Lektion 8: Weitere Überlegungen

Bisher in dieser Reihe haben wir Atheismus definiert, blickte auf die biblischen Daten, untersucht die Geschichte und die Ansprüche des Atheismus, und schlug Wege Christen atheistischen Behauptungen reagieren können. Wir haben auch untersucht, wie der Atheismus der Wissenschaft nutzt, um seine Ansprüche zu stützen, und warum Atheismus kann nicht erklären, die Moral. In diesem Kapitel betrachten wir ein paar letzte Fragen, die die Debatte in Zusammenhang stehen.

1. Atheismus und Tyrannei
   1. Atheisten verbringen viel Zeit und Mühe angreifenden Religion im Allgemeinen und das Christentum vor allem für seinen Rekord von Unterdrückung, Korruption und Gewalt. Sie kühn behaupten, daß der Atheismus würde die Welt zu verbessern, zu befreien es von Gewalt, Krieg, Rassismus, Unterdrückung, Misshandlung und Korruption. Ist der Nachweis zurück bis eine solche Behauptung? Jetzt, wo der Atheismus hat einen bedeutenden Weltsicht seit über zwei Jahrhunderten, sollten wir in der Lage sein, die Leistungen des Atheismus zu bewerten und sehen, was passiert, wenn der Atheismus wird zum dominierenden Sicht in einer Kultur.
   2. Veranstaltungen des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts beweisen, dass Atheismus als Weltanschauung ist viel gewalttätiger, bedrückend und korrumpieren als jede Religion jemals war. Die landläufige Meinung, dass Atheisten niemals durchführen Verbrechen im Namen des Atheismus ist einfach nicht wahr. Die einfache Glaube, dass die Beseitigung der Religion wäre, die Beendigung von Gewalt, soziale Spannungen, oder Diskriminierung führen, ist naiv und falsch. Atheismus als eine Philosophie des Lebens (oder des Todes, wirklich) ist direkt mit allen Arten von Missbrauch verbunden.
      1. Wie bereits erwähnt, Karl Marx bekanntlich behauptet, dass Religion "Opium des Volkes", dass die Arbeiterklasse unwissend und machtlos gehalten. Marx und seinesgleichen sind verantwortlich für die Festlegung der Blaupause des atheistischen Kommunismus, ¹ , die über gefegt viel von der Welt im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert. Ungezählte Millionen verfolgt wurden oder wurden unter marxistischen Kommunismus getötet. Der Marxismus ist eine explizit atheistische Ideologie, die die Vernichtung der Religion durch gewaltsame Mittel befürwortet. Die Geschichte zeigt, dass Gesellschaften, die den Marxismus übernehmen in der Regel sind gewalttätig, repressiv und intolerant.
      2. Atheismus war ein zentraler Bestandteil der offiziellen Ideologie der Sowjetunion und den Kommunisten durchgesetzt Atheist Politik zerstören Kirchen und ermordeten Mitglieder des Klerus und bekennenden Gläubigen. Die meisten kommunistischen Regime wurden stark anti-religiöse, was darauf hindeutet, dass ihr Atheismus notwendig ist, nicht nur von untergeordneter Bedeutung, um ihre Ideologie. ²
      3. Lenin betrachtete die Abschaffung von Religion als zentraler Bedeutung für die sozialistische Revolution in der UdSSR, und er legte Maßnahmen in Ort, um religiöse Überzeugungen durch die Beseitigung der "langwierigen Einsatz von Gewalt." Lenin entschieden, dass die Religion aus der mittleren und unteren Klassen gelehrig und leicht zu nutzen wirtschaftlich. Um für seine kommunistischen Revolution stattfinden, wäre eine solche Leute haben, um ihrer religiösen Überzeugungen abgestreift werden.
      4. Sowjetischen Behörden systematisch zerstört und beseitigt die überwiegende Mehrheit der Kirchen und Priester in der Zeit 1918-41. Diese Gewalt und Unterdrückung wurde in Verfolgung eines atheistischen Tagesordnung, die Eliminierung der Religion vorgenommen. Joseph Stalin, eine schamlose, rücksichtslose "Despot von grotesken Proportionen" ³ hat einmal gesagt: "Du weißt, sie sind Narren uns, es gibt keinen Gott ... all das Gerede über Gott ist reiner Unsinn." Stalins Atheismus war ein wesentlicher Bestandteil seines gewalttätigen , repressive Regime.
      5. Hitler hasste das Christentum und toleriert eine abgeschwächte Form der es in Deutschland nur so konnte er es für seine eigenen Zwecke zu nutzen. Hitler war rabiat anti-religiöse und als das Christentum zu einer Geißel und eine Krankheit sein. Er wollte das Christentum in Deutschland zu zerstören. Er sah die christlichen Werte wie Gleichheit und Mitgefühl als Schwächen. Hitlers führende Berater-Goebbels, Himmler und Bormann, waren Atheisten, die den religiösen Einfluss in Deutschland auszurotten suchten. Hitler war ein großer Bewunderer von Darwin und Nietzsche, die beide ihm die philosophische Rechtfertigung für seine mörderischen Pläne zur Verfügung gestellt.

"Ich befreite Deutschland von den dummen und erniedrigenden Irrtümer des Gewissens und der Moral .... Wir werden junge Menschen, vor dem die Welt wird erzittern zu trainieren. Ich möchte junge Menschen in der Lage von Gewalt-herrisch, unerbittlich und grausam. "Adolph Hitler

1. 1. 6. Was ist das Ergebnis, wenn die Menschen frei, warfen die Fesseln der traditionellen religiösen Verbote, Sanktionen und die Angst des göttlichen Gerichts fühlen? Der Holocaust des Zweiten Weltkriegs ist ein gutes Beispiel. Diejenigen, die die Gaskammern in Auschwitz und den anderen Vernichtungslagern lief hatte, sich von traditionellen religiösen Einschränkungen zu befreien, um ihre Verfolgung "Endlösung".
      7. Die chinesischen Führer Mao Zedong (Tse-Tong) erhalten eine feindselige Haltung gegenüber der Religion, die als rückständig und abergläubisch zu sehen war. Unter Maos eiserne Regel wurden Gebetshäuser, darunter Tempel, Moscheen und Kirchen, in nicht-religiösen Bauten für weltliche Zwecke umgebaut. Mao ist persönlich verantwortlich für den Tod von etwa 50 Millionen Menschen.
      8. Atheistischen Schriftsteller in der Regel versuchen, auf andere Faktoren als der Atheismus für den Missbrauch dieser berühmten Atheisten schuld. Sie behaupten, dass Atheismus als Weltanschauung war nicht verantwortlich für solche schlechtes Benehmen, war es der Kommunismus oder Marxismus. Aber Atheismus ist ein zentrales Element in der marxistischen Kommunismus. Es ist kein Zufall oder Zufall, dass Schuld an der schlimmsten Formen des Missbrauchs an den Füßen von Atheisten legt. Atheisten sind direkt verantwortlich für den Tod von etwa 100 Millionen Menschen im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert. Keine Religion ist verantwortlich für fast so viel Chaos wie Atheisten gewesen sein. ⁴

Nietzsche argumentiert, dass mit dem "Tod Gottes", die Menschen würden jetzt setzen ihr Vertrauen in barbarischen "Bruderschaften mit dem Ziel, Raub und Ausbeutung der Nicht-Brüder." ⁵ Er sah den Aufstieg des Nationalsozialismus und anderer totalitärer Gruppen. Er sagte auch voraus, dass das ^20. Jahrhundert würde die blutigsten in der Geschichte der Menschheit sein, weil die westliche Zivilisation ihre moralische Liegeplätze verloren hatte. Er hatte Recht.

Christian Schreiber Dinesh D'Souza heißt es: "Die Verbrechen des Atheismus haben im Allgemeinen durch [eine arrogante] Ideologie, dass der Mensch, nicht Gott, sieht, wie der Schöpfer von Werten begangen. ... Wer kann leugnen, dass Stalin und Mao, Pol Pot nicht zu und eine Vielzahl von anderen, die alle Gräueltaten begangen im Namen der kommunistischen Ideologie, die explizit atheistische war die Rede? Wer kann bestreiten, dass sie ihre blutigen Taten hat, indem sie behaupten zu sein, eine 'neue Mensch' und eine Religion frei Utopie? Diese wurden Massenmorde mit dem Atheismus als einen zentralen Teil ihrer ideologischen Inspiration durchgeführt, waren sie nicht Massenmorde durch Menschen, die einfach passiert Atheist zu sein getan .... Es ist Zeit, die gedankenlos wiederholt gebetsmühlenartig, dass religiöser Glaube hat die wichtigste Quelle menschlicher Konflikte und Gewalt zu verzichten. Atheismus, nicht die Religion, ist verantwortlich für die schlimmsten Massenmorde in der Geschichte. " ⁶

Der Atheismus hat Ströme von Blut an den Händen. Religion muss zugeben, seine eigenen Fehler, aber es ist verantwortlich für die bei weitem nicht das Leiden durch den Atheismus gebracht. Atheismus und die damit verbundenen Vorstellungen (Marxismus, Darwinismus) hat die Ermordung von Millionen motiviert.

2. Atheismus und die Vorteile des Christentums
   1. Einer der Atheismus der primären Forderungen ist, dass die Religion im Allgemeinen und das Christentum im Besonderen ist schuldig der großen Verbrechen gegen die Menschlichkeit. Die Religion hat ein Schandfleck für die Menschheit gewesen, und desto eher schwindet, desto besser.
   2. Atheisten in der Regel ignorieren all die nützlichen Dinge Christentum hergestellt oder beeinflusst hat. Beispiele: ⁷
      1. Christentum Würde die gewöhnliche Person. Griechischen und römischen Philosophie erhaben die Reichen, die Mächtigen und die einflussreichsten. Im Gegensatz dazu lehrt das Christentum, das gemeine Volk kann reichen, sinnvolles Leben zu haben. Die Würde des Menschen und der Gleichheit ist eine christliche Idee ⁸ , die für die Beendigung der Sklaverei und für die Förderung der repräsentativen Demokratie war. Die Heiligkeit des menschlichen Lebens ist fest in der Bibel verwurzelt ist. Die Würde und Wert der Frauen ist ein biblischer Wert fehlt vielen Gesellschaften. Christentum erhöhten den Status von Frauen, die ihnen moralische Gleichstellung mit den Männern. Die meisten Menschenrechte so in der westlichen Gesellschaft bewertet werden in der christlichen Idee der Gleichheit der Menschen verwurzelt.
      2. Christentum Würde von Ehe und Familie. Viele Gesellschaften herunterzuspielen der Familie. Plato schlug eine Abschaffung der Ehe und schlug vor, dass der Staat übernehmen die Erziehung der Kinder. Homosexualität war sehr häufig in der griechischen und römischen Gesellschaft, wie Pädophilie. Christentum erhebt heterosexuellen, monogamen, engagierte Liebe und Mitgefühl Betreuung von Kindern und älteren Menschen. Das Familienleben ist ein zentrales Zufriedenheit im Leben und stärkt die Gesellschaft. Solche Werte sind im Wesentlichen christlich, nicht weltlich.
      3. Christentum produzierte die "rule of law." Die Idee der Gerechtigkeit und einheitliche Regeln für alle Menschen in der Bibel verwurzelt ist. "Lex Rex" - das Gesetz ist König. Könige sind nicht über dem Gesetz, auch sie müssen gehorchen.
      4. Christentum brachte die Idee, dass ein Herrscher ein Diener des Volkes ist. Die Idee, dass der Führer seines Volkes dient, indem wir auf ihre Bedürfnisse ist eine christliche.
      5. Das Christentum ist verantwortlich für das Konzept der Gewaltenteilung und checks and balances innerhalb einer Regierung. Limited, repräsentativen Regierung und die Trennung von Kirche und Staat sind NT Ideen.
      6. Christentum betont die Freiheit der Religion. Obwohl einige bekennende christliche Organisationen Gehorsam und sogar Konvertierungen (zB RCC) gezwungen, kennt das NT nichts von einschränkenden Glauben. Toleranz und Gewissensfreiheit sind die christlichen Ideen.
      7. Christentum die Bühne für den Kapitalismus. Die Bibel lehrt, dass Männer von Natur aus selbstsüchtig sind und tun, was in ihrem eigenen Interesse. Die Kunden werden für Unternehmen, die ihre Bedürfnisse oder Wünsche zu erfüllen Herde. Wettbewerb auf dem Markt produziert Hülle und Fülle. Erhält der Kunde, was er will, ist der Schlüssel zum Erfolg im Business.
      8. Christentum entstand die protestantische Arbeitsethik. Harte Arbeit, Zusammenarbeit, Ehrlichkeit, Fairness, das sind alle biblischen Ideen, ohne die Amerika nie eine Weltmacht geworden wären.
      9. Christentum den Schwerpunkt auf die mitfühlende Sorge um die Schwachen hat die Gesellschaft zum Besseren verändert. Die Griechen und Römer oft ein Auge zugedrückt, das Leiden, insbesondere wenn diese Leiden nicht bekannt oder nicht verwandten wurden. Christentum verlangt, dass wir unseren Nachbarn, auch solche, die wir nicht kennen, auch die feindlich gegenüber uns zu lieben. Christen haben lange für ihre Taten der Nächstenliebe Unterstützung der Armen, Witwen und Waisen und Kranke bekannt. Christen bauten die ersten Krankenhäuser und gründete die Erste-Hilfe-Organisationen (Rotes Kreuz, YMCA).
      10. Christentum beeinflusst die großen Werke der abendländischen Kunst. Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rembrandt, Tizian, Händel, Mozart, Bach, Shakespeare-alle entweder zum Christentum oder arbeiteten in einer christlichen Weltsicht.

