There’s No Excuse for Atheism
For example, atheists believe the universe is only made up of matter. This assumption is known as materialism. C.S Lewis noted that if this were true, “then all our present thoughts are mere accidents—the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s.” Lewis concluded “if their thoughts—i.e. of materialism and astronomy—are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true?” (Lewis, C.S, The Business of Heaven, Fount Paperbacks, U.K., p. 97, 1984)
Put differently, if materialism were true, there would be no reason to believe anything is true. Besides, if all of our beliefs are the result of chemical reactions in the brain, why would the ‘thoughts’ of one person be trusted over someone else’s ‘thoughts?’ Whose atoms do we trust? In addition, if our thoughts are determined by the makeup of our brain, we can’t help what we believe. No one would have a mind of their own, because no one would have a mind!
Atheist William B. Provine said evolution led him to conclude “There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind.” He added “There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain that I am going to be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans, either” (Provine, W.B., Origins Research 16(1), p.9, 1994). How charming. According to evolution and atheism, we’re just mindless robots. We’re only here to pass our genes on to the next generation. There is no meaning to life, no freedom and no hope. What’s more, there’s no difference between right and wrong.
Like mass murderer Jeffrey Dahmer said “If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then—then what’s the point of trying to modify your behavior to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing” (Dahmer, Jeffrey, in an interview with Stone Phillips, Dateline NBC, Nov. 29, 1994). Indeed, if there is no God, what’s right and wrong is decided by human opinion. Anything goes. If I think it is right to steal your car, there’s nothing stopping me from taking it. You would call this unfair and wrong, but why would your opinion greater than mine? Why would your atoms be more ‘moral’ than mine? That’s intolerant!
Sure, many atheists think the majority should decide what’s right and wrong, but this didn’t work out so well in Nazi Germany. Of course, if what’s right and wrong is a matter of personal preference, why have laws at all? Murderers think it’s good to murder, so why punish them because other people feel like it’s a crime? On top of that, if human actions are all the result of chemical reactions in the brain, how can a person be held responsible for their behavior? When people commit crimes, it’s because their atoms made them do it!
Ultimately, however, people want atheism to be true because they want to live by their own rules. Atheist Aldous Huxley said he “had motive for not wanting the world to have a meaning.” Why? He explained “the philosophy of meaninglessness was essentially an instrument of liberation from a certain system of morality. We objected to the morality because it interfered with our sexual freedom” (Huxley, A., Ends and Means: An Inquiry into the Nature of Ideals and into the Methods Employed for Their Realization, 1937, p. 270).
Since many people find the existence of God uncomfortable, they’ll believe anything to remove Him from their lives. They’ll accept that the universe is self-created, nothing created everything and non-living chemicals created life. They don’t want God to exist. Philosophy professor Thomas Nagel admitted “I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well informed people I know are religious believers. It isn’t just that I don’t believe in God and naturally, hope there is no God! I don’t want there to be a God; I don’t want the universe to be like that” (Nagel, T., The Last Word, Oxford University Press, New York, 1997, p. 130). Well, beliefs don’t make something true, and the Bible says being wrong has consequences. But, you might say, “Why trust the Bible?”