In 2003, atheist Johnathan Rauch wrote an article for the Atlantic Monthly titled, Let It Be (note 1) , in which he claimed to have altered his view to something he calls apatheism. Whereas atheists are certain God does not exist (and will advocate their belief), and agnostics say they cannot determine whether or not God exists, the apatheist just says, “I don’t really care much one way or the other about the God question at all.” Furthermore, Johnathan believes this is a wonderful social achievement; a much needed improvement for himself, and by implication, for humanity.
When I first stumbled across an analysis of this article in The Christian Post (note 2), I actually stopped breathing. This is far worse than anything I have yet seen in regard to a closed mind and entrenched resistance to God. I certainly understand how apathy can free a person from any emotional investment in a discussion: If I don’t care at all about an issue, I don’t have to think about it, or argue about it, or … most important of all … examine my own life in light of it. But frankly, I am shocked at the intellectual dishonesty that is needed in order to support such a stance; and shocked that this intentional self-delusion is considered a social achievement!
In the first place, this is nothing more than a thin veneer for atheism. Johnathan was an atheist before he hit upon this idea, and he is still an atheist. The only difference is that he now has chosen to close his mind and his ears to any further thoughts on the issue. He doesn’t care what you believe, because to him, it simply doesn’t matter what you believe. It changes nothing, since there is no God to be concerned about. And he doesn’t care that he doesn’t care. Johnathan is now happily immersed in what Socrates called, an “unexamined life” that “is not worth living” (399 BC). He is truly excited to share with the world that he has no desire to ever have “ears to hear.” And for someone to celebrate their lack of interest in the question of “what is reality?” and even call it an advancement in thinking is truly astonishing! That is what took my breath away.
But it gets worse, of course, because both atheism and apatheism are aspects of a larger worldview in which a person is their own god. The difference is that an atheist at least has tried in some way to make sense of the issue, whereas the apatheist does not even care to bother with the issue. After all, what would it accomplish. If the investigation confirms that God does not exist, then the effort was a waste of time and energy. And if it turns out that God’s existence is undeniable, then it would upset one’s worldview terribly and create an angst that they wanted to avoid in the first place.
In the end, apatheism is actually a cover for someone who does not want there to be a God.
Which in fact is the point of it all. Our Post-modern “enlightened” thinkers now believe that you no longer have to search for truth and follow the data and logic wherever it leads. Instead, they can cherry-pick the conclusion they want to have, and with a wave of the hand simply disallow any and all information or thoughts or facts that might lead somewhere else. Reality is what you want it to be. We see it all the time in our mass media and social media. And now thanks to Johnathan Rauch, we have this broken worldview framed as an improvement in our theology..
Note 1: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/05/let-it-be/302726/