1 Es ist wahr, dass der Kommunismus als Ideal nicht notwendigerweise atheistisch. Einige Christen haben verschiedene Formen des Kommunismus befürwortete. Aber die Form des Kommunismus von Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot und andere vertreten war eindeutig atheistisch. Atheismus war ein notwendiger Aspekt ihrer politischen Ambitionen.

2 Dinesh D'Souza, was so toll an das Christentum?

3 http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761572241_2____8/Communism.html # s8. Malcolm Muggeridge genannt Stalin, "dass mörderischen georgischen Räuber in den Kreml." Zacharias, Real Face of Atheismus.

4 Die berüchtigte spanische Inquisition (1476-1834) war verantwortlich für den Tod von etwa 5000 Menschen in den meisten (wenn auch viele weitere wurden verhaftet und verfolgt, nur etwa 1-2% der Festgenommenen wurden getötet). Die Salem Witch Trials von 1692 wurden lediglich etwa zwanzig vermeintliche Hexen in den Tod. Zusammengenommen sind die sogenannten Christen (meist der RCC) verantwortlich für den Tod von etwa 200.000 Menschen in den letzten 500 Jahren. Dieser beläuft sich auf etwa 1% der Todesfälle durch Stalin, Hitler, Mao und kombiniert verursacht. Andere Religionen, insbesondere den Islam, sind verantwortlich für viele Tote, aber bei weitem nicht die Zahl mit atheistischen Regime verbunden sind.

5 in McGrath, Twilight of Atheismus, 262 zitiert.

6 Was ist so toll an das Christentum?

7 Viele dieser Ideen sind in D'Souzas Buch Was so toll an das Christentum gebracht?

8 Nietzsche dachte, das Konzept der Gleichheit vor Gott als eine "verrückte" Idee. Er erfand den Begriff des "over-Mann" und ermutigte die starke, die schwache überwältigen. Hitler nutzte diese Idee, seine mörderischen Pläne zu rechtfertigen.

Lektion 7: Der Atheismus und Moral

Eine der größten Schwächen des Atheismus ist ihre Unfähigkeit, angemessen zu erklären Moral oder bieten eine solide Basis dafür. Atheisten lehnen die christliche Moral, haben aber keine befriedigende Alternative, mit der sie zu ersetzen. Ihre Versuche, erklärt den Ursprung der Moral fallen flach. Atheisten können wirklich nichts zu sagen haben über die Moral, aber sie behaupten, eine höhere Form der Moral als die Religion bietet.

In dieser Lektion werden wir untersuchen, was Atheismus über Moral sagt, und entdecken Sie, wie schwach die atheistischen moralischen Ansprüche sind.

1. Atheismus ist eine evolutionäre Erklärung für den Anstieg der menschlichen Moral.

   1. Menschen als soziale Tiere, immer in Stämme oder kommunalen Gruppen lebten, und in diesem Zusammenhang entwickelte sich verschiedene Regeln für das Verhalten. Die Evolution hat den Menschen mit nervösen Systeme für die soziale voreingenommen, anstatt unsozial, Verhaltensweisen ausgestattet. Man erfuhr, dass die Zusammenarbeit günstiger als reiner Eigennutz ist, die Zusammenarbeit mit anderen natürlich verbessert Ihre Lebensqualität. Social Zoll (Moral) natürlich weiterentwickelt. ¹ Diese Bräuche profitiert sowohl der Gruppe und des Einzelnen. Im Laufe der Zeit entwickelte Religion und nahm viele dieser gemeinsamen Regeln. Aber sie sind nicht mehr als bloße menschliche Erfindungen.

   2. Atheistischen Moral sollte im Einklang mit dem, was in der Natur-survival of the fittest gefunden. Dies ist die Art von Moral Nietzsche befürwortet: bemühen, die eigenen Wünsche zu erfüllen, bestätigen Sie Ihre tierischen Leidenschaften, und verhängen Ihren starken Willen gegenüber denen, die schwach sind. Jedes Ziel ist akzeptabel, solange man es verfolgt mit Energie, Auflösung und Leistung. Christlichen Tugenden wie Mitgefühl, Mitleid und Großzügigkeit sind unerträglich abstoßend aus dieser Sicht. Die Starken überleben, während die Schwachen ausgemerzt werden. Nach Richard Dawkins, ist das Universum gekennzeichnet durch "blinder, erbarmungsloser Gleichgültigkeit." Atheist Moral sollten nachziehen. In einem bedeutungslosen, amoralischen Welt, Gut und Böse keine Bedeutung.

2. Atheistischen Moral ist im Selbstverständnis und in der Gesellschaft verwurzelt ist, nicht an Gott.

   1. Die Menschen sind durchaus in der Lage zu bestimmen, was gut oder schlecht, nützlich oder schädlich, ohne Rücksprache mit einem angeblichen Gottheit. Die Moral einer Situation ist unter Berücksichtigung der Chancen und Nachteile einer Handlung bestimmt. Eigeninteresse der Motor des Prozesses. Was auch immer erhöht seine Chancen zu erleben Genuss ist "gut"; was abnimmt, wie die Chancen ist Moral ist einfach eine Strategie man anwendet für seine eigenen langfristigen Nutzen "schlecht".. Man muss auf seine innere Stimme zu verbinden und so wieder seine wesentliche Güte. Die innere Gefühle setzen den Standard von "sollte".

   2. Es ist zu versklaven und erniedrigend für den Menschen zu einer Art Gottheit für die moralische Unterweisung unterwerfen. Die Menschheit kann Normen der Moral ohne Rücksprache keine sogenannten Gott zu entwickeln. Jeder einzelne muss seinen eigenen moralischen Standards in Verbindung mit dem Rest der Gesellschaft zu schmieden.

   3. Darüber hinaus individuelle Moral, bestimmen die Menschen leben in Gemeinschaft ihre eigenen kulturellen Normen der Moral. Society macht Regeln und Gesetze, die das menschliche Verhalten und diese Standards spiegeln einen allgemein gehaltenen Moral zu regulieren. Wie sich die Zeiten ändern, wird die Moral ändern. Wir sollten nicht erwarten, einen Satz Standard quer durch die Kulturen und Zeiten.

   4. Atheisten sind oft anständige, freundliche Menschen. Sie in der Regel nicht vollständig zurückweisen Moral. Atheisten sehen Moral, nicht als eine Reihe von Gott gegebenen Befehle, sondern als eine Reihe von Menschen verursachten Vorschläge durch persönliche oder Gruppenerfahrung geschmiedet. Der Atheist Einwand ist nicht die Moral im Allgemeinen, sondern um absolute, universelle, objektive, gottgegebene Moral. Die Moral, wie sie sagen, ist relativ, nicht absolut. Wir könnten es "säkularen" Moral oder Selbst-Bestimmung Moral.

   5. Atheisten in der Regel auf die Tatsache, dass religiöse Menschen haben nicht auf ein niedriges Niveau der Moral noch lebte. Diejenigen, die Gott zu folgen Anspruch schuldig sind alle Arten von ethischen Verstöße: Versklavung, Vergewaltigung, Mord, Unterdrückung, Diskriminierung, etc. Dies zeigt, was passiert, wenn Leute denken, dass Gott die Quelle ihrer Moral. Mit Gottes Zustimmung, fühlen sie sich frei zu tun, was abscheulich, was sie wollen (zB Missbrauch mit den Kreuzzügen, muslimischen Terrorismus, etc. verbunden sind).

   6. Atheisten scheinen besonders daran interessiert, leugnet die christliche Moral, wenn es um die menschliche Intimität kommt. Sie wollen abzuwerfen alle Beschränkungen und befriedigen jede ihrer Lust, und sie wollen keine moralischen Skrupel in den Weg. Wenn der Mensch sondern ein Tier, kann es keine moralischen Hemmungen auf menschliche Beziehungen sein. Man muss frei sein, seinen Instinkten zu folgen, wo immer das führen kann. Viele Leute tendieren in Richtung Atheismus, weil sie ihre Ansichten von Sex, Promiskuität, Abtreibung, Kindestötung, Euthanasie, Homosexualität, Scheidung und dergleichen zu unterstützen. Die Heiligkeit des menschlichen Lebens ist eine Illusion für den Atheisten.

3. Christian Antworten:

   1. Wie jeder andere, Atheisten wissen, dass Gott (Röm 1:19-20) vorhanden ist, haben "das Gesetz in ihre Herzen geschrieben ist" (Röm 2:15) und haben ein Gewissen, das sie eine grundlegende Fähigkeit, zu erkennen, Recht haben bedeutet, von Unrecht, Gut und Böse. Atheisten "unterdrücken" dieses Wissen (Röm 1:18), aber sie sind immer noch die Verantwortung für sie. Ein Gewissen kann "unrein" (Titus 1,15) oder "angebraten mit einem heißen Eisen" (1 Tim 4,2) und damit unwirksam oder Kleinschreibung. Diejenigen, die wiederholt gegen ihr Gewissen kann Schweigen seiner sanften Stimme. Der einzige Weg für einen Atheisten ein reines Gewissen zu haben ist, die Existenz Gottes zu leugnen.

   2. Die atheistische Annahme, dass das innere Selbst oder die Gesellschaft angemessene Grundlagen für die Moral sind fehlerhaft ist. Die inneren Tiefen der menschlichen Natur ist zutiefst sündig und können nicht bestimmen "soll-ness" einer Handlung. Das menschliche Herz ist "hinterlistig vor allen Dingen und bösartig" (Jer 17:9). Auch "gut" handelt, kann vom Egoismus (vgl. Jes 64,6) motiviert werden. Die Gesellschaft ist auch nicht in der Lage, gültige Richtlinien für die Moral geben. Einige Gesellschaften, wie die alten Assyrer, Römer, oder in jüngerer Zeit wurden die NS-Regimes in Deutschland, barbarisch und brutal. So liefern weder die selbst noch die Gesellschaft geeignete Grundlagen für die Ermittlung Moral.

   3. Eigeninteresse wird einige Atheisten von der Teilnahme an bestimmten Verhaltensweisen zu verhindern. Crime in der Regel nicht bezahlt, so macht es praktisch sinnvoll, in einer Weise, dass man sich von Ärger fern halten zu verhalten. So reduziert die Moral der Selbsterhaltung. Der einzige Grund, moralisch zu sein ist, dass es hält man aus der Not und macht das Leben leichter.

   4. Atheistischen Moral haftet jederzeit zu ändern, um Änderungen in Geschmack und Stimmung zu integrieren. Es kann nicht Sinn der absolute oder transzendente Moral. Die Grundlage der Moral ist der Treibsand der persönlichen oder Gruppenkalender Meinung. Moral ist immer variabel und weiterentwickelt, nie stationär oder eingestellt. Nichts in eine atheistische Weltsicht erlaubt es, die "gut" oder "böse" einer bestimmten Handlung zu beurteilen.

   5. Der wahre Grund Atheisten hasse christlichen Moral ist, dass sie ihr Verhalten hemmt und Etiketten als "sündig." Der Grund, viele Atheisten gezogen, um die Existenz eines Gottes zu leugnen sind, ist zu vermeiden, dass im nächsten Leben für ihren Mangel an moralischer Zurückhaltung Antwort in diesem. Sie wollen Verantwortung für ihre Handlungen zu vermeiden. Die Idee, dass es keinen Gott gibt sie von der traditionellen moralischen Zwängen und gewährt ihnen die Freiheit, in jedem Verhalten, ohne Schuld zu engagieren. Auf diese Weise ist der Atheismus das wahre "Opium des Volkes", dass es Tricks Ungläubigen zu denken, dass ihr Verhalten keine dauerhafte Folgen hat, es macht sie blind für die Realität der Situation und ermöglicht es ihnen, eine moralisch korrupt, sondern leben Schuld- frei, das Leben.

   6. Christliche Moral, wie die meisten traditionellen Formen der Moral, befindet sich auf einem geschriebenen Code-der Bibel. Das beste Beispiel ist dieser Code in den Zehn Geboten, dem berühmtesten Liste der Gebote und Verbote in der Geschichte gefunden. Dieser Code ist Ziel, die Wahrheit der es nicht auf, wie jemand fühlt, darüber oder sogar wenn jemand gehorcht ihm abhängen. Gottes moralische Code ist an und für sich wahr.

   7. Die sehr moralische Werte, die Atheisten in der Regel Support-Freiheit, Menschenwürde, Gleichberechtigung der Geschlechter, etc.-sind eigentlich das Erbe des Christentums, nicht des Atheismus oder der anderen Religionen. Non-christlichen Völkern und Religionen nicht Wert oder gar tolerieren solche Ideen. Politische Ideologie, die Atheisten zu genießen, wie die repräsentative Demokratie ist im Christentum verwurzelt. Ohne das Christentum wäre diese Werte werden selten oder gar nicht vorhanden. Diejenigen, die das Christentum ablehnen sollte nicht behaupten, diese Werte als ihre eigenen.

Nietzsche: Wenn man aufgibt, den christlichen Glauben, zieht man das Recht, die christliche Moral aus unter den Füßen. Diese Moral ist keineswegs selbstverständlich. Das Christentum ist ein System, dachte eine ganze Sicht der Dinge zusammen. Durch das Brechen eine Haupt-Konzept aus ihm heraus, die den Glauben an Gott, bricht man die ganze. Es steht und fällt mit dem Glauben an Gott.

8. Diejenigen, die im Namen Christi, gehandelt haben immorally die Botschaft und Methode des Evangeliums widersprechen. Alle Menschen haben unterschritten das Sittengesetz verstößt. Die Menschen sind sündig. Wir müssen über das Verhalten des fehlerhaften Menschen zu suchen. Die eigentliche Auswertung der Wahrheit des Glaubens hängt Blick auf Christus, "der Urheber und Vollender unseres Glaubens" (Hebr 12,2). Nachfolger Christi oft zu kurz kommen des Musters Er setzte. Im Gegensatz dazu werden diejenigen, die Böses tun, unter dem Deckmantel des Atheismus in perfekter Harmonie mit dieser Philosophie. Es kann keine moralischen Beschränkungen für ein Atheist zu sein. Selbst die böse, korrupt, verabscheuungswürdigen Person nicht im Widerspruch zu den Prinzipien des Atheismus.

