Christian Atheist

Sydney and I are Christians. We believe that Jesus is who He said He is, and that belief shapes how we live, how we love, and why we do what we do.

Many people who know us know this about us. They know that our faith is the reason we feel called to help others.

Our practice, House of Sparrow Counseling, is named after Matthew 10:29, a reminder that God sees and values even the smallest sparrow. If He cares that deeply for a tiny bird, how much more does He care for the people who walk through our doors? We live in a world that is broken and often painful. Our hope is to love people well, the way Christ loves, and to bring a little light into whatever darkness they may be carrying. We can't change the whole world, but maybe we can help change someone's world.

At the same time, we don't market House of Sparrow as a Christian counseling practice. Why? Because we've sat with enough people to know that church hurt is real. Religious trauma is real. Judgment in the name of faith is real. We never want someone to assume they won't be welcomed, respected, or understood because of our personal beliefs.

Everyone who comes to our practice deserves compassionate, ethical, evidence-based care, regardless of what they believe—or don't believe. Our faith motivates us to love people, not to pressure them. Therapy is about our clients, not about us.

Recently, Sydney and I came across a post where someone described themselves as a "Christian atheist." I'll admit, our first reaction was confusion—and maybe a little amusement. Those two terms seem to contradict one another. Traditionally, Christianity involves belief in God and in Jesus Christ, while atheism is the absence of belief in God.

But rather than dismissing the phrase or making assumptions about the person using it, I became curious. What were they trying to communicate? So, (please don’t judge me) I asked my friend ChatGPT and discovered that "Christian atheist" is a real philosophical position. It doesn't describe someone who believes in Jesus as the Son of God. Instead, it generally refers to someone who does not believe in God but deeply admires Jesus' moral teachings and tries to live according to principles like compassion, forgiveness, humility, generosity, and love for others.

I still wouldn't use the term to describe myself because, for me, belief in Christ is central to Christianity. But learning what the phrase means reminded me of something important: curiosity almost always serves us better than assumptions. Sometimes people use familiar words in unfamiliar ways, and if we're willing to ask questions before passing judgment, we often gain a better understanding of one another.