What is Atheism?

Whatis
Atheism?
Examining the Truth Claims of Atheism

www.confidentchristians.org
A Brief Definition of Atheism
Atheism is a faith /
worldview that denies the
existence of any
supernatural deity.
“A” (no) “theism” (god)

From SHAFTESBURY
“To believe nothing of a
designing Principle or
Mind, nor any Cause,
Measure, or Rule of
things, but Chance . . . is
to be a perfect atheist.”

Objection!
“Atheism is not a ‘faith’
but is a fact based on
evidence…!”
Really? Let’s see…

The Impossibility of Atheism’s Truth Claim
“An affirmative existential
proposition can be
proved, but a negative
existential proposition –
one that denies the
existence of some thing –
cannot be proved.”
- Dr. Mortimer Adler

The First / Foremost Problem of Atheism
When a negative existential truth claim is put forward, the one
making the claim has shot themselves not in the foot, but in the
head. Unless the person can be in all places of the entire
universe at the same time, they have no way of confirming that
whatever they claim does not exist, in fact, does not exist. This is
conundrum the atheist finds him/herself in.

Atheism Takes One Step Back
Recognizing their predicament, atheists such as Richard
Dawkins counter such an argument by saying that, while they
cannot prove a flying spaghetti monster does not exist, it is highly
improbable such a thing actually exists, so the wiser intellectual
position to hold is one that says such a thing does not exist.

Two Problems with “FSM” Argument
1. First, comparing God with a flying
spaghetti monster commits the logical
error of faulty analogy.
2. Second, just because something is
improbable does not rule out its
existence. For example, all scientists
admit that humanity’s very existence is
inordinately improbable. Scientific
scholars acknowledge that it is against all
mathematical odds that all of the
universe’s cosmic constants and
biological mechanisms necessary for life
would come to be. And yet, humanity
does exist.

The Real Question…
The question is not whether the existence of God is improbable,
but rather is there logical, reasonable evidence that moves one
toward a conclusion that God exists.

Atheism Takes Another Step Back
Atheists answer that question negatively, so the next
move they make is to take another step back and say
that God “probably” does not exist.

Problem Number One
This is not the way human beings live most every other
area of their life they consider important.
Probably safe to fly
All Aboard…?

Problem Number Two
The seriousness of a truth claim dictates
the amount of evidence necessary to
support it. The atheist truth claim carries
with it enormous, irreparable and eternal
consequences if it is wrong. That being the
case, it is intellectually and morally
incumbent upon the atheist to produce
weighty and overriding evidence to
support his/her position, but they provide
nothing to substantiate their limp assertion
that God “probably” does not exist.

Problem Number Two
Atheism simply cannot meet the test for evidence for the seriousness of the
truth claim it makes. Instead, using a supposed argument from silence, the
atheist and those whom he/she convinces of their position slide into death
with their fingers crossed hoping they do not face the unpleasant reality that
eternity is an awfully long time to be wrong.

Atheism’s ‘Evidence’? Science!
Some atheists recognize the
gravity of their situation, and
therefore when pressed for
evidence, they take a stand that
can be boiled down to “Science
has disproven God”.
Really? Let’s see…

Why Science?
After the events of 9/11, a branch of atheism – militant atheism (sometimes
referred to as hatetheism) – aggressively rose up and demanded that
society must get rid of all religion. Rather than focusing on religious
extremists who use religion to justify violent and murderous actions, the
militant atheists lumped all peoples of faith into the same basic bucket and
labeled religion as a whole dangerous.

Why Science?
But the question facing the militant
atheists was, “How will we get rid of
religion?” The apparent agreement was
to use science as its bedrock and tool to
replace the need for religion. This tactic
is nothing new and was the same
position put forward by Thomas Huxley in
the 1800’s when he sought to install
scientists as the new priests for
humankind. This “faith” in science is not
science at all, but scientism, which says
that science and science alone is the
singular way to discover truth.

Science vs. Scientism
While science has indeed delivered many great gifts to
humankind, the hopes atheism has that scientism will replace
religion are ill founded. Why? Let see…

Scientism is self-refuting
The statement “We should only believe what can be scientifically
proven” itself cannot be scientifically proven (because it is a
philosophical statement), and so based on its own criteria, it
should be rejected.

Scientism Ignores Valid Epistemology
Scientism ignores other much-respected
and used methods for obtaining knowledge.
For example, the legal/forensic/historical
method of discovering truth is used every
day and is very well respected. The legal
method does not ignore testimony or facts
because they are not empirically
reproducible or testable. By a process of
elimination and corroboration, the legal
method allows history and testimony to
speak for itself until a verdict is reached
beyond a reasonable doubt and the balance
of probability is achieved.

Scientism is a moral disaster
Militant atheism asserts that if religion can be banished, then humankind
will have peace and harmony. But even a cursory look backwards at history
since the Enlightenment says otherwise. Instead of resulting in peace, the
Enlightenment ushered in one secular bloody revolution after another
climaxing in the twentieth century, which produced the largest mass grave
in history.