9. Evolution bietet keine zufriedenstellenden Verfahren, wie Moral entstand in den Menschen. Wenn der Mensch ein Tier ist, warum er allein haben einen Sinn für richtig und falsch? Wie kann die Evolution zu erklären die Art von Moral, die keine genetische Nutzen hat? Warum fast alle menschlichen Kulturen zu erkennen moralische Maßstäbe? Atheisten behaupten gewöhnlich, dass das Universum keinen Zweck, kein Böse und kein gutes in sich hat. Wie kann man dann beurteilen, dass alles, was böse oder gut ist? Atheisten haben keine logische Grundlage für Moral und bieten keine Mittel zur Bestimmung der moralischen Entscheidungen, anders als das Eigeninteresse. Es kann keine Moral für diejenigen, die wir in einem amoralischen Universum leben zu sagen. Weder Atheismus noch Darwinismus hat keine Erklärung für rein selbstlose Nächstenliebe, wie wenn ein Fremder sein Leben riskiert für einen anderen Fremden.

10. Atheisten sollten wirklich Deterministen werden. Wenn das Universum funktioniert rein nach den Naturgesetzen, dann ist alles von den Gesetzen, und was passiert, muss geschehen. Jeder Mensch ist nur eine Sammlung von physikalischen Materialien ein Programm, wie eine lebende Computer. Wenn das wahr ist, dann Worte wie sollte keine Bedeutung haben. Der Materialismus stellt nicht entscheiden zwischen einer Wahl und einem anderen, und keine Möglichkeit zur Bestimmung der Moral jede Situation. Unser ganzes Vokabular von Lob und Tadel, Bewunderung und Verachtung, Zustimmung oder Ablehnung kann keinen Sinn haben, wenn die Atheisten Recht haben.

11. Während Atheisten kann behaupten, dass sie nur als moralische als religiöse Menschen sind, zeigt eine Auswertung der das Leben der prominenten Atheisten, dass der Atheismus führt oft zu Unmoral. Atheisten haben genauso viele "bad apples" unter ihnen als religiöse Menschen zu tun. Atheist Autoren wie Marx, Nietzsche und Sartre motiviert andere, in abscheulichen Taten der Barbarei zu engagieren. Da sie die traditionelle Moral leugnen, sie sich oft in Verhaltensweisen in der Regel als unmoralisch zu sein. Christentum, auf der anderen Seite, führt in der Regel zu einer höheren Moral für diejenigen, die es anzunehmen. In der Tat widersprechen hohe Unmoral einer christlichen Beruf. Hohe Konzentrationen von Unmoral sind häufig für Atheisten, weil sie keine absoluten moralischen Standards haben.

12. Der Atheismus ist nicht wirklich eine intellektuelle Revolte gegen die Ansprüche der Religion, es ist eine moralische Revolte gegen die Normen der christlichen Moral. Atheisten wollen einfach nicht das Gefühl für ihre schlechten Verhaltens schuldig.

"Wenn Gott nicht ist, ist alles erlaubt." Dostojewski, Die Brüder Karamasow

D'Souza: Atheisten Gott nicht finden unsichtbar, so viel wie zu beanstanden. Sie sind nicht die Anpassung ihrer Wünsche, um die Wahrheit, sondern die Wahrheit, ihre Wünsche zu passen. ... Dies ist der ewige Reiz des Atheismus: Es entledigt sich der stern Kerl mit dem langen Bart und befreit uns für die Freuden der Sünde und Verderbtheit. Die Atheisten versuchen, loszuwerden das moralische Urteil durch das Loswerden der Richter.

1 Frank R. Zindler, "Ethik ohne Götter" The Probing Mind, Februar 1985. http://www.atheists.org/Atheism/ ethics.html

Lektion 6: Der Atheismus und Wissenschaft

Einer der Atheismus die stärkste Forderungen ist, dass die Wissenschaft die Notwendigkeit für die Menschen an Gott zu glauben eliminiert. Heute ist die "gesicherte Ergebnisse der Wissenschaft" geben uns eine natürliche Erklärung für nahezu alle Phänomene, alles, was geschieht hat eine natürliche Erklärung. Es sind somit keine "Lücken" für Gott zu füllen, nach Atheisten. "Gott ist tot", weil er nicht mehr benötigt wird.

Diese Lektion wird einige atheistische Ansprüche im Zusammenhang mit Wissenschaft und wie Christen mit solchen Forderungen geantwortet.

1. Historisch gesehen, haben Wissenschaft und Christentum eine konstruktive Beziehung genossen.

   1. Viele der großen Wissenschaftler der Aufklärung waren bekennende Christen, zB Galileo, Kepler, Kopernikus, Boyle, Pascal, Newton, Faraday, Mendel, Bacon, Pasteur, Maxwell, Planck, etc. ¹ waren eine gute Anzahl von frühen Wissenschaftler auch Geistliche (z. B. Mendel war ein Mönch). Viele der großen Namen in der Wissenschaft sah keinen Widerspruch zwischen Glaube und Vernunft.

   2. Die frühe Wissenschaftler in westlichen Zivilisation versuchten, das Universum zu verstehen, weil sie eine geordnete schuf Gott geglaubt, und der Mensch, weil er nach dem Bilde Gottes geschaffen wurde, war in der Lage, es zu verstehen. Christentum die Bühne für den wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt. Ohne eine christliche Weltanschauung, gibt es keinen besonderen Grund zu der Annahme, dass das Universum Sinn macht oder die Menschen haben die Fähigkeit, es zu verstehen.

   3. Wissenschaft entstand in den Westen, in einer christlichen Zivilisation, weil das Christentum betonte die Bedeutung der Vernunft. Das Hochschulsystem entstand im christlichen Europa im Mittelalter, die Unterricht in Theologie und die Wissenschaften. Viele der ersten Hochschulen Amerikas und Universitäten begann als christliche Institutionen. Christen erfunden modernen Wissenschaft.

2. Seit der Aufklärung wurden Naturwissenschaften als Befreier der Menschheit von der Unterdrückung der traditionellen religiösen Denkens und Strukturen, insbesondere der RCC zu sehen.

   1. Thomas Huxley: ". [Darwinismus] nimmt eine Position der vollständigen und unversöhnlicher Feindschaft gegenüber, die energisch und konsequent Feind der höchsten intellektuellen, moralischen und sozialen Lebens der Menschheit, die katholische Kirche"

   2. Religion, und die römisch-katholische Form des Christentums in allem war als Gegner des Lernens und wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt zu sehen. Historisch gesehen war die Kirche die dominierende Stimme in der westlichen Kultur. Nach der Aufklärung, nahmen Kultur eine säkulare wiederum zwingt religiösen Vorstellungen aus der Öffentlichkeit und in den Bereich der privaten Angelegenheiten.

   3. Naturwissenschaften, Mathematik und anderen "harten" Wissenschaften sind nachweisbar und ihre Ergebnisse sicher. Religion fehlt diese Gewissheit. Man kann es frei, jedes religiösen Vorstellungen will er halten, aber er sollte nicht betrachten sie als "true" in dem Sinne, dass die Wissenschaft wahr ist.

   4. Wissenschaft funktioniert besser als die Religion. In der Vergangenheit hätten wir für jemanden der Heilung zu beten. Heute hat die Wissenschaft Behandlungen, die wirklich sparen kann Leben entwickelt. Science bietet Befreiung aus der Knechtschaft zu einem abergläubischen und bedrückend Vergangenheit.

3. Atheismus und wissenschaftliche "Beweis"

   1. Atheisten kühn behaupten, dass sie den Nachweis zu verlangen, bevor sie etwas finden glauben. Die Wissenschaft ist auf Evidenz und Beweis beruht; Glaube ist Glaube ohne Beweise. Atheisten behaupten, dass "es falsch ist, immer, überall und für jedermann, nichts auf unzureichende Beweise zu glauben." Wir sind unter der absoluten Verpflichtung zu glauben nur, was kann rigoros von den strengsten Kriterien der Wahrheit gezeigt werden. Der Glaube muss gewährleistet sein. (William Clifford)

   2. Allerdings finden sich die Wissenschaftler mit, zu glauben, ein paar Dinge wissen sie später gezeigt werden, falsch ist. Die Geschichte zeigt ein Muster von der Aufgabe der bisherigen Theorien als bessere Ansätze entstehen. Die Geschichte zeigt auch eine Zurückhaltung, neue Theorien zu glauben. Zum Beispiel haben viele Astronomen nicht in die Urknall-Theorie, wenn es zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht glauben, obwohl es jetzt fast überall gilt heute gehalten. Einsteins Relativitätstheorie wurde allgemein kritisiert, bis sie durch Experimente belegt. Einstein selbst glaubte nicht, dass sich das Universum ausdehnt und bot eine Theorie zu widerlegen, was sich als falsch. Die "steady-state"-Theorie des Universums wurde häufig von Wissenschaftlern bis in die 1960er statt. Ein weiteres Beispiel: Geozentrismus vs Heliozentrismus. So "Beweis" kann oft zu glauben, nicht wahr Dinge führen.

   3. Die Naturwissenschaften bieten, was sie, um die bestmögliche Erklärung der Dinge sein zu glauben, aber sind perfekt vorbereitet zu verlassen oder zu modifizieren im Lichte zusätzlicher Informationen. Es ist einfach nicht wahr, dass Wissenschaftler Theorien glauben, weil sie gewesen sein "unter Beweis gestellt." Sie glauben, weil sie die beste Erklärung dessen, was beobachtet werden kann repräsentieren. ²

   4. Ironischerweise kann der Atheismus kein Beweis für die Behauptung, dass es falsch ist, was auf unzureichende Beweise glauben. Was beweist diese Aussage? Es ist eine Erklärung der Meinung, nicht der Tatsache. Darüber hinaus kann der Atheismus selbst nicht widerstehen, die Höhe der Beweis, es kann nicht nachgewiesen werden um wahr zu sein. Und Atheismus kann nicht beweisen, dass Gott nicht existiert. Agnostic Schriftsteller Thomas "Darwins Bulldogge" Huxley räumte ein, dass es unmöglich ist, bei jedem Grad der Gewissheit zu gelangen, wenn es um die Existenz oder Nichtexistenz von Gott kommt.

4. Atheismus und Darwinismus

Wissenschaftler in der Regel pflegen eine der beiden Standpunkte in Bezug auf Religion: Vereinbarkeit oder Unvereinbarkeit.

1. Einige stark behaupten, dass Religion schlicht unvereinbar mit der Wissenschaft ist. Für sie müssen echte Wissenschaftler Atheisten. Diejenigen Wissenschaftler, die eine Verpflichtung zur religiösen Glauben bewahren kann einfach nicht, dass es, sie müssen ein Scherz sein oder vielleicht sind vorübergehend geisteskrank. Die Evolutionstheorie führt unweigerlich zu einer gottlosen, zwecklos Welt. Alles Leben kann ganz in Natur-und materieller Hinsicht zu verstehen. Evolution verlangt Atheismus in dieser Ansicht.

   1. Die Naturwissenschaften, insbesondere der Evolutionsbiologie, stellen eine "intellektuelle Datenautobahn" zum Atheismus. In den Köpfen von einigen atheistischen Propagandisten, ist die Wissenschaft der Supreme Champion des Atheismus. Evolution ist der "Motor" des Atheismus.

   2. Richard Dawkins hat konsequent und energisch für eine atheistische Weltsicht durch einen Appell an die Naturwissenschaften argumentiert, vor allem der Evolutionsbiologie. Science, Dawkins behauptet, beweist die Dinge, sie begründet ihre Theorien mit Sicherheit. Religion, auf der anderen Seite, bewusst Unwahrheiten behauptet, dass irrezuführen, zu verführen, und unterdrücken die Menschen. Die Wissenschaft ist frei von den Haupt-vice der Religion, der Glaube, der Glaube ohne Beweise.

   3. Vor Darwin dachte man, dass die offensichtliche Design in der Natur, um ein Designer hingewiesen. Darwin behauptete, dass das Erscheinungsbild der Gestaltung können natürlich entstehen durch den Druck des Zufalls und des Überlebens. Natürliche Selektion ist die "blinde Uhrmacher." Es gibt Atheisten mit einer alternativen Erklärung dafür, wie die Komplexität der Natur entstanden ist.

Carl Sagan: Da die Wissenschaft fortschreitet, scheint es immer weniger für Gott zu tun .... Was auch immer es ist, können wir nicht erklären, ist Gott zugeschrieben .... Und dann nach einer Weile, erklären wir es, und so ist das nicht mehr Gottes Reich. "

4. Darwins Evolutionstheorie besteht darauf, dass das Universum kein Plan, kein Zweck, kein Böse und kein Gut, nichts außer blinder erbarmungsloser Gleichgültigkeit hat. Für den Darwinismus ist alles Zufall. Darwin zerstört die Glaubwürdigkeit des Christentums für viele Atheisten.

5. Französisch Atheist und Philosoph Jacques Monod bietet die folgenden:

Ändern Sie entsteht durch Zufall und ist von der Notwendigkeit propagiert. Es ist völlig unmöglich, der "Zweck" in der biologischen Welt zu sprechen. Die Evolutionstheorie verlangt, dass wir erkennen, dass unsere eigene Existenz eines Unfalls ist .... Die Naturwissenschaften offenbaren eine zwecklose Welt, in der wir unsere eigenen Werte und Überzeugungen zu schaffen. Die Natur hat uns nichts als Leitfaden bieten .... Man weiß endlich, dass er allein ist im Universum ist gefühllos Unendlichkeit, aus der er nur durch Zufall entstanden. Sein Schicksal ist nirgends aus, Dinkel, noch seine Pflicht.

