Skeptics, sponsored by Better News Club, featuring “science, logic and learning activities.” Kevin Davis, a member of Better News Club, reportedly said, “It isn’t atheism for kids; it doesn’t address debunking religion because they are little kids and we don’t want to use the same tactics as the Good News Club by telling them what to think . . . Our focus is on science-based critical thinking.”

Well, actually, regardless of what they say, Young Skeptics is teaching kids what to think through their “science-based critical thinking.” They will certainly disguise their worldview of evolution and billions of years—ways to explain away the need for a Creator God—using the word science, but these are really their beliefs (i.e., their religion) about the unobservable past. But their beliefs about the past are merely an attempted (false) interpretation of the evidence of the present! The evidence does not “speak for itself”; it must be interpreted. In teaching children evolution and millions of years, they are really teaching those kids to interpret the evidence in the same way that they do, through the lens of natural processes and millions of years of evolution. It’s really atheism! The skeptics are telling these kids what to think! They are teaching them an anti-God religion in the guise of “science.”

Now, why does a group of atheists care about the Good News Club anyway? Why does it matter what anyone believes while on earth since, according to atheism, when you’re dead, that’s it? So what difference does it make what someone believes? Well, it matters to atheists because in their hearts they know there is a God but they willingly choose to suppress this truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18–19). Ultimately, this is a spiritual struggle—a battle for the hearts and minds of our kids, the next generation. Secularists know that if they can capture the next generation with their atheistic worldview, they have the future. This group is yet another example of increasing attempts by secularists to indoctrinate children into their religion.

The group that heads up Young Skeptics calls themselves the Better News Club, but how is the message of atheism “better news”? According to atheism, you arrived here by blind, random,  purposeless processes, and you are nothing more than a highly evolved animal. There can really be no hope or meaning in an atheistic worldview because, according to atheists, when you’re dead, that’s it, you’re dead—you cease to exist. There is no ultimate hope, or meaning, or purpose in the religion of atheism. This is certainly not “better news” to be teaching to children! In fact, it’s terrible news, because it is indoctrinating children in a false religion.

The good news—the best news!—is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the message that kids need to hear! They need to hear that they are special, made in the very image of God. Their lives have purpose and meaning because God has a plan for their life. They need to be taught that they can have hope because of what Jesus did for them on the Cross. Although the good news starts out with the bad news (in Genesis) that we are all sinners who have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:3) and that our own righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6), the message of the gospel doesn’t end there. Jesus Christ stepped into history to pay the penalty of death that we deserve because of our sin (Romans 6:23a) and offers us eternal life as a free gift (Romans 6:23b). We can be saved by believing and trusting in Him (Romans 10:9). Now that’s the Good News that children need to hear!

I encourage you to be bold and active in teaching your children to stand on the authority of God’s Word from the very beginning. This really is a battle of epic proportions, and our kids need to be equipped to answer the attacks of these secularists who are out to stop them from hearing the good news. I encourage you to make use of the many resources we have just for kids, such as our Kids Answers site.

You can learn more about the Good News Club, and its parent organization Child Evangelism Fellowship, here.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,

Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.