The tragedy of atheism - Pope John Paul II

Today, in the world, and especially in our Western world, we realize the need 'to rebuild', in its essential components, a civilization truly worthy of human beings. Economic inequalities which still subsist and which will gradually get worse, are symptomatic of deeper needs impinging on the spiritual sphere.

Materialistic ideologies on the one hand and moral permissiveness on the other have led many people to believe that it is possible to build a new and better society while excluding God and eliminating and reference to transcendental values. However, experience shows us all to clearly that, without God, society is dehumanized and the human person is deprived of his or her greatest riches. The closer human beings are to the Creator and Redeemer, the more truly human the future of the world will be.

Christianity does not deaden human nature but exalts its noblest potentialities, placing them at the service of the authentic progress of the individual and the community. 'In Christ, true man as well as true God, we can discover the full truth about ourselves and the purpose of our existence' (Redemptor hominis 11)

I urge you to preserve intact your faith in Jesus the Saviour, who died and rose again for us. Listen carefully to his Gospel, which the Church continues preaching to you with unchanging fidelity to what has been taught from the beginning. Bring up your children to obey the commandments, teaching them to ask God for the courage they will need to defy the dominant opinion, when this is in opposition to the Gospel. Do not be afraid to swim against the tide.

Today as never before the world has need of the newness of the Gospel, so as not to drown in the overwhelming conformism of mass civilization.

Some people claim to be seekers; others think of themselves as non-believers, or perhaps they are unable to believe or they are indifferent to religion. Others again reject a God whose face has been misrepresented to them. Others yet again, who are blinded by the outbursts of the 'philosophies of suspicion' which present religion as illusion or alienation, are sometimes tempted to construct a humanism without God.

I beg all of these people, in all fairness, at least to leave their windows open to God. Otherwise they are in danger of walking past the man in the street who is Christ, of cutting themselves off by the attitudes of revolt and violence, and of being satisfied with sighs, impotence and resignation. Sooner or later, a world without God is built against the human being.

Faith - by Pope John Paul II

The Difficulty of believing today

As we are well aware, contemporary civilization is permeated with different currents - not only Christian ones but alto anti-Christian, non-Christian, non religious and anti-religious ones. And sometimes these latter currents seem to dominate the thinking of contemporary society. This situation needs commitment if it is to be overcome: the commitment of all Christians who are aware of what it means to be a Christian. Christ says that his Father too has a 'culture', a culture in the deepest sense of the word: that culture which is the true perfection of the human spirit, its completeness in the natural, human sense and in the supernatural sense too.

It isn't easy to be authentic Christians in the context of modern society, with the strands of renascent paganism running through it. But it wasn't easy yesterday either, when circumstances were different. It is harder still to create a wider social environment inspired by the great Gospel Values. But we must strive to do this, putting our trust in the creative power that flows from the grace of the Risen Christ.

There are no types of society that can claim to be free of negative elements. Even roses have thorns.