1. Diejenigen, die den gesicherten Ergebnissen der Evolutionsforschung gegen auf der Grundlage des Buches Genesis sind intolerant, rückständig und ignorant Narren, die außerhalb des Mainstreams der amerikanischen Kultur stehen.

2. Die Wissenschaft ist die einzige zuverlässige Werkzeug, das wir besitzen, um die Welt zu verstehen. Es hat keine Grenzen. Wir können nicht wissen, einige Dinge jetzt-aber wir werden in der Zukunft. Es ist nur eine Frage der Zeit. Die Wissenschaft wird alles erklären.

3. Die Wissenschaft hat Gott widerlegt, zerstört den Glauben an Gott. Der Atheismus ist die einzige Option für die schweren, progressiven, denkenden Menschen. Religiöser Glaube sollte den Müllhaufen der Geschichte verbannt werden. Wissenschaft und Religion können nicht nebeneinander existieren. Wenn eine wahr ist, muss das andere falsch sein.

1. Für manche ist Religion mit der Wissenschaft. Atheisten häufig leugnen, dass man sowohl ein Wissenschaftler und ein Gläubiger in jeder Religion, und vor allem nicht in das Christentum sein. Allerdings sind viele Wissenschaftler bekennenden Christen, und viele halten andere religiöse Ansichten.

   1. Einige Wissenschaftler bestreiten, dass die Wissenschaft nichts über die Religion zu sagen hat. Zum Beispiel, Stephen Jay Gould, ³ verweigert einer der populärsten Verfechter der Evolution, dass Wissenschaft und Religion widersprechen. "Science einfach nicht (durch seine legitimen Methoden) entscheiden die Frage einer möglichen Aufsicht Gottes der Natur. Wir haben weder bejahen noch verneinen es, wir können einfach nicht dazu zu äußern, wie Wissenschaftler .... Entweder die Hälfte meiner Kollegen sind enorm dumm, oder aber die Wissenschaft des Darwinismus ist voll kompatibel mit herkömmlichen religiösen Überzeugungen und gleichermaßen kompatibel mit dem Atheismus "Die Wissenschaft kann nur mit naturalistischen Erklärungen;. Es kann weder bejahen noch verneinen die Existenz Gottes.

   2. Laut einer Umfrage von Wissenschaftlern im Jahre 1916 durchgeführt und wiederholt im Jahr 1996 zugeben, ca. 40% der Wissenschaftler in irgendeiner Form der persönlichen religiösen Überzeugung. ⁴ Überraschenderweise keine signifikante Reduktion in der religiösen Überzeugung der Wissenschaftler hat im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert aufgetreten. Statistik widerspricht der Vorstellung, dass Wissenschaft und Religion unvereinbar sind, zumindest in den Köpfen vieler Wissenschaftler.

   3. Es gibt keinen Konsens in der wissenschaftlichen Gemeinschaft über den Ort der Religion im Leben des Wissenschaftlers. Einige Darwinisten sind Theisten und andere nicht. Es gibt keine gültige Mittel zur Beilegung der Frage aus wissenschaftlichen Gründen. Die Evolutionstheorie führt nicht zwangsläufig zu führen oder erfordern Atheismus. Der Vorschlag, dass die Darwinsche Evolutionstheorie unbedingt atheistisch geht weit über die Kompetenz der Naturwissenschaften und der Streuner in ein Gebiet, wo die wissenschaftliche Methode nicht angewendet werden kann.

   4. Warum sind so viele Wissenschaftler religiös? Weil die Welt in einer Reihe von verschiedenen Möglichkeiten, Atheist, Deist, Christian interpretiert werden kann, ist etc. Nature offen für viele unterschiedliche Interpretationen, aber nicht verlangen, in jedem dieser interpretiert werden.

5. Christian Antworten auf den Darwinismus

Vereinbarkeit oder Unvereinbarkeit: Die Christen haben die Forderungen der Darwinschen Evolution in der gleichen zwei Möglichkeiten, dass die Wissenschaft reagiert auf die Religion reagiert.

1. Manche Christen halten, dass das Christentum kann die Ergebnisse der Evolution in die christliche System zu importieren. Evolution, sie schlagen, ist das Mittel, durch die Gott geführte seine Schöpfung zu ihrem jetzigen Zustand. Sie sehen keinen zwingenden Widerspruch zwischen Evolution und Bibel. Natürlich erfordert dies eine wesentliche Umdeutung der große Teile der Heiligen Schrift. Aber einige sind bereit, ihre Lehre zu ändern, um die "gesicherte" Erkenntnisse der Wissenschaft anzupassen.

   1. Zum Beispiel glaubte aufstrebenden amerikanischen Botaniker Asa Gray (1810-1888) war es durchaus möglich, die Evolutionstheorie mit dem Glauben zu versöhnen. Anstatt zu sehen Gott als den Schöpfer der festen Arten, Gray Bild Gottes als die Gestaltung Kraft hinter der Evolution verändern. Selbst renommierte Bibelwissenschaftler wie BB Warfield (Princeton Seminary) und JI Packer (Regent Seminary) schien evolutionären Ideen in ihre Theologie unterzubringen. Viele bekennende Christen halten diese Ansicht, und es ist an vielen evangelischen Schulen und Seminare vermittelt. Es ist die offizielle Position des RCC und auch viele protestantische Konfessionen.

   2. Some Christians hold that Darwinism has no bearing on the existence or nature of God. If Darwinians choose to pontificate on matters of religion, they stray beyond the straight and narrow way of the scientific method, and end up in the philosophical badlands. The natural sciences may lead some away from God and others to god. But to say that they must do one or the other is to move beyond the legitimate scope of the scientific method. ⁵

   3. The relationship between science and religion is a complicated one, but it is historically incorrect to say that science and faith are at war, in this view.

2. Some Christians hold that Christianity cannot import the findings of evolution into the Christian system. There exists a permanent, essential conflict between the natural sciences and religion. Science is at war with religion. Oddly enough, both conservative Christians and staunchly atheistic scientist hold this same opinion—science and religion are at war, both viewpoints cannot be correct, and one or the other must be proved to be wrong.

   1. The implications of Darwinian evolution sent shock waves throughout Christendom when Darwin first published his ideas. The assertion that humans evolved by natural selection from the animal world lay the axe at the very root of religious belief. Darwinian Theory represents a frontal attack on Christianity, and Christians must respond by disproving Darwinism. There is little doubt that the theory of evolution provided a massive thrust for ousting God from the paradigm of origin and existence. ⁶

   2. Einer der ersten, die traditionelle christliche Lehre über die Ursprünge zu verteidigen war William Paley (1742-1805), der mehrere Werke zur Verteidigung der Genesis geschrieben. Paley brachte in erster Linie auf intelligentes Design zentriert. ⁷ Er ist verantwortlich für die berühmte "Uhrmacher"-Argument-Natur war wie eine ausgeklügelte Mechanik, und solche Mechanismen erfordern einen intelligenten Designer und Schöpfer. Paley produziert eine riesige Auswahl an Beobachtungen aus der Komplexität des menschlichen Auges, die Regelung der Jahreszeiten, die für den gesamten biologischen Welt mit einer wohlwollenden Gottheit geplant hingewiesen. Jeder Aspekt der natürlichen Welt scheint für seinen spezifischen Zweck entworfen worden. Mehr als das, sie verriegelt miteinander, als ob die ganze Versammlung erschien gesetzt worden zusammen mit einem bestimmten Ziel vor Augen. ⁸

Eine aktuelle Argument auf der gleichen Linie wird als Anthropisches Prinzip. Wissenschaftler haben beobachtet, dass die fundamentalen Konstanten der Physik und Chemie nur rechts oder fein abgestimmt, damit das Universum und das Leben an wir es kennen, zu existieren. Die Anthropisches Prinzip besagt, dass die scheinbar willkürliche und nicht verwandten Konstanten in der Physik eine seltsame Sache in common-diese haben sind genau die Werte für das menschliche Leben benötigt. Das Universum entsteht der Eindruck, dass es entworfen, um das Leben auf der Erde zu unterstützen. ⁹ Zum Beispiel, wenn die Schwerkraft, wurden die Kräfte, die Atome zusammen, oder die Verhältnisse zwischen Elektromagnetismus und Gravitation anders, das menschliche Leben wäre nicht möglich gewesen. ¹⁰ Das Universum ist speziell und fein für das Leben dran, weil es die Schaffung eines Schöpfers, der will, dass es so sein sollte. Atheisten, natürlich, haben kreative Wege zu leugnen die Auswirkungen der Anthropisches Prinzip. ¹¹

3. Darwin selbst zunächst festgestellt, Paley Design Argumente sehr überzeugend, aber er schließlich lehnte sie ab. Paley behauptet, Gott habe alles in seiner jetzigen Form gemacht, perfekt, ohne jegliche Anzeichen von Veränderung oder Entwicklung. Darwins Studium der Natur führte ihn zu einem anderen Verständnis davon, wie das biologische Leben entwickelt und verändert. Es wurde klar, Darwin, dass die Grundlagen des Paley die Argumente für die Existenz Gottes war zerstört.

4. Darwin schwankte zwischen Agnostizismus und Atheismus. ¹² Aber es scheint unwahrscheinlich, dass seine Ablehnung des Christentums viel mit seiner Theorie der natürlichen Auslese zu tun hatte. Vielmehr hatte er eine viszerale Abneigung gegen die "verdammte Lehre" der ewige Strafe der Ungläubigen. Viele in der viktorianischen Ära (mid-1800s) abgelehnt Christentum aus dem gleichen Grund-sie hasste die "fire-and-Schwefel" Predigt unter den Evangelikalen zu der Zeit populär. Darüber hinaus zerstörten die tragischen Tod seiner Tochter seinen Glauben an die göttliche Vorsehung.

5. Andere Argumente von Christen versuchen, die biblische Schöpfungsgeschichte zu verteidigen gebracht: ¹³

   1. Das kosmologische Argument hält die Tatsache, dass jede bekannte Sache im Universum eine Ursache hat. Daher ist es aus Gründen, muss das Universum selbst auch eine Ursache haben, und die Ursache eines so großen Universum kann nur Gott sein.

   2. Das ontologische Argument beginnt mit der Vorstellung von Gott, der definiert ist als ein Wesen, "größer als die nichts kann sich vorstellen werden." Dann argumentiert, dass das Merkmal der Existenz muss ein solches Wesen gehören, da sie mehr zu existieren, als nicht ist vorhanden ist.? ?

   3. Das moralische Argument beginnt man den Sinn für Recht und Unrecht, und der Notwendigkeit, für Gerechtigkeit zu tun, und argumentiert, dass es einen Gott, der die Quelle von Recht und Unrecht und wer eines Tages mete erfolgt Gerechtigkeit für alle Menschen ist.

6. Atheistische Antworten auf Christian Ansprüche

Atheisten sind gut mit Christian Argumente gegen den Darwinismus kennen, und sie haben die typischen Argumente Christen verwenden, um die Genesis der Schöpfung zu verteidigen und den Darwinismus Zähler reagiert.

1. Die teleologische (Design) Argument: Als Reaktion auf Paleys Uhrmacher Argument, behauptet Dawkins, die das Erscheinungsbild des Designs kann auf natürliche Weise entstehen innerhalb des evolutionären Prozesses. Natürliche Selektion ist der blinde Uhrmacher. Mit genügend Zeit, wird auch die anspruchsvollsten Systeme auf natürliche Weise entstehen. Darüber hinaus gibt es keine "watch", wie Kreationisten üblicherweise der Natur zu denken. Stattdessen entstanden die Arten von Kampf ums Überleben, nur mit den besten angepasst voran. Nichts in der Natur ist perfekt geformt, alles Anzeichen von Unvollkommenheit, Fehler und Sackgassen. Selbst Dinge, die werden nicht reduzierbar komplex, wie das menschliche Auge oder Geißeln, scheinen sich langsam entwickelt sich über große Mengen an Zeit. Evolutionisten völlig desavouiert keine Ahnung von Design oder Zweck in der Natur.

2. Das kosmologische Argument: Atheisten behaupten, dass, wenn alle Dinge eine Ursache, dann Gott selbst muss eine Ursache haben. Natürlich leugnen Christen dazu zu glauben, dass Gott die große un-verursachte Ursache ist. Kausalität gilt nur für Effekte, die alle Effekte müssen eine Ursache haben. Gott ist nicht ein Effekt und muss daher nicht eine Ursache. Darüber hinaus ist die Existenz Gottes nicht in dieses Universum begrenzt; Gott ist Geist, nicht physisch. Atheisten in der Regel behaupten, dass die Materie ewig ist, oder dass die Singularität des Big Bang spontan entstanden, aus dem Nichts, einfach knallen in die Existenz. Viele Wissenschaftler weigern sich, wo die Singularität kam und warum es dazu kam spekulieren. Es machte einfach. In der Tat müssen sie bestätigen genau das, was die Bibel ex nihilo-Schöpfung lehrt.

Es ist erwähnenswert, dass frühere Atheisten leugnen, dass das Universum einen Anfang hatte. The “steady-state” approach posited that the universe was eternal, thus not needing a beginning. An eternal universe needs no creator. Scientists today universally acknowledge the Big Bang, and thus they must admit that the universe had a beginning. It is certainly an effect that calls for a cause, and that cannot be denied. If they deny it, they must affirm that at least one thing that had a beginning did not have a cause, which is absurd.

