Youcat commented through CCC – Question n. 357 – Part III.

YOUCAT Question n. 357 – Part III. Is atheism always a sin against the First Commandment?

(Youcat answer - repeated) Atheism is not a sin if a person has learned nothing about God or has examined the question about God’s existence conscientiously and cannot believe.

A deepening through CCC

(CCC 2127) Agnosticism assumes a number of forms. In certain cases the agnostic refrains from denying God; instead he postulates the existence of a transcendent being which is incapable of revealing itself, and about which nothing can be said. In other cases, the agnostic makes no judgment about God's existence, declaring it impossible to prove, or even to affirm or deny.     

Reflecting and meditating 

(Youcat comment) The line between being unable to believe and being unwilling to believe is not clear. The attitude that simply dismisses faith as unimportant, without having examined it more closely, is often worse than well-considered atheism. 

(CCC Comment)

(CCC 2128) Agnosticism can sometimes include a certain search for God, but it can equally express indifferentism, a flight from the ultimate question of existence, and a sluggish moral conscience. Agnosticism is all too often equivalent to practical atheism.     

 

(The next question is: Why does the Old Testament forbid images of God, and why do we Christians no longer keepthat commandment?)