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

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

(Youcat answer) 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 2123) "Many… of our contemporaries either do not at all perceive, or explicitly reject, this intimate and vital bond of man to God. Atheism must therefore be regarded as one of the most serious problems of our time" (GS 19 § 1).   

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 2124) The name "atheism" covers many very different phenomena. One common form is the practical materialism which restricts its needs and aspirations to space and time. Atheistic humanism falsely considers man to be "an end to himself, and the sole maker, with supreme control, of his own history" (GS 20 § 1). Another form of contemporary atheism looks for the liberation of man through economic and social liberation. "It holds that religion, of its very nature, thwarts such emancipation by raising man's hopes in a future life, thus both deceiving him and discouraging him from working for a better form of life on earth" (GS 20 § 2). 

(This question: Is atheism always a sin against the First Commandment? is continued)