3. The ontological argument: Atheists typically dismiss this argument as irrational.

4. The moral argument: Atheists argue that morality is nothing more than a human invention that became necessary as tribes of humans came into close contact. Commonly agreed upon moral standards helped the species to survive. Atheists adopt their own forms of morality based on what they think will be most beneficial to them and to society. They deny the idea that morality depends upon the existence of God. They are just as moral, if not more so, than many professing Christians, in their opinion. (more on the weaknesses of atheistic morality in the next lesson)

Conclusion: We must acknowledge that both Christianity and atheism are systems of belief that require faith (Heb 11:6). Both atheism and Christian faith lie beyond absolute proof. Christians don't believe the claims of atheism, and atheists don't believe the claims of Christianity because neither is able to absolutely prove their case.

Everyone has the same facts with which to work. Christians approach the facts with a biblical worldview, and many scientists approach the facts with a secular, anti-biblical worldview. It is no wonder, then, that Christians and atheistic scientist reach different conclusions.

We must admit that science presents great challenges to those who believe the Bible. Atheists contend that science debunks the Bible, while Christians assert that the Bible discredits junk science. If the Bible is true, there should be no contradiction between it and any other source of truth. Atheists overstep when they allege that science and religion are incompatible. On the other hand, theists may write off science too quickly without considering how science and the Bible may be able to coordinate. In any case, where scientific pronouncements and the Bible truly contradict, we must maintain our loyalty to God and His Word. Scientific theories come and go, but God's Word is eternal, unchanging, and forever “settled in heaven” (Ps 119:89).

1 This is not to assert that such men were all orthodox, conservative believers. All professed Christianity, but some were quite eccentric in their beliefs (eg, Newton denied the Trinity). Nevertheless, they all espoused a Christian worldview.

2 McGrath, The Twilight of Atheism .

3 Gould described himself as an agnostic leaning toward atheism.

4 About 40% admit no belief, and about 20% are agnostic.

5 McGrath, The Twilight of Atheism.

6 Zacharias, The Real Face of Atheism .

7 The teleological (design) argument focuses on the evidence of harmony, order, and design in the universe, and argues that its design gives evidence of an intelligent purpose (the Greek word telos , means “end” or “goal” or “purpose”). Since the universe appears to be designed with a purpose, there must be an intelligent and purposeful God who created it to function this way. Grudem, Systematic Theology .

8 McGrath, The Twilight of Atheism .

9 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/rossuk/c-anthro.htm.

10 One example: the value defining how firmly atomic nuclei bind together is .007. If this number were .006 or .008, humans could not exist. See Martin Rees' book Just Six Numbers for a fascinating discussion.

11 For example, some suggest that many universes may exist, and we just happen to inhabit one in which the laws of physics allowed mankind to evolve. Other universes may be different if they have a different set of laws.

12 There is no truth to the legend that Darwin recanted the theory of evolution on his death bed.

13 Grudem, Systematic Theology .

Lesson 5: Christian Responses to Atheism

In the last lesson, we looked at several common claims made by atheists.

In this lesson we'll evaluate some of these assertions.

1. Faith in God is contrary to reason

   1. We must admit that some religions have little connection to rationality. Some religions make statements that are clearly unreasonable and even ridiculous. For example, Hinduism asserts that the world rests upon an elephant and the elephant rests upon a tortoise. Zen Buddhism suggests one should listen for the sound of “one hand clapping.” Many religions include mystical, contradictory, nonsensical elements. Reason or logic has little or no place in many faiths.

   2. Christianity appeals to man's reason; it claims to make sense and does make sense. The system of Christian thought is logical, consistent, and non-contradictory. God calls his people to “reason together” (Isa 1:18). Reason is not essential to many religions, but it is essential to Christianity.

   3. Atheists commonly allege that the miraculous accounts in the Bible prove it to be an irrational book. However, if God is who He portrays Himself to be in the Bible, miracles are within reason. An omnipotent God has the capacity to do anything He wishes to do, including bypassing or ignoring the laws of nature. Miracles may be remarkable, but they are not irrational.

   4. Religious beliefs are based on historical facts: creation, Abraham and his family, the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, David, Jerusalem, Babylon, etc. Thousands of connections exist between religious statements and historical facts. The most significant historical fact for Christianity is the resurrection of Christ from the dead. If this event did not occur, then Christianity has no validity whatsoever.

   5. If religion is contrary to reason, it is remarkable that nearly half of all scientists hold personal religious views.

2. Humanity does better without religion.

   1. Again, we must admit that some religions have caused greater suffering than they have provided comfort for humanity. Even some forms of Christianity have been and continue to be sources of persecution in some cases. These cases are well known and nobody denies them.

   2. However, Christianity in particular has been the source of incredible benefit to mankind. Many religions, and Christianity in particular, require good works as part of the exercise of that religion. It would be impossible to estimate the millions of good things done on a daily basis by people who are seeking to love their neighbors in the name of Christ. Further, many groups see helping those in need as part of their religious duty. Hospitals, rescue missions, soup kitchens, prison ministries, family ministries, substance abuse programs—all of these and hundreds more are rooted in religious ideas.

   3. Current research has shown that religious belief often aids human life in various ways. In many polls, the happiest, most satisfied people are those who hold religious beliefs. According to a 2007 Gallop poll, at least 6 in 10 Americans who attend church services every week say they are very satisfied with their personal lives and are very happy. ¹ Many people would confirm that their religious practices make their lives better .

   4. Thinking in evolutionary terms, religion must play some role in survival since nearly all humans have been religious. History shows that religious belief was present very early on in virtually all human civilizations. Since the fittest survive, perhaps religious belief gives believers an advantage over unbelievers. If so, then on a purely practical basis, religion is beneficial for mankind.

3. Religion is evil and makes people evil. Belief in God is the basis of all sorts of terrible things.

   1. Atheists have no basis to make such a judgment . How can a person with no moral foundation call anything “evil”? If morality is nothing more than human opinion, then “evil” to one person may be “good” to another. Who is to say that oppression, corruption and violence is “bad”? How does an atheist make such a judgment? He cannot. Without some reference to God, there can be no way of judging whether any act is “good” or “evil.”

Atheists claim that they don't want to be restrained by religious, traditional morality. Yet they still evaluate human behavior in terms of “good” and “evil.” This is self-contradictory and proves atheism to be irrational .

2. Evolution teaches the survival of the fittest and the strongest. Why should anyone be criticized for asserting his strength over others? What value is there in weakness for an evolutionist? The weak, frail, unproductive or unwanted members of society should be eliminated for the benefit of mankind according to an evolutionary viewpoint. The struggle of the strong against the weak is normal.

3. From an atheistic point of view, the “terrible things” that occur in society (eg, war, abuse, racism, violence, etc.) should be seen as natural behavior for human animals. Complaining about such things is inconsistent with their atheism.

4. There is no particular need for God.

   1. The Bible asserts that people often live without any concern for God; they sense no need for God. The Bible also refers to those who live wicked lives, yet seem to enjoy life and receive no judgment for their evil actions—read Psalm 73:2-14.

Ps 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

2. It is evident that many people do sense a need for God—over half the world's citizens are monotheists. The vast majority of humans would admit a need for God, and many of them would affirm that life is meaningless without God.

3. Western society is swiftly moving away from the confident statements of modernity and is increasingly embracing a post-modern vision that embraces the divine, the mysterious, the other-worldly. People are finding little satisfaction and meaning in a clinical, scientific viewpoint that reduces humanity to mere chemical reactions.

4. Evolution and science provide little comfort for those enduring the trials of life. During times of crises, even those professing atheism may admit a need for someone beyond themselves.

5. Atheism is freeing, liberating.

Ps 2:3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

1. Religions certainly do impose restrictions upon their followers. Religions typically include many commands to keep and duties to observe. Some people find such requirements and restrictions burdensome and seek to be free of them.

2. Jesus asserted that his yoke was easy and his burden was light (Mt 11:30). But he also said that his followers would have to give up everything to follow him (Lk 14:33). The Christian life is not only difficult; it is impossible without the grace and mercy of God.

3. True freedom is found in following Christ obediently. Sin is enslaving (Prov 5:22; John 8:34; Rom 6:16). Ask a drunk or a crack addict or someone with STD's if he is really free. Many sinful behaviors result in bondage, not freedom. In contrast, becoming a servant of Christ is a path to freedom.

4. What atheists really want is the freedom to follow their own depraved desires without criticism or judgment. They want to be free of the restrictions typically imposed by Christian values. Yet they don't want to be free of all morality, just those rules they don't like.

5. Christians who think of their faith as a restricting “ball-and-chain” need revival!

6. No convincing evidence for God's existence exists.

   1. The Bible asserts that atheists are willfully ignorant of God. They suppress the knowledge of God, exchange the knowledge of God for a lie, and end up worshipping the creature (themselves or “nature”) instead of the Creator (Rom 1:18f).

   2. There is no lack of evidence pointing to God's existence for those who are open to the idea (Ps 19:1-3; Rom 1:19-20). A denial of this fact is evidence that one is spiritually blind (2 Cor 4:4) and “fleshly” (1 Cor 2:14).

   3. According to the NT, Jesus did many miracles, yet even those who observed such miracles were not necessarily convinced that Jesus was whom he claimed to be. One might wonder what an atheist would consider adequate proof or convincing evidence.

   4. Evidence is over-rated. We believe many things without “sufficient” evidence. If we believed only in those things for which we had a high degree of evidence, we would believe in very little. Further what proof exists that we can believe only when we have sufficient evidence? It's a self-defeating argument. A person may be rational in holding beliefs even if he cannot provide “adequate” proof for that belief. Proof is not required for belief to be rational. ²

   5. Many people have converted to Christianity based on the evidence. Some who set out to disprove Christianity have been led to adopt it based on the evidence supporting it. Examples: Frank Morison, CS Lewis, Lew Wallace

   6. Evidence is not really the problem for atheists; hatred for God is. The atheist philosopher Nietzsche expressed the true reason people reject Christianity: “If one were to prove this God of the Christians to us, we should be even less able to believe in him. . . . It is our preference that decides against Christianity, not arguments.”

7. Religious teachings are repugnant.

   1. We must admit that many religious beliefs are repugnant. Things believed by Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and others are repelling to Christians. Pseudo-Christian cults teach many ideas that genuine Christians find repugnant.

   2. Christianity is a received faith; Christians do not make it up as they go along. If the Bible presents an accurate picture of God, then we have to take Him as we find Him. We are not free to make God in our image. As creatures, we have no right or capacity to stand in judgment of our Creator. Further, the ways of God are ultimately beyond our comprehension (Isa 55:8-9; Rom 11:33-35).

   3. The doctrine of the eternal punishment of the wicked is certainly a repulsive idea if you are among the wicked. Even saved people do not find it a comforting thought. However, the justice and righteousness of God demand that sin be condemned and judged. God would be unjust if he did not reward obedience and judge sin.

   4. The Bible expects unbelievers to consider Christians doctrine to be “foolish” (Acts 17:32; 1 Cor 1:18-24; 2 Thes 2:10). A hostile reception to biblical claims is the norm.

   5. Atheism has no capacity or right to make moral judgments about religious ideas. Any such statements by atheists are no more than mere opinion.

8. Religion is divisive.

   1. Religion does result in the creation of in-groups and out-groups, the “saved” and the “unsaved,” orthodox and heretics, faithful and infidels. Jesus stated that he would create divisions (Mk 10:34-36), so we should expect nothing less.

   2. Division over ideas is inevitable . One could equally say that atheism is divisive. Any opinion has the capacity to divide.

   3. True Christianity is tolerant of other religions. Unlike some religions (eg, Islam), Christians do not force conversion to Christianity. Some branches of Christianity have been guilty of forced conversions in the past (eg, the RCC), but genuine Christians have not. Toleration of other faiths does not imply recognition of them as valid or legitimate. Atheists enjoy living in free, tolerant nations because freedom and tolerance are Christian ideas.

9. Religion has no good explanation for the presence of evil.

   1. Christians have long admitted that the problem of evil is a significant one, not one that can be easily dismissed or explained away. But a religious viewpoint is the only way to approach the problem seriously.

   2. Atheists have no business talking about “evil.” They have no capacity to judge good or evil because they have no foundation for morality. Without such a foundation, all they have is personal opinion and cultural perspective.

   3. From an evolutionary point of view, much of the “evil” an atheist complains about can be explained as the struggle for the survival of the fittest, which should be expected. Why should that be considered “evil”?

   4. God is sovereign and has the right to do with His creatures as He sees fit. He is not subject to human judgment; on the contrary, our judgment is subject to His Word. We can be assured, despite our circumstances, of God's good character—God is holy, just and good. On that matter God's Word is clear. God expects us to trust Him, not doubt His good intentions. The very nature of faith is to persevere despite unanswered questions. God's Word encourages us to hold on tightly to God's promises and not to be overcome with doubt. ³

10. Science has removed the “need” for God.

We'll take an entire lesson to consider the relationship between science and religion.

Conclusion: Atheists are making the same claims they have made for the past several centuries, and Christians are providing some of the same answers. Atheists are not satisfied with the answers Christianity provides in the same way that Christians are not moved by the claims or counter-arguments of atheists. Ultimately, this is a spiritual struggle. Only the power of God can cut through the blindness and hatred of an atheist's heart.

1 http://www.gallup.com/poll/103483/Most-Americans-Very-Satisfied-Their-Personal-Lives.aspx

2 Ronald Nash, Worldviews in Conflict (Zondervan, 1992).

3 John Frame, Apologetics for the Glory of God.

Lesson 4: The Claims of Atheism

Prepare to be offended and challenged. When we start looking at the claims of atheism, we find that critics and skeptics are sharp-tongued and severe in their claims against religion in general and against Christianity in particular.

