YOU'RE NOT AN ATHEIST!

I have a friend who is not sure if he's an atheist or an agnostic.
Another old buddy used to be an agnostic, now he's a Christian and a minister at his church, when he's not anchoring the news.

Newsweek editor, Jon Meacham says you can't be an atheist if you don't know anything about religion. I like that answer...I've been thinking about those words all week-since I first stumbled on an article written by Meacham's friend, Washington journalist and socialite, Sally Quinn.
The article appeared in the November issue of Oprah Magazine.

Quinn called herself an atheist...wore her label proudly...for years...until her son was born-with a hole in his heart. That's when self will, gave way to soul reflection. She cried out to the unimaginable -to God...pleading for help...praying for a miracle...in a mother's desperate attempt to save her child' life. Her son Quinn didn't die...but he has lived with nonstop medical and learning problems.

Quinn says-that when she prayed to God in the hospital chapel, she initially felt nothing...no sense of comfort, no relief, no feeling of being embraced..."Despondent, I got up and left. I felt sort of embarrassed," she wrote.

She may not have known it then, but that was her turning point...her fork in the road...The millisecond she let down her guard...and let God in...when she opened her heart to God-that's when he could reach right in-and begin working on her heart...and her heartfelt request.
That's when the living God entered her life...lifted her cross and her disbelief-ever so slowly, one day at a time.

For years after, she still believed herself to be an atheist...even shared her belief with her journalist friend, Meacham, who is also a Christian and religion scholar from Yale Divinity School. When she announced her atheism, he disagreed, "No, you're not."

Quinn says he told her two things that changed her life..."You don't ever want to define yourself negatively" ...and... "You don't know anything about religion. If you're going to be an atheist, you should learn about religion and make an informed decision." She read the list of books he suggested-and again felt embarrassed, but this time, by how little she really knew about religion-or God. That honesty and her willingness to learn, has lead her on a path of spiritual enlightenment that has forever changed her life.

Today Quinn and Meacham co moderate a Newsweek Magazine web site, On Faith...and as a result, Quinn's faith is alive and blooming--growing in leaps and bounds...because that is what usually happens when we simply let down the old guard and let in the spirit of Love that is always blowing our way, even when we are looking the other way.

So the next time someone tells me they're an atheist...or an agnostic, or just too busy to think about God...I'm going to take my lead from Jon Meacham...and then share Sally Quinn's story... and then-thank my lucky stars-and especially my God-that I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God not only exists, but that he is giving me a great big grin-right about now!