Scientism is a moral disaster
Ironically, one of atheism’s
chief heralds – Nietzsche –
predicted (correctly) that,
because he and others had
supposedly killed God in the
nineteenth century, the
twentieth century would be
the bloodiest ever.

Real Science Points Toward a Creator
The death of the steady state theory and the near
universal acceptance that the universe as we know it
exploded out of nothing into existence (cf. Genesis 1:1)
points to a transcendent cause.

The incredible fine tuning of the universe for human life to
exist on earth points to a cosmic Mind and Designer.

The confirmation of specified complexity like DNA that in
a single strand contains digital information equivalent to
600,000 pages of intelligence and is mathematically
identical to a language points to an intelligent source.

The Irony of Science and God
“It is rather ironical that in the
sixteenth century some people
resisted advance in science
because it seemed to threaten
belief in God; whereas in the
twentieth century scientific
models of a beginning were
resisted because they might
increase the plausibility of belief
in God.”
- Dr. John Lennox

Atheism’s False Dilemma
Atheism’s position on science commits the
logical fallacy of the false dilemma.
Atheism demands that a person choose
between science and God, where in fact,
no such division need occur. Such a
requirement can be likened to a person
being forced to choose between:
1. The laws of internal combustion
2. Henry Ford,
as to why a car exists. The fact is the two
choices are not contradictory, but
complementary.

Atheism’s False Dilemma
The atheist misses the important
difference between agency
(Henry Ford) and mechanism
(internal combustion).
In the same way, God is the
intelligent agency and efficient
cause behind everything, with his
natural laws and mechanisms
carrying out His intentions to
produce His desired end result.

The Conclusion of Atheism & Science
In the end, the atheist cannot rely on science to disprove the existence of a
transcendent Creator and is forced into the admission that atheism itself is
not a fact, but instead a belief system that relies on faith.
The real clash is not between science and religion but between the
atheistic/naturalistic and the theistic worldviews.

Atheism and Faith
This being the case, the atheistic worldview must address two fatal
mistakes it makes regarding the concept of faith: (1) that faith is only a
religious concept; (2) that faith means believing in something where there
is no evidence.
Neither is true…

Atheism and Faith
“I am an atheist. My
attitude is not based on
science, but rather on faith.
. . . The absence of a
Creator, the non-existence
of God is my childhood
faith, my adult belief,
unshakable and holy.”
- George Klein

Faith in Everyday Life
As to faith being defined as a belief that lacks evidence, nothing could be
further from the truth. Science has faith in logic, mathematics, natural laws,
and the intelligibility of the universe and believes all such things are firm
and will never change. People also act on faith every day from meals they
eat in restaurants, medicine they take from doctors, and marriages they
participate in with their spouse.

Faith as defined in The Bible
In the Bible’s New Testament, the word “pistis” is used for “faith”. It is a
noun that comes from the verb “peitho”, which means “to be persuaded”.
The best lexicons (e.g. BDAG) show the meaning of “pistis”, to be: “a state
of believing on the basis of the reliability of the one trusted, “trust,
confidence”, “that which evokes trust”, “reliability, fidelity pertaining to being
worthy of belief or trust”.
In other words, the idea that faith means blind belief in the face of opposing
evidence is foreign in Scripture.

Conclusion – Two Possible Realities
In conclusion, then, both atheism and theism make statements on faith that
concern ultimate reality. Both must refer back to something that is eternal
because each recognizes that everything that exists depends upon and
owes its existence ultimately to something other than itself.

The Atheist Reality – an Eternal Universe
To the atheist, that ultimate reality is an eternal universe where only physical
matter exists. Atheism’s struggle is to explain how the universe is eternal
when all scientific discovery shows it had a beginning.

The Atheist Reality Check
Atheism must confront a key issue
with their ultimate reality. Science says
that an effect always represents it
cause in essence. Therefore, atheism
must answer how an impersonal, non-
conscious, meaningless, purposeless,
and amoral universe accidentally
created personal, conscious, moral
beings who are obsessed with
meaning and purpose.

The Theist Reality – A Better Answer
The theist has no such problem because it holds that a personal,
conscious, purposeful, intelligent, moral, eternal God created beings in His
likeness and established the universe and its laws to govern their
existence.

The Reality of Atheism
“A long, hard, cruel business.”
- John Paul Sartre

The Reality of God
“The heavens are telling of the
glory of God; and their expanse
is declaring the work of His
hands. Day to day pours forth
speech, and night to night
reveals knowledge. There is no
speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard”
(Psalm 19:1–3)

In the End – Two Choices
“There are not many options –
essentially just two. Either
human intelligence ultimately
owes its origin to mindless
matter; or there is a Creator. It is
strange that some people claim
that it is their intelligence that
leads them to prefer the first to
the second.”
- Dr. John Lennox

For More Information

Whatis
Atheism?
Examining the Truth Claims of Atheism

What is Atheism?

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