Before we look at the claims of atheism, we should be aware of several facts: 1) Some of their criticisms are based in reality. Many things done by Christians, in the name of Christ, or by so-called Christian organizations have been immoral and indecent (eg, the Crusades, the Inquisition). Christendom is guilty of much sin, as are other forms of religious belief. If we evaluate religion in general, we find much to criticize, both historically and currently (eg, Muslim radicals). 2) Atheists tend to present Christianity and other faiths in the worst possible light. They often point to the worst, rare examples of bad behavior and treat them as if they were normal and representative of the religion. This leads to an unrealistic picture of the faith in question. 3) Atheists tend to ignore or downplay the positive contributions religion has made. 4) Atheists often lump all religions together, asserting, for example, that Islam is no different than Christianity, or that Roman Catholicism is the same as Protestantism. They typically paint with a very broad brush, suggesting that the failures and excesses of one form of religion are equally true of all the other forms of religion. Thus, we should be aware that many of their criticisms lack genuine support.

With these things in mind, let's examine several common atheistic claims.

1. Faith in God is contrary to reason

   1. Richard Dawkins: “Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. . . . Faith, being belief that isn't based on evidence, is the principal vice of any religion.”

God is a delusion—a “psychotic delinquent” invented by mad, deluded people,…a belief that is not grounded in evidence…. Faith is blind trust, in the absence of evidence, even in the teeth of evidence, … it's a process of non-thinking. It is evil precisely because it requires no justification, and brooks no argument.

2. Religion denies reality . Bertrand Russell: “Man is the product of causes which had no pre-vision of the end they were achieving; … his origin, his growth, his hopes and fears, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; … [nothing] can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; … The whole temple of Man's achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins…. Only on the firm foundation of unyielding despair can the soul's habitation henceforth be safely built.”

3. Belief in God is utterly irrational belief—like believing in a teapot orbiting the sun.

4. Religious faith contains no genuine truth. All religious statements are either total myth or are simply opinion. For example, the statement “Jesus is the Savior” cannot be proven; it is mere opinion, a statement of hope, perhaps, but not of fact.

5. When faced with the evidence of science, religious people typically retreat into irrationality or declare the matter to be a mystery, beyond human understanding.

2. Humanity does better without religion.

   1. Humanity is able to solve its own problems without leaning on the “crutch” of religion. Reason holds the key to human success and achievement. The French atheist Baron d'Holbach claimed that if reason is cultivated, there will be no need for God. Marx taught that communism would eliminate man's dependence on the idea of God. Freud argued that religion encouraged unhealthy and dysfunctional outlooks on life. Religious faith is a negative factor in personal development. Man must be freed of religious illusions so he can pursue a more meaningful existence.

   2. Elimination of belief in God would lead to a more peaceful and stable world. John Lennon's song “Imagine” includes the lyrics “imagine there's no heaven; it's easy if you try/ No hell below us, above us only sky.” By eliminating religious, political, social and economic differences, humanity would finally be able to achieve unity. Once religion had been eradicated, there would be only a “brotherhood of man” with nothing left “to kill or die for.”

   3. The elimination of religion would foster peace and prosperity. Tensions and violence would be eradicated with the removal of religion. Since religion is the problem, its disappearance will be to the general benefit of civilization.

   4. Atheism offers hope —the hope of a better future and the possibility of being involved in bringing this future about. Atheism offers humanity the possibility of transforming itself, starting all over again without the encumbrance of outmoded ideas inherited from a distant past.

3. Religion is evil and makes people evil. Belief in God is the basis of all sorts of terrible things.

   1. Religion is the cause of much oppression, corruption, and violence in the world. As Christopher Hitchins asserts, organized religion is “violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism , tribalism , and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children.” The God that the Jews believed in back in OT times is a psychotic child abuser.

   2. The God of the Bible is a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

   3. Religion leads to violence and is anti-science. Believers are really perverted, degenerate and unthinking. Religious people are a bunch of hypocrites.

   4. Religion stopped people from doing things that were fun, useful, and productive.

   5. Various religious practices are eccentric, pointless, or harmful.

   6. Religion hinders scientific discovery (eg, Galileo). Religion teaches ideas that are false, such as young-earth creation, the possibility of miracles, life after death, angels and demons, etc.

   7. [Religious believers are] deranged, deluded, deceived and deceiving, any intellectual capacity having been warped and through having been hijacked by an infectious, malignant God virus.

4. There is no particular need for God.

   1. Atheists typically lead happy, meaningful lives without the unnecessary belief in God. Religion serves no purpose for them; it holds no attraction. On the contrary, religious belief is especially repulsive to many people.

   2. The natural world provides a satisfying alternative to God. Nature becomes almost divine in its own right. Nature was responsible for “creating” man, so any reverence or worship a person might want to express can be directed toward nature.

   3. The laws of nature can explain every phenomenon; there is no need for God when all things that occur have a natural explanation.

   4. Man must display courage in the face of an uncaring, dark, meaningless universe. He must make what he can of his own life without relying on God.

   5. Once religion gets out of the way, mankind can see how to solve its own problems. Man has the capacity to make life what he wants it to be. He is fully responsible for himself and has all the resources needed to solve every problem.

   6. Religion has failed. Atheists may harbor bitter hatred for religion because of previous personal experiences (eg, abuse, neglect, scorn, discrimination). What propels people toward atheism is above all a sense of revulsion against the excesses and failures of organized religion.

5. Atheism is freeing , liberating.

   1. In the past, organized religion prevented people from following their natural instincts and inclinations. It heaped guilt on those behaving in perfectly natural ways. It limited people from fully expressing their humanity.

   2. The idea of atheism liberates people from the stifling social customs and morals of the day, and allows society to break free from its meaningless traditions. Atheism offers a break from the religious past. It is exciting and daring because it breaks traditional social taboos.

   3. Atheism destroys the myth of the gods and thus enables humanity to step outside the arbitrary limits placed upon it by religious bigots. Abolishing the idea of God allows mankind the freedom to pursue whatever ideas and behaviors it desires.

   4. Religious indoctrination limits and restricts; atheism frees, ending the boredom of religious training and opening new options.

   5. Atheism is different. Where religions oppress, atheism liberates. The first step to authentic human existence is to throw off the outdated and destructive idea of God.

   6. Atheism offers visions of a larger freedom, allowing humanity to throw aside its chains and enter a new and glorious phase in their history.

David Mills: “Virtually all of the atheist I've know have been dynamic, highly optimistic men and women who enjoyed life to the hilt, particularly because they were liberated from the morbid, guilt-ridden, religious ball-and-chain around their necks. By contrast, I've known scores of Christians who led very unfulfilling lives, praying endlessly for 'miracles' that never occurred or waiting pitifully for Jesus' oft-delayed second coming.”

6. No convincing evidence for God's existence exists.

   1. There simply is no compelling, convincing evidence for God's existence. On the basis of the empirical evidence of the world and the rational resources at his disposal, belief in God is not a necessary conclusion.

   2. There is no intellectual obligation to believe in God. An informed mind cannot reach a reliable conclusion on the existence of God on the basis of available evidence.

   3. The “default setting” for mankind should be atheism. One should believe in God only on the basis of credible evidence, and such evidence is lacking.

When Bertrand Russell was asked how he would reply if God questioned why he didn't believe, Russell replied that he would tell God, “Not enough evidence God. Not enough evidence.”

7. Religious teachings are repugnant.

   1. The most fundamental criticisms directed against Christianity have to do with the moral character of God and often focus specifically on the issues of judgment and eternal punishment (ie, hell). For example, Darwin admits that his rejection of Christianity was not based so much on evolution as it was based on the idea of the eternal punishment of the wicked.

   2. Atheism is a powerful protest against morally and intellectually inferior visions of reality. Religious ideas and values are at least inferior to, and possibly irreconcilable with, the best moral standards and ideals of human culture.

   3. Religious teachings (ie, doctrines) are often beyond belief. The idea that God inhabited a human body, that Jesus was this God incarnate, that he lived a perfect life, died for sinners, and rose again, and that one can be forgiven for sin by faith—all of this is unbelievable. The idea that God knows all things and somehow keeps track of people's behaviors and will reward or punish them is ridiculous. Accounts of the miraculous come from pre-scientific, ignorant minds. Religious ideas like these are mere myth, probably lifted from previous religions or legends.

   4. Many biblical accounts are morally repulsive: God killing the first born children in Egypt; God killing a whole generation of Israelites in the desert; the Israelites killing the inhabitants of Canaan; animal sacrifices; the imprecatory psalms; capital punishment for homosexuals and disobedient children; etc.

   5. Religion is a source of overwhelming guilt and anxiety. You have this unbelievably nosy voyeur in the sky, allegedly watching your every move and monitoring all your private thoughts. If God detects any “sin” in your life, then He threatens to roast you eternally in a fiery torture chamber. This belief is hardly comforting. ¹

8. Religion is divisive .

   1. Religion encourages the formation and maintenance of in-groups and out-groups, the “saved” and the “unsaved,” orthodox and heretics, faithful and infidels. Such divisions cause war, persecution, and much needless suffering. Removing religion is essential if this form of social demarcation and discrimination is to be defeated.

   2. It's unreasonable to believe that only one religion is exclusively true. It would mean that billions of religious people from every other religious faith are wrong today and have been wrong throughout the centuries. Those who think they have the truth will be intolerant of those who won't accept it. If one group has political power, it will often persecute opposing groups (eg, the RCC in the Middle Ages).

   3. Christian Fundamentalism instead teaches an unhealthy (and unethical) religious prejudice and hostility toward individuals of diverse opinion and background.

9. Religion has no good explanation for the presence of evil .

   1. One of the most powerful arguments against theism is the presence of evil in the world. If one true, powerful, good God actually exists, then he would either prevent or reverse the forces of evil. But evil is present and nothing seems to be stopping it. Evil seems to have no purpose; it occurs to both good and bad. So God must not exist, or he is not good, or he is not powerful.

   2. If God is really out there, then why does he seem to hide himself? Why doesn't he just show up to debunk the false religions and end all the controversy? It would be easy for God to demonstrate his existence or to verify the “true” faith. The fact that no God has done so is proof that no God exists.

10. Science has removed the “need” for God.

    1. Humanity is religious only to the degree that it is ignorant of science. As science has progressed over the last few centuries, religion has become less and less plausible. Today, because science can explain virtually all phenomena, religion is no longer necessary. Religious myths have no place in modern society.

    2. Only scientific investigation yields truth; only what is testable in a laboratory can be considered true. Science deals in matters of fact, while religion stays merely in the realm of faith. Religion is never a matter of objective fact but merely subjective taste, opinion, and hope. Religious opinions should never be presented as factual or true.

    3. Informed minds have rejected the idea of God, and only the pre-scientific, unquestioning, antiquated, or simple-minded have succumbed to this belief, through fear or ignorance.

    4. Science has incontrovertibly proven that the Book of Genesis is utter mythology.

Richard Feynman, noble prize winning physicist: “God was invented to explain mystery. God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand. Now, when you finally discover how something works, you get some laws which you're taking away from God; you don't need him anymore.”

Carl Sagan: “the Cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be.”

Conclusion: Advocates of atheism make some bold claims that most religious people would find offensive and challenging. Many of them we can write off as invalid, while others may cause us to pause and think. Future lessons will seek to answer these claims.

1 David Mills, Atheist Universe .

Lesson 3: The History of Atheism ¹

To understand a cultural movement, it is often helpful to trace its history, and so we now turn to a brief overview of the history of atheism. One might assume that atheistic ideas would extend back to the remotest parts of human history, but such is not the case. In the ancient world, atheism was virtually unheard of. Everyone believed in a god of some sort. Many lived as if they did not believe in the god or gods they professed, but few indeed would have denied belief in any god. Yet in our time, atheism is a common worldview.

How did the remarkable and monumental reversal occur? History tells us.

1. Cultural conditions

   1. Conditions in Western Europe before the French Revolution

      1. In 17th century Western Europe, belief in God had become a deeply embedded aspect of European culture, with the institution of the church widely seen as a stabilizing influence on the region. However, the Reformation brought an end to Roman Catholic dominion over the entire region and other forms of Christian expression became popular.

      2. The Reformers and many others reacted strongly against the power, influence, and wealth of the Roman Church, which had become an agent of oppression and exploitation. While the Reformers urged a return to the NT model, others saw Christianity as holding back social, intellectual, and political progress. For some, the best way to undermine the church was to attack the ideas on which the church was based, undermine the credibility of its teachings.

      3. The 18 ^th century (1700s) was an age of revolution. Many saw religion as the enemy of progress, lending a spurious divine authority to the traditions of the past and the corrupt monarchies that depended on them for what little credibility they possessed.

      4. This era is often called the Age of Enlightenment (or Age of Reason) because of the adoption of rationalism and humanism and the application of the scientific method to all things. It was an age of immense scientific advance. Belief in natural law and universal order promoted a scientific approach to political and scientific issues, and gave rise to a sense of human progress. ² The Enlightenment marked the beginning of the modern era (“modernity” ³ ) and set the stage for atheism to gain influence. The dawning of the Enlightenment marked the beginning of the demise of Christianity as the leading cultural influence in Western civilization.

   2. Modern atheism can be traced back to the French Revolution.

      1. If any event signals the dawn of the golden age of atheism in the West, it is the French Revolution of 1789. The Revolution in France was a political upheaval that ended the monarchy and severely weakened the Roman Catholic Church there. There was good reason for hostility toward the crown and the church in France. The aristocracy lived in luxury while the peasants suffered grinding poverty. The Church was corrupt and supported the monarchy. The middle class was heavily and unfairly taxed to support the excesses of both the government and the church. A widespread rebellion against the aristocracy and the church was inevitable. The middle class was intent on destroying both. Since the church supported the monarchy, the church would have to go, too. The wisdom of the day was as simple as it was powerful: eliminate God, and a new future would dawn. Atheism was seen as a liberator capable of overthrowing both the monarchy and the church.

      2. French writers began asserting the idea that one could understand nature by reason and experience, without God. Everything could be accounted for on purely materialist grounds. Belief in God is the product of a misguided human imagination, not the rigorous scientific application of the scientific method. Science liberates humanity from false ideas of supernatural powers or beings. Ignorance of nature gives birth to the idea of God. The “god” for the French became humanism.

