Why Atheist?

The Czech Republic is a nation of 10.2 million people, the majority of whom
are atheists. Why?! History gives us an answer.

In the late 1300s and early 1400s, John Huss came to prominence as a priest
crying out against the wickedness within the hierarchy. His fiery sermons
brought upon him the ire of his superiors, which led not only to his
excommunication, but eventually to his execution.

John Huss clung tenaciously to his conviction that the Word of God is truth.
He amassed a large following in Prague and in the regions around. Huss was
lured to Constance, Germany to supposedly have his grievances heard. The
offer to meet with him proved only a ploy to draw him away from Prague,
where he could be easily arrested. After a year in prison, he bravely went to
his death, burning at the stake. The effect upon the future of the Czech
nation was an ongoing distrust of foreign encroachment, political and
religious.

After the death of Huss,the Hussites fiercely resisted but eventually they
were defeated and Catholic oriented government dominated the land once
again. But this was just the beginning of many years of a“see-saw” history in
which this dominance went up and down. That pattern continued until, due
to persecution, an emigration took place. The spiritual vacuum which
remained set the stage for the rise of a non-religious intellectual materialism.
When in 1948, communism gained political control, it’s evolutionary atheistic
world view found fertile soil.

Communism fell in the Velvet Revolution of 1989. But 50 years of communist
propaganda had its effect. A middle age Czech man named Bohuslav told me
a number of years ago; “We are the lost generation … but, our children will
think differently.” He was right. When we arrived in the Czech Republic in
February 1994, the country was backward financially and bankrupt spiritually.

Things are different now. The Czech Republic is prospering especially in
Prague. Spiritually it is different also. The “children ” of which Bohuslav
spoke, do “think differently”. The country is poised for a spiritual
awakening, an awakening which has already begun!