Atheists' Reasons

Short Answer Responses

The first set of reasons come from atheists' reaction to this particular picture of God. Christians (and other believers) say God is spirit and spirit cannot be seen. The atheist may say, existence is only matter and there is nothing beyond that.

It is a short-sighted science that fails to ask, what is ‘material'? Is energy ‘material'? Is gravity ‘material' My own definition for God in these discussions is “energy with personality”. Yes, it still defies understanding but Quantum theory defies understanding yet we accept the assertions of very bright physicists.

Believers say God is an all-powerful, benign and loving being with personality. Atheists … have been proponents of the view that says that the Bible reveals a thoroughly unpleasant God and reject ‘him' on those grounds.

The sadness of these arguments that have been put forward by twenty first century atheists is the obvious ignorance of what the Bible does actually say about God and why it says it. Part of the work of theology is to reason out what we find in Scripture and the person who takes the time to thoroughly read the Old Testament (as well as the New)will find the God revealed there is exactly the same as that in the New, a God described in the New as love nd full of goodness.

Second, they will add that the whole problem of suffering in the world indicates a God who is either powerless or indifferent and not the God of love and goodness put forward by believers.

God is neither powerless nor indifferent but has granted mankind free will, which enables humans to choose to follow or reject Him, and choose whether to be loving and good or self-centredly unpleasant. ‘Man's inhumanity to man' is the primary cause of so much suffering. The fact that the earth works in a broken form since the Fall of Genesis 3, is also a primary cause of suffering.

Third, they will say that they are masters of their own destiny and do not need the crutch of religion which is what such a God provides (i.e. they do not like being told there is someone to whom they would be answerable).

Theory and practice are very different. Listen to the great philosopher and hear his fine words about the greatness of Man, but then look at the quality of his life, the way he treated his family and even abused himself with drink or drugs and so often the lie is revealed. The Bible uses the word Sin and essentially it means self-centred godlessness leading to poor behaviour. We are all tainted with it at modern scandals and so much modern life reveals in abundance. We all need help.

Fourth, they will say that God or religious phenomena cannot be duplicated or cannot be tested scientifically, i.e. you cannot get God to react. It was W. K. Clifford in 1879 who said, “ It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” The claim of the atheist is that that evidence is lacking.

If God is an almighty divine Being as the Bible declares, then He will not be at our beck and call. The fact is that the Bible is FULL of His words and His actions (which appear with a remarkably uniformity throughout the sixty six books of the Bible with so many different writers) which can be checked and assessed. Rather than lacking the evidence is there in abundance. In addition we might speak of Christian experience which can be observed and it is a foolish person who on examining so many Christian lives decries the goodness and the experience observed there.

But we must move on to a second set of ‘valid reasons' that are more sociological, psychological or philosophical. In this group we find, a) World religion cannot agree on ‘a God',

The existence of a number of ‘world religions' first of all simply highlights the fact that the vast majority of mankind seek after a divine being and spiritual experience. Judaism and Christianity portray the same God of the Bible but Christianity stands out with its unique claims based on reliable historical background.

b) so much religious belief is based on superstitious fear,

Isn't so much human life built upon superstitious fear? The ‘gods' of history reveal a superstitious fear. Christianity comes from a God of love who banishes all fear in the light of His love. Christians are probably some of the least superstitious people on the earth, because they do not fear weird powers but trust in a loving God.

c) so often religion seems to be inherited – “I believe cos my parents do”,

Heaven forbid! I'm sure this is true sometimes which only goes to highlight the need to clarify that a real Christian is only one who has had an experience of God through Jesus Christ, a real and personal encounter, not a second hand belief.

d) religion causes more division and wars than it provides answers,

Actually, no, politics using the name of religious groups does. Even the famous Crusades modern historians will tell you, were not so much religious exercises as simply defensive operations to counter the ever-expanding invasions of Muslim armies into Europe . The Christian faith preaches peace and will always look for reconciliation but recognises the need on occasion to defend against invasion.

e) religious belief is tantamount to magic or weird mysticism

Christian belief is grounded in carefully documented very down to earth history that is reliable. There is nothing fairy-tale or weird about it and there is nothing weird about the average everyday Christian!

f) Christian behaviour is so often lacking that it invalidates the religion,

Without doubt human behaviour has so often failed its Lord and history is cluttered with such failures. This only goes to highlight that Christians are ordinary people who can still get it wrong, even though they know and experience the wonder of God, His love and His resources.

g) religious language is unverifiable and therefore meaningless. ( A. J. Ayer said, “ to say that "God Exists" is to make a metaphysical utterance which cannot be either true or false.)

We constantly use language that cannot be verified absolutely, e.g. “I love you” (what does that really mean with its shades of understanding?) “That sky is very beautiful” When we say “God exists we are saying no more (to use one approach) than to say “Plato existed” or “Gravity exists). One of those was based on historical evidence (for which there is staggeringly more for the Bible) and the other on experience (and Christians will say that repeatable religious experience similarly points to one cause – God).

The final group of ‘valid reasons' might come under the heading, ‘God is redundant'. The primary claim made by modern atheists is that science increasingly provides answers for things attributed to God. Richard Dawkins, (The Blind Watchmaker) said, “ Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist”, placing all his trust in the theory of evolution.

I don't really mind whether you believe in the theory of evolution with all its question marks or the theory of Creation with all its question marks. I am open to possibilities where there is an absence of certainty. Sadly some atheists speak where there is an absence of certainty as if it is certain. In so doing they upset a lot pf other atheists who point out that such dogmatism is arrogant and gets them a bad name collectively. That also ignores those other very clever scientists who have a strong Christian faith. Be careful with your dogmatism; it can make you look foolish.

Humanists (mostly atheists) put forward the assumption that mankind has come of age and so materially (within science, technology and medicine) and psychologically, we no longer need to rely on some mysterious figure in the shadows of Neanderthal consciousness.

I actually believe that God desires us as human being to grow up! That doesn't mean that we ignore Him but it does mean we stop being self-centred and making claims that are patently foolish. That the human race has come of age is patently untrue. We live in a world where upset, stress, and anxiety are rife, (and so our health services and social services are stretched to breaking point) whether it be in family life, local life, national life, private life or corporate life. To deny this is to reveal we live with closed eyes and closed minds. If anything, the state of the world today says we need not religious extremism, nor more political ideology, nor more education, but an intelligent faith in the wonderful loving God of the Bible.