Under the sponsorship of Pope Tawadros II, the Centre for Studies of Apologetic Theology opened on Friday 13 April 2018, at the hands of Anba Moussa, Bishop of Youth; and Anba Raphail, Bishop-General of Downtown Cairo and Secretary-General of the Holy Synod. ‘Apologetics’ in Arabic translates into ‘defence’.
Supervised by Fr Matta Badei, the centre is located in the Church of Holy Virgin at the Services Bishopric in St Mark Cathedral in Abbassiya, Cairo.
The Service of Coptic Apologetics was founded in 2008 [https://en.wataninet.com/coptic-affairs-coptic-affairs/religious/should-faith-run-against-reason/18438/ ]. The term ‘Apologetics’ was new at the time, Fr Matta says. Yet Anba Moussa welcomed the idea and officially adopted the service within the Bishopric of Youth’s various activities.
Fr Matta says the raison d’être of the service is to arm youth against modern atheistic trends and attempts to cast doubts on their Christian faith through plain reason. He explains that modern science and technology were often employed to deny faith, and that young people may not have sufficient Christian knowledge to maintain their faith before such ‘attacks’. The world of today, he says, deals only in evidence, proof, reason and logic, so our youth should be open to the world around them, and well-equipped to counter notions that not only criticise Christian or Orthodox faith and dogma, but also question the existence of God altogether.
In his speech delivered during the recent opening of the new centre, Anba Moussa said that the idea of defensive theology studies did not mean that we desire to prove that God exists. “God’s existence is proved and does not require evidence,” Anba Moussa explained, “but there are those who have been questioning this existence and raising doubts about it. And this is not new; it’s as old as creation.”
Anba Raphail gave a word in which he expressed his happiness at establishing the Apologetics Centre, the fruit of arduous efforts.
“The problem with atheism is that atheists bind themselves to science,” Anba Raphail said, “and claim that scholars and scientists do not believe in God. But this is not true; many scientists are believers. The idea that ‘science runs against faith’ is incorrect. In many instances, science supports faith.
“Mathematicians say that the concept of infinity does not lend itself to logic. So God, being infinite, may not be judged solely by logic.
“Refuting atheism is easy, but we need the right knowledge,” he noted, recalling the verse ‘Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.’ (Hebrews 11:3)
“The first sign of faith is to understand,” Anba Raphail concluded, “If atheism is armed with pride, we should fortify ourselves with humility. To realise this, we need ‘Prayer’.”
Watani International
24 April 2018