Illustration: Faith of the Faithless

There is a church which is part of the official mainline Protestant church in the Netherlands called The Exodus Church. What is interesting is that even though it has many of the trappings of traditional Christianity, the minister is an atheist. The church sings hymns, reads from the Bible and prays the Lords' Prayer. The minister, Klaas Hendrikse, wears the robe and collar. He preaches; but he does not believe in the resurrection, that Jesus is the Son of God, in an afterlife or in the existence of God. He says, "Personally, I have no talent for believing in life after death." He also says, "God is not a being at all…it's a word for experience—human experience." Obviously people have a right to believe what they want to believe or to believe nothing. What is puzzling is why people would want to hold these views and come to church without belief.