Quoting D'Holbach: An atheist is someone who destroys human [fantasies] in order call people back to nature, experience and reason.

3. Without the restraining influence of the idea of God, anything was possible, including the creation of a new society, liberated from the oppressive rule of monarchy and church.

Diderot: “France would not be free until the last of its kings had been strangled with the entrails of its last priest.”

4. Some French writers attempted to make belief in God invulnerable to skeptical assault. Rene Descartes set out to demonstrate the existence of God with certainty. Instead of basing his argument on religious experience, Descartes founded his beliefs on philosophy and natural science. Few found his arguments compelling.

5. Atheism did not become a significant force in British life in the eighteenth century. France and Germany were the centers of atheistic philosophy.

2. Leading figures advocating atheism

The intellectual foundations for atheism extend back to a handful of influential writers. Ideas originally limited to a small elite gradually percolated downward and outward into society as a whole. Eventually, they became accepted and familiar. Intellectuals became the “secular priesthood” preaching atheism.

1. In France

   1. In 1748, Julien Offroy de La Mettrie published a work asserting that human happiness depends upon the triumph of atheism, which alone can liberate humanity from tyranny, war, and oppression—all of which have religious roots.

   2. Voltaire (Francois Marie Arouet) (1694-1778) is often first on the list of French skeptics to blame for spreading atheism, but he was not really an atheist. Voltaire was a bold critic of the church and a proponent of “natural” religion, but was also strongly defended the idea of a supreme being, who was inadequately and falsely represented by the religions of the world, especially the French Catholic church. Voltaire was joined by many genuine atheists in his denunciation of the church, but Voltaire himself was not an atheist. Voltaire, for all his many savage criticisms of the French religious establishment of his day, did not himself espouse atheism.

   3. Denis Diderot (1713-84) was an influential spokesman for atheism who taught that the principle of everything is creative nature, matter in its self-activity, eternally productive of all change and all design. He said that religions have made the world ugly with their murderous wars and endless dogmatic controversies.

   4. Paul Henri Thiry, Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789). In 1761 D'Holbach began his written attacks on theologians and religious power. D'Holbach taught that most of man's woes stemmed from religion. “Ignorance and fear,” he claimed, “are the two hinges of all religion.” He taught that morals were quite possible without religion: “Let … reason be cultivated … and there will be no need of opposing to the passions such a feeble barrier as the fear of the gods.” ⁴

   5. The Marquis de Sade argued (from an insane asylum) that belief in God is just repressive superstition. Obedience to natural desire is what is really important. The first stage of enlightenment is rejection of God. Religion is the barrier preventing humanity from enjoying its vices. Abandoning faith in God is the first step to enjoying life. There is no life to come; only a life in the present, which we ought to enjoy as much as possible. The idea of God is an outmoded superstition that merely gets in the way of enjoying life to the full. Atheism makes sexual experimentation legitimate and interesting.

2. In Germany and Austria

   1. Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-72), the “father” of European atheism: religion is a human construction

      1. Feuerbach, who started out as a theology student, argued that Christianity trivializes death by diverting believers from their actual relations with other persons and with the natural world around them. Authentic human existence is godless and limited to this life.

      2. Feuerbach followed the philosopher Hegel in teaching that humanity invented the idea of God as a consolation and distraction from the sorrow of the world. God was a human creation. Humanity existed alone; it had brought the notion of God into being as a misguided means of comforting itself during life's dark and shadowy journey. God was but a “dream of the human soul,” a pure invention, the product of a human mind.

      3. Religion is not a God-given set of ideas but a human construction. Religion tells us nothing about God and everything about ourselves. The idea of God was a dream and the church the perpetuator of this delusion.

   2. Karl Marx (1818-83): religion is the “opium of the people”

      1. Marx was a materialist, one who believes that the world consists only of matter, without spiritual dimensions. Further, Marx believed that every aspect of human life and thought is determined by social and economic factors. Ideas and values are determined by the material realities of life. People's social and economic conditions determine what they think. The idea of God is a human attempt to cope with the harshness of material life and the pain resulting from social and economic privation.

      2. Religion has no real independent existence, but is merely a symptom of something more real, namely, the material world. God is simply a projection of human concern. Theology is nothing more than a human creation of purely social forces. Religion is a human creation in response to the alienation experienced through the process of production. “Humans make religion.” It is a comfort that enables people to tolerate their economic alienation. Religion is merely the result of certain social and economic conditions. When communism is instituted, religion will vanish.

      3. Religion provides an illusion of happiness. To enjoy true happiness, one must give up the illusion. Religion provides the justification for the status quo; it lends authority to the upper classes to oppress the poor. Religion will die naturally when communism is imposed.

      4. Famous quote from Marx: Religion is the “sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people.”

1. Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): religion is “neurosis”

   1. Freud taught that it is natural for humanity not to believe in God. Religion, not atheism, is what needs to be explained. “Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires.”

   2. Religious ideas are “illusions, fulfillments of the oldest, strongest and most urgent wishes of mankind. … We shall tell ourselves that it would be very nice if there were a God who created the world and was a benevolent Providence, and if there were a moral order in the universe and an afterlife; but it is a very striking fact that all this is exactly as we are bound to wish it to be.”

   3. Freud became a psychoanalyst precisely because he was an atheist. He believed religion posed a threat to the advance of the Enlightenment and the natural sciences. Freud's approach to religion rests upon the perceived need to explain why anyone would wish to take the extraordinary step of believing in God, when there is obviously no God to believe in.

   4. “Religion is an attempt to get control over the sensory world, in which we are placed, by means of the wish-world, which we have developed inside us as a result of biological and psychological necessities.”

   5. Religion is a “neurosis” civilized individuals must pass through on their way from childhood to maturity.

   6. Psychoanalysis has made us familiar with the intimate connection between the father-complex and belief in God; it has shown us that a personal God is, psychologically, nothing other than an exalted father, and it brings us evidence of how young people lose their religious beliefs as soon as their father's authority breaks down.

   7. Belief in a personal God is little more than an infantile delusion. Religion is wishful thinking. God is to be seen as a wish fulfillment, arising from repressed, unconscious infantile longings for protection and security. Religious beliefs owe their origins to a childlike feeling of helplessness, which arises in response to external dangers, internal impulses, and a fear of death.

2. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): “God is dead”

   1. Nietzsche said that belief in the Christian God had become virtually indefensible in modern Western society. The primary emphasis of Nietzsche's mature writings is that “belief in the Christian God has become unbelievable.” Western culture had not ceased to believe in God on account of unassailable philosophical reasons, but because it shifted mood. God is gradually being eliminated from modern culture. Whether this is right or wrong, good or bad, it is happening. Western culture has ceased to find belief in God plausible.

   2. Nietzsche despised religion in general, and Christianity in particular, with unbridled fury. He said, “I call Christianity the one great curse, the one enormous and innermost perversion, the one great instinct of revenge, for which o means are too venomous, too underhanded, too underground, and too petty.” Nietzsche was the most imaginative and articulate modern spokesman for atheism. He philosophically and ideologically swayed the twentieth-century mind. ⁵

   3. Nietzsche spent the last eleven years of his life insane.

1. Recent history of atheism ⁶

Within the last few decades, several writers who advocate atheism have come into prominence. Here are a few you should be familiar with:

1. Anthony Flew: As a professor of philosophy at Oxford and other universities, Flew was a leading proponent of atheism and humanism. Flew earned his fame by arguing that one should presuppose atheism until evidence of a God surfaces. However, in 2004, Flew changed his views and became a deist, believing in an “inactive, inoffensive” god. Some believe Flew's change of mind was due to a serious mental decline accompanying his old age.

2. Richard Dawkins: This twice-divorced British biologist and Oxford scholar has sold millions of books advocating evolution and atheism. He has also been active in the popular media as an outspoken voice for atheism and against creationism and Christianity. Dawkins has been labeled “Darwin's Rottweiler” because of his devotion to Darwinian evolution and his hostility toward biblical creationism. He's also been called “the nearest thing to a professional atheist we have had since Bertrand Russell .” Dawkins' book The God Delusion had sold over 1.5 million copies and been translated to 31 languages.

3. Christopher Hitchins: This author, journalist and political activist is noted for his wit, scholarship, and abrasive personality. His 2007 book God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything asserts, among other things, that organized religion is “violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism , tribalism , and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children.” He's a popular speaker on the lecture circuit and frequently debates theologians and creationists.

4. Other notable proponents of atheism (in no particular order)

   1. John Dewey , atheistic American philosopher , psychologist , and educational reformer

   2. Sam Harris , author and scientist, argues that religious fundamentalism is dangerous and theologically unsound.

   3. David Hume , the Scottish philosopher , wrote that human reason is wholly inadequate to make any assumptions about the divine.

   4. Vladimir Lenin , leader of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, believed all religions led to the “exploitation and the stupefaction of the working class.”

   5. HL Mencken , American journalist and satirist who famously ridiculed those who believed the Genesis account of creation at the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial .

   6. Bertrand Russell , British philosopher and mathematician, maintained that religion is little more than superstition and, despite any positive effects that religion might have, it is largely harmful to people. He believed religions impede knowledge, foster fear and dependency, and are responsible for much of the war, oppression, and misery that have beset the world.

   7. John Lennon , singer/songwriter, famously sang “and no religion too” in his song “ Imagine .” Lennon commented that the song was “an anti-religious, anti-nationalistic, anti-conventional, anti-capitalistic song, but because it's sugar-coated, it's accepted.”

As a result of Feuerbach, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche and the rest, society's thinking about religion did an about face, starting with the Enlightenment and extending to the current era. Earlier generations regarded the existence of God as a natural and fundamental aspect of humanity. After these and others, ⁷ atheism became natural and religious belief something to be explained away. God was the product of social and psychological factors. The idea of God was a mere invention, useful in consoling weak and foolish souls who were naïve enough to believe it. God was nothing more than an illusion, created by fearful minds to console themselves in the face of the immensity and meaninglessness of the universe. The idea of God, in their view, was a source of evil in the world, an idea to be destroyed.

Interestingly, in spite of the fact that many of the leading voices in education, philosophy, science, arts and letters, and media advocate atheism or are hostile toward organized religion, the majority of people in the world are religious, while the vast minority would describe themselves as atheists or unbelievers. Americans in particular are confirmed theists, with over 80% of them describing themselves as Christian. Still, the skeptics and critics are having an impact in Western civilization, where secularism is gaining ground.

1 Much of the material in this lesson comes from Alister McGrath, The Twilight of Atheism .

2 The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia , 269.

3 Modernity is defined as “a confident, [optimistic] movement, convinced of the supreme ability of human reason to understand the world and hence to master and control it.” McGrath, Twilight , 218. The current age is often labeled “post-modern” because western culture has moved beyond the ideals of modernism.

4 http://www.answers.com/d'holbach.

5 Zacharias, The Real Face of Atheism , 25.

6 Most of this information comes from Wikipedia.org

7 One of the leading figures associated with the rise of atheism is Charles Darwin, popularizer of natural evolution. We'll discuss his contributions to atheism in another lesson.

Atheism: Lesson 2: Biblical Data

What does the Bible have to say about those who deny the existence of God? Surprisingly, not very much. Genuine atheism was a very uncommon belief, and few in biblical times adopted such a position. Much more common was the worship of many gods (polytheism) or the worship of a particular regional or ethnic “god” (henotheism—choosing one “god” out of many). True atheism has become common only within the last several centuries (we'll discuss the history of atheism in the next lesson).

What does the Bible teach regarding God's existence and those who deny it?

1. The Bible assumes God's existence; it does not attempt to prove it.
   1. The opening words of the Bible state the existence of God: “In the beginning, God created…”
      1. The Bible begins and ends with the assertion and assumption of God's existence. It simply declares to man what he already knows in his heart—that God is. The Bible has no formal arguments or proofs for God's existence (although there is abundant biblical proof of His existence). ¹
      2. The existence of God is based on revealed truth. God has revealed Himself “at sundry times and in divers manners” (Heb1:1). He has spoken through the prophets to the “fathers” and most revealingly through his Son, Jesus Christ. Without direct revelation, mankind would know very little about God.
      3. God holds man responsible to believe what God has revealed. Skeptics may claim that if God exists, He has not provided enough evidence to prove his existence (a common argument). However, the amount of revelation God has provided is enough to make man accountable and responsible to believe. Claims of ignorance of God due to lack of evidence will not hold up in God's court of law.

Note: Philosophical arguments or proofs for God's existence began with Thomas Aquinas, a Roman Catholic theologian and philosopher of the 13th century. His ideas were rediscovered and popularized in the 18th century by various Protestant teachers. The idea behind the proofs is that one can reason his way independently to a knowledge of the existence of the true God apart from special revelation and/or regeneration.

Aquinas proposed “five ways” by which one could arrive at a true knowledge of God apart from the Bible or special revelation. All of these are still being used to “prove” the existence of God today.

1. From motion to an “Unmoved Mover.”

2. From a contingent being to a “Necessary Being.”

3. From degrees of perfection to a “Most Perfect Being.”

4. From effects to a “First Cause.”

5. From design to a “Designer.”

Basing our faith in God on such proofs is not wise, because if it can be shown that the proofs/arguments are weak, the entire foundation for faith is shaken if not totally devastated. While abundant evidence for God's existence does exist, we do not base our faith on philosophical proofs but on Scripture.

1. 2. Although the Bible does not present arguments proving God's existence, at certain points God demonstrated his existence and power to a skeptical audience. Often such proof was miraculous in nature.
      1. Moses with Pharaoh (Ex 4:4)
      2. Elisha with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18)
      3. The retreat of the sundial as a sign to Hezekiah (Isa 38:7-8)
      4. Various experiences with Jesus: raising the dead, walking on water, calming the storm, healings, etc. The ultimate miracle was Jesus' resurrection from the dead. John says that these miracles were designed to convince people that “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 20:31).
      5. Paul's experience on the road to Damascus (Acts 9)

A word of caution regarding miracles as proofs of God's existence: In the Bible we find a variety of responses to miracles. Sometimes the miracle results in a mass conversion (eg, Elijah with the prophets of Baal—the people cried out, “The LORD, he is God;” Jesus' appearance to Thomas after the resurrection elicited the response, “My Lord and my God.”). However, in the NT, we find that Jesus' enemies were not convinced by miracles (eg, after the resurrection of Lazarus, the Jewish authorities did not deny the miracle; they sought to kill both Jesus and Lazarus). The apostles did “notable” miracles, which the Jewish authorities admitted, but that did not convince them of anything; they retained their hostile attitude toward the early Christians (see Acts 4). Further, remember that Satan himself has the power to do counterfeit signs and wonders (2 Thes 2:9). Thus, even if skeptics experience genuine miracles, it would not necessarily convince them of anything. ²

Atheists typically reject any kind of miraculous activity as proof for God with the following arguments:

1. Until the modern era, anything out of the ordinary or not understood was attributed to the gods/God. Even today, unusual events are called “miraculous.” However, such events have a natural explanation, as all events do. Science is able to explain virtually all phenomena, leaving very few “gaps” for God to inhabit. Even a remarkable, unexplainable event should not be taken as a sign of God's existence but simply as an anomaly, a freak of nature with an entirely natural explanation. Eg, natural explanations for resurrection claims.
2. Biblical miracles should not be taken seriously . They are the evidence of pre-scientific understanding. So-called miracles are either pure myth or the suppositions of an unscientific mind. The Bible includes many myths, legends, and fables to heighten or strengthen the reputations of the characters, who also likely never really existed. Eg, Noah, Samson.

2. The Bible teaches that atheism is foolish and wicked .
   1. Absolute atheism

Ps 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

1. 2. Practical atheism

Ps 10:3-4 For the wicked boasteth of his heart's desire, and blesseth the covetous, [whom] the LORD abhorreth. The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

In both cases, wickedness is directly associated with atheism. It is the wicked person who first curses and renounces the Lord and then in pride repeatedly thinks “there is no God.” Sin, not lack of proof, leads people to think irrationally and to deny God's existence.

3. The Bible gives several reasons for unbelief.
   1. Foolishness (Ps 14:1)
   2. Sin (Ps 10:3-4; John 16:9; Rom 1:19-26): A desire for freedom to fulfill any physical appetite often leads to a rejection of God. For many, God represents a cosmic kill-joy, the ultimate party-pooper. In order to pursue guiltless pleasure, the concept of God must be destroyed.
   3. Blindness (Rom 11:25; 2 Cor 4:4)
   4. Hardheartedness (1 Tim 4:2)
   5. Ignorance (1 Cor 2:8; 1 Tim 1:13)
   6. Spiritual deadness (Eph 2:1)
   7. Satanic or demonic influence (2 Cor 4:4; Eph 2:2; 1 Pet 5:8)
   8. Being “ natural ” (1 Cor 2:14) or “ carnal ” (Rom 8:6-8)

Mt 13:15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

4. The Bible teaches that all people know that God exists.

Ps 19:1-4a The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Isa 40:26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

Rom 1:19-25 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

Ro 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another

1. 1. The Bible teaches that all persons everywhere, whether they admit it or not, have a deep, inner sense that God exists, that they are his creatures, and that he is their Creator. Paul asserts that God has shown information about himself to mankind. Even Gentile unbelievers “knew God” but did not honor him as God or give thanks to him (Rom 1:21), as they should have done. Wicked unbelievers have exchanged the truth about God for a lie, implying that they actively or willfully rejected some truth about God's existence and character that they knew. ³
   2. Sin will cause people to deny their knowledge of God: Paul speaks of those who “by their wickedness suppress the truth ” (Rom 1:18). They knew God, suppressed this knowledge, exchanged the truth for a lie, and worshipped the creature rather than the creator. What knowledge of God people have they normally corrupt.
   3. General revelation is information about God that is available to all people generally. Any human capable of rational thought has access to knowledge about God.
      1. The means of general revelation:
         1. Creation – “things which are made” (Rom 1:20).
            1. Every created thing says something about its Creator. Mankind in particular, being made in the “image and likeness” of God, displays characteristics of his Creator. Such an incredibly intricate, skillful, communicative living creature could only have been created by an infinite, all-wise Creator.
            2. David tells us that the natural world tells of God's glory. Nature “speaks” and pours forth knowledge of the Creator. Such information is available to all and extends to the ends of the earth (Ps 19:1-4). To look upward into the sky by day or by night is to see sun, moon, and stars, sky and clouds, all continually declaring by their existence and beauty and greatness that a powerful and wise Creator has made them and sustains them in their order.

Ps 8:3-4 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

1. 1. 1. 1. 3. The “rains and fruitful seasons” as well as the “food and gladness” that all people experience and benefit from are also said by Barnabas and Paul to be witnesses to God (Acts 14:17).

Quoting Grudem: “Everything that exists gives evidence of God's existence. For those who have eyes to see and evaluate the evidence correctly, every leaf on every tree, every blade of grass, every star in the sky, and every other part of creation all cry out continuously, “God made me! God made me! God made me!” If our hearts and minds were not so blinded by sin, it would be impossible for us to look closely at a leaf from any tree and say, “No one created this: it just happened.” The beauty of a snowflake, the majestic power of a thunderstorm, the skill of a honeybee, the refreshing taste of cold water, the incredible abilities of the human hand—all these and thousands of other aspects of creation simply could not have come into existence apart from the activity of an all-powerful and all-wise Creator.”

1. 1. 1. 2. Conscience – “the law written in their hearts” (Rom 2:15); an internal sense of right and wrong.

Note: Morality is an issue that atheists have a hard time explaining. Without a Law-giver, there can be no unchanging standards of morality. In such a case, all moral standards come down to mere human opinion and invention. If mankind is just another animal trying to survive, no moral restraints can be imposed on him.

1. 1. 2. The message of general revelation:
         1. God exists .
         2. God is good .
         3. God is powerful .
         4. Men should thank God and worship Him.

1. 1. 3. The “moment” (significance) of general revelation:
         1. Those who know God through general revelation and suppress and corrupt this knowledge are “without excuse” (Rom 1:20). God holds them accountable for what information they have.
         2. Instead of thanking God and seeking to know him, they exchange the truth for a lie and start worshipping the creation rather than the creator. The primary object of worship for atheists is man himself, and in particular, oneself.
         3. Thus, even for those who never hear the name of Jesus, they have enough information about God to be held accountable.

5. The Bible teaches that some people have access to more specific information about God.
   1. Special revelation is that information that God has revealed about Himself to a select person or group. This information usually becomes public and is broadly published so many people have access to it. The Bible is special revelation, given originally to select individuals and groups, but now broadly available to almost anyone who cares to read it or listen to it.
   2. Special revelation reveals much more about God than general revelation does. We cannot know much about God's attributes and will without special revelation.
   3. Salvation depends on receiving special revelation.

Ro 10:13-14 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?… So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

6. The Bible teaches that belief in God is a matter of faith .

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

1. 1. Faith is based on general revelation (God's works).
   2. Faith is based on special revelation (ie, Scripture—God's Word).
   3. For those who are correctly evaluating the evidence, everything in Scripture and everything in nature proves clearly that God exists and that he is the powerful and wise Creator that Scripture describes him to be. Therefore, when we believe that God exists, we are basing our belief not on some blind hope apart from any evidence, but on an overwhelming amount of reliable evidence from God's words and God's works. It is a characteristic of true faith that it is a confidence based on reliable evidence, and faith in the existence of God shares this characteristic. Furthermore, these evidences can all be seen as valid proofs for the existence of God, even though some people reject them. This does not mean that the evidence is invalid in itself, only that those who reject the evidence are evaluating it wrongly.
   4. God must enable us to be persuaded or we would never believe in him. Man is by nature blind and spiritually dead, totally unresponsive and hostile to God. It is only through the gospel message and the conviction of the Holy Spirit that a person may be saved (John 16:8-11; Rom 1:16; 1 Cor 1:21). Human wisdom will never result in the true knowledge of God. We are dependent upon God to remove the blindness and irrationality caused by sin and to enable us to evaluate the evidence rightly, believe what Scripture says, and come to saving faith in Christ. ⁴
   5. Evidence, proofs, and arguments can be effective in leading someone to faith in Christ. Ultimately, however, no one is saved simply by being convinced by the evidence. The Holy Spirit must convict one of his sin and his need to trust Christ as Savior. God is the One who “gives the increase.”

Conclusion: The Bible's teaching on atheism is clear: God has provided ample revelation of himself, both generally and specifically. All people have access to this information. Men who naturally hate the idea of God suppress this knowledge and refuse to acknowledge God's existence and right to govern them. Sin and a desire to live without moral restraints motivate atheism, not a lack of evidence that God exists. Atheists, of course, would deny all of these claims because they deny the inspiration of the Bible.

1 Rolland McCune, Systematic Theology I Class Notes, Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

2 In most cases, biblical miracles are accompanied by an authoritative commentary on the meaning or purpose of the event. Without a prophetic or apostolic explanation, even miraculous events can be misunderstood or written off as flukes of nature, mere coincidence.

3 Wayne A. Grudem, Systematic Theology : An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; Zondervan Pub. House, 1994), 141.

4 Grudem, 144.

Lesson 1: Introduction and Definitions

Einleitung:

On August 7, 1961, the twenty-six-year-old pilot Major Gherman Titov became the second Soviet cosmonaut to orbit the earth and return safely, climaxing a monumental feat for humankind. Sometime later, speaking at the World's Fair and savoring his moment of glory, he recounted his experience. Affirming the official Soviet position of atheism, he boldly stated that, on his excursion into space, he hadn't seen God. Upon hearing of this exuberant argument from silence, someone quipped, “Had he stepped out of his spacesuit he would have.” ¹

Major Titov's experience can be brushed aside as irrelevant to the question of God's existence, but the issue he raises is a significant one. The most fundamental and essential question humans can ask is, “Does God exist?” Has God created man, or has man created God? Is God only a psychological necessity to man, a “crutch” to help him make sense of his world, or does God have objective, independent existence? Is God responsible for man, or man responsible for God?

Why are these important questions to ask? Because more consequences for life and action follow from the affirmation or denial of God than from any other basic question. Nothing has a more direct bearing on the moral choices made by individuals or the purposes pursued by societies than belief or disbelief in God. Personal and national destinies are inextricably bound to this issue.

If God exists, then a certain set of consequences come into play—there is ultimate meaning and purpose to your life, there is a difference between right and wrong, and choices you make now not only affect you here but in eternity. On the other hand, if there is no God, a different set of consequences pertain—your life ultimately means nothing, morality is a human invention, and there is no existence after death. It doesn't matter how you live or what you believe—your destiny is dust. ² Obviously, those who adopt a theistic worldview will have fundamental disagreements with those who take an atheistic point of view, resulting in a struggle for dominance. This struggle moves the events of history.

Atheism seems to be gaining ground as a legitimate worldview in Western culture. Much of Europe has already adopted an atheistic point of view, and atheism is becoming more prominent in the US as Christian influence wanes. Books supporting atheism abound, often appearing at the top of the best sellers lists. Atheistic propaganda is common in the media, and many influential figures espouse atheism. Ideas have consequences, and atheism is an idea that Christians cannot afford to ignore.

The purpose of this series of lessons is to define and examine atheism from a Christian perspective. We are not out to prove God's existence, but to examine and evaluate atheistic claims. We'll start with some important definitions.

Definitionen:

Theist: someone who believes that a personal God created the universe and is active in it, although not part of creation. Major theistic religions are Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Theists believe God made all .

Pantheist: someone who believes in an impersonal God that literally is the universe. Pantheists believe that God is everything that exists. Major pantheistic religions are Hinduism, some forms of Buddhism, and many forms of the “New Age” Movement. Pantheists believe God is all .

Atheist: someone who does not believe in any type of God. Everything has always existed and no one made it. Atheists believe no God at all . ³

Atheism is open and positive denial of the existence of God. The word atheism comes from a (a prefix meaning “not”) + theos (the Greek word for “God”). An atheist is one who believes “no god” of any sort exists. The word does not refer to a mere ignorance of God, but applies to one who considers himself informed on the claims and evidence for the existence of God and who emphatically denies them.

There are three types of atheist, practically speaking: ⁴

1. The Absolute Atheist. This is one who denies the absolute existence of God. Here is the person who argues and says “I have examined all the facts as to the existence of God and I deny them as proving His existence.”

Ps 14:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Quote: It is a perfectly acceptable philosophical position to dismiss the god idea as being self-evidently ridiculous.…Christians instantly disregard the Greek gods as being figments of an overactive imagination, and so I view the Christian god in the same way. … I am an atheist because no more evidence supports the Christian god than supports the Greek or Roman gods. There is no evidence that God—as portrayed by any religion—exists. ⁵

Many scientists are atheists. A 1998 study in Nature revealed that, of the membership of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, only 7% of its leading scientist believed in a personal God (in any form) and even fewer in the religious theories of “Creation Science” or “Intelligent Design.”

Absolute atheism is a minority viewpoint both historically and currently. According to a recent (2005) survey, only fourteen percent of the world's population would categorize themselves as nonbelievers in any religion. In many countries, atheism accounts for a very small minority of the populace—perhaps only one or two percent. In other places, like China, unbelievers constitute up to half of the population. But worldwide, believers outnumber unbelievers almost everywhere. ⁶

2. The Providential Atheist. This is the person who simply doubts the existence of God, but firmly denies His providential dealings and the care of God for the things of this world. However, this person in effect denies the being of God for he strips Him of His omnipotence, wisdom, mercy, justice