Ironically, one of the reasons the New Atheists have lashed out so aggressively is because atheism is losing the rational higher ground. In the 1960s it may have seemed acceptable to argue that religious faith is blind. The cover of a 1966 Time magazine story captured the prevailing attitude of the time: “Is God Dead?” Yet, as philosopher William Lane Craig has observed in a cover story for Christianity Today, news of God’s death was premature. In fact, says Craig, “atheism, though perhaps still the dominant viewpoint at the American university, is a philosophy in retreat.”[iii] This trend was powerfully portrayed by the recent conversion of Antony Flew, one of the most influential atheists over the past five decades. In his book Why There Is A God, Flew cites the burgeoning scientific evidence for a divine intelligence as the prime reason for his change of mind.

Standing in Pauley Ballroom, at 5:55 with a group of other college students, waiting for the clock to hit 6PM, I was more excited than I’d been in a very long time.  In just a few minutes a huge crowd of youth would be coming through those doors, and we had just three precious hours to try to interest them in a ministry that could very well help to define the course of the rest of their lives.  The pressure was on, but at the same time we mentors knew …