We played the flute for you, but you did not dance

The Gospel reading today was from Matthew:

Jesus said to the crowds
"To what shall I compare this generation?
It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,
"We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,
we sang a dirge but you did not mourn."
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,
"He is possessed by a demon."
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said,
"Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'
But wisdom is vindicated by her works."

It made me think of the atheists that I've run into. The run of the mill atheists don't seem to get religion, in spite of their many of them being a part of religions in their past. It's not that the concepts are too deep. At it's root, I would dare to say it is simply that they don't want to get it.

When I went with my cohorts from Ask A Catholic A Question to the Aggie Athiest club, the host/president girl generously made the topic for the night the good things about religion. She volunteered something she liked about religion, but the other couple dozen atheists could only come up with some snide remarks or blank faces. I volunteered something I admired from the Mormons, to try and spark things, but to no avail.

I would venture to say atheists don't get it, not for lack of evidence, but simply because they don't want to.   Jesus makes 2 points about "this generation." 1) They demand God dance to their tune and 2) regardless of how they are approached they only have ad hominem attacks. This is not to say Christians (Catholics) are above criticism, but it is striking how true this rings for so many of the atheists' criticisms. Their main beef is that God doesn't run things the way He ought if He does exist and that Christians do mean things. But neither attack holds any water, any more than an attempt to disprove Heliocentrism by digging up dirt on Copernicus.

In his book Authenticity, Fr. Dubay points out that while we assume the biggest reason people don't follow Jesus is because they just don't know all the facts, the Gospels don't present it this way. In fact, in the face of Jesus bringing Lazarus' to life, the powers that be decide they have to do away with both of them. They don't want proof, they just want to continue living life the way they want. It is a question of conversion of life. Repent and believe. Repentance comes before belief.

But I digress. It was just a striking point that 2000 years ago the same type of thing was happening then that is going on now with all our "progress."