CP Year in Review: Top 10 Christian News of 2007

The year 2007 was a year in which Christians had to up their guard amid increasingly frequent and vehement challenges. Whether it was defending against atheism, Mormonism, negative stereotypes, or liberal agendas, believers across the nation found themselves needing more to stand up for what they believe. The following is a list of the top 10 trends and events of 2007 that marked the year:

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This four-picture combo photo made with undated file photos shows, clockwise from top left, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, Ruth Bell Graham, Dr. D. James Kennedy, and Rex Humbard.

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1. Rise of Militant Atheism, Apologetics

Atheism has nearly always been with us in one form or another, but the atheists we’ve been hearing the most from lately – chiefly Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris – are a new breed, as prominent conservative Chuck Colson noted earlier this year. Unlike the old-school humanists, the new atheists – or anti-theists, as some of them prefer to be called – don’t want to just deny the existence of God, they want to wipe religion off the map.

As New York Times bestselling author Dinesh D'Souza explained, part of the reason why society is seeing an emboldened atheism is that a lot of these outspoken atheists were hoping religion would disappear as society became more modern and developed.

"Religion was seen as more of an ancient form of belief that would go away as science progressed and as we all became more successful, educated and affluent," said D'Souza in an interview this year with The Christian Post.

"But this has not happened,” he continued. “And, in fact, religion is booming in countries around the world," including the most modernized ones such as India and China.

"So the atheist in a way is getting a little more desperate," D'Souza believes.

“The time for polite debate is over,” declared Associated Press Religion Writer Rachel Zoll in a report this year.

“Militant, atheist writers are making an all-out assault on religious faith and reaching the top of the best-seller list, a sign of widespread resentment over the influence of religion in the world among nonbelievers,” she wrote.

Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, a prominent evangelical school in Pasadena, Calif., said the books' success reflect a new vehemence in the atheist critique.

"I don't believe in conspiracy theories," Mouw said, according to AP, "but it's almost like they all had a meeting and said, 'Let's counterattack.'"

The louder voice that has emerged among atheists has not, however, gone unchallenged.

"There's a phenomenon going on right now," said prominent apologist Lee Strobel at this year's National Conference on Christian Apologetics, according to The Charlotte Observer. "In response to this proliferation of attacks on Christianity that we're seeing in best-selling books and on the Internet, there's a new hunger in the church for apologetics – that is, defending the faith."

North American Mission Board (NAMB), the Southern Baptist Convention's domestic mission agency, for example, announced this year its plan to certify as many as 500 new apologetics instructors, charging them to defend the truth and credibility of the Christian faith.

Furthermore, more apologists and even laypeople are facing prominent atheists head-on through resources, live debates, and online forums.

More than a month after atheists began to blaspheme the existence of God on the popular YouTube network, Christians began turning the tables and taking up the challenge to stand up to their faith in Jesus Christ publicly.