Do Atheists go to Heaven?

As a side point, there is no such thing as an Atheist. We all worship something as God. Atheist, Richard Dawkins, worships science as God.

What does the leading Australian Catholic, George Pell, think about Atheists and their chances of getting into heaven?

GEORGE PELL: Well, I know from the Christian point of view, God loves everybody but every genuine motion towards the truth is a motion towards God and when an atheist dies, like everybody else, they will be judged on the extent to which they have moved towards goodness and truth and beauty but in the Christian view, God loves everyone except those who turn his back turn their back on him through evil acts.

So apparently atheists will be in heaven if they are good, truthful and whatever beauty means.
A 'move towards truth' stated by Pell, as a pre-requisite to get into heaven only works if you identify 'what or who is truth'.

1 John 1; 8-9
⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹

There is no moving towards truth if we don't recognise our sin. That's step 1 in moving towards truth. Who is the truth? What or who is not in us? If the truth is not in us, what or who are we lacking?

John 1; In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

As a translation...In the beginning there was Jesus, and Jesus was with God and Jesus was God. Jesus was with God in the beginning. Through Jesus all things were made; without Jesus nothing was made that has been made. In Jesus was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it..

Jesus' life was the light of all mankind. Stay with me here. What kind of light was this?:

John 1 continued... The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

Jesus is the true light that points towards life.
Last verse.  John 14:6 from the words of Jesus himself:

'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'

No one gets to heaven except through Jesus Christ. A genuine move towards truth is a move towards Jesus. If atheists don't worship Jesus Christ as being with God and God (Trinity), eternal, creator and saviour there is no truth in them and therefore no life.
I hope George Pell was meaning to say that a 'move towards truth' can only be a move towards Jesus. Any other move in another direction is a move away from truth.

Senator Fielding v's Richard Dawkins on Q&A.

I never usually watch Q&A on the ABC because it has politicians on it. Politicians are invariably incompetent at answering the question. The episode of Q&A on 8 March was discussing the compatibility between 'science' and 'religion'. It made for frustrating and slightly traumatic viewing. The cast was Richard Dawkins (a highly educated atheist), Senator Fielding (a professing Christians, leader of the Family First party and Senator), Julie Bishop, Tony Burke and a couple of others.

This was the ideal opportunity for public figures such as Steven Fielding to give an account of their Christianity on national T.V. He ran away from that opportunity and looked like a fool. It was a shame the ABC put a dittering Senator in the ring with an accomplished scientist.

Fielding condoned the compatibility between 'creationism' and 'evolution'. I assume the term 'evolution' means that humanity evolved from a simple life form, through to the ape stage into the breed of humanity we have today. Christians can not accept evolution. Sure they can accept that the world is billions of years old and God may have used some sort of 'big bang' to get things moving in the universe. But evolution is a dangerous heresy to introduce into our doctrine to appease the scientific community. Why? Because if you remove Genesis from the Bible you have no understanding of the origin of 'sin' in creation. You also have no understanding just how valuable humanity is. God made us in 'his' image. We didn't crawl out of a cess pool. He breathed life into us directly. We were appointed to reign over creation. We were created perfectly. There was a perfect relationship between humanity, creation and God. The Bible does not promote humanity evolving from the animal kingdom.

Humanity fell into sin in Genesis 3 because it rejected and disobeyed God. Humanity and creation was cursed resulting from this rebellion. If Christians remove Genesis, there is no understanding the origins of a cursed world. Our relationship with God was irrevocably broken and the whole point of Jesus' existence on earth was to rectify this. The promise of Jesus was first mentioned in Genesis 3:15. God promised that an offspring of Eve would crush the head of Satan. Genesis is fundamental to an understanding of Jesus Christ. There is no compatibility between Christians and evolution. Genesis does not allow it.

The convenor of Q&A asked Senator Fielding 'where did humans come from'? Fielding replied 'I believe in being created'. Where's God Senator? Be bold Senator! Why didn't you put a name to your creator?

It was confirmed that Pope Benedict stated that evolution and faith can co-exist. If the Pope does not believe that man was created in the image of God, he has fallen into Apostasy. Without the biblical account of Genesis, the concept of sin and redemption is not understood. I might do some research on you Pope in the hope I have to recant my sentiment.

Is Julie Bishop a professing Christian? If she is, all she can muster regarding the Bible is 'it is an all time best seller'.

Steve Fielding went to great lengths to say that his faith is personal. Christ did not call you to have a personal faith Senator! He didn't call you to light your candle and put it under the bed. You are in a position of leadership in this country. You are Christ's ambassador. But all you can come up with to justify your timidity was to say your faith is personal. Whatever you do in your bedroom is personal Senator, not your Christian faith.

Is Tony Burke a Christian? All he could muster was to say 'there was a bloke from a couple of thousand years ago who said to love one another'. How hard is it to say 'Jesus' Tony? Julie Bishop didn't do much better, she said he was a 'great man who tried to do good things'. I hope you're not a professing Christian Julie!
Senator Fielding was asked directly, 'do you believe the Bible as the word of God'? He didn't answer the question.

Ironically, my applause goes to the atheist Richard Dawkins. He summed up the Gospel of Jesus Christ better than any of the Christians on the panel. The first mention of Jesus in the entire 55 minute debacle was at the 30 minute mark...and it came from the Atheist. He said two things of truth:

1. 'All religions are not compatible. They all can't be right.' That's right Mr Dawkins. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father but through him. I got the impression that Steve Fielding wants them to be all compatible.
2. 'Don't you think God could have found a better way to atone for man's sins rather than allowing himself to be brutally punished and put to death on a cross? Is that admirable?' Well done Richard, you gave a better account of Christianity than everyone else. You're closer to the Kingdom than you think. If you take away the account of Genesis, well then it is not 'admirable'. It would be absurd. Jesus was promised in Genesis 3. He came to re-instate mans perfect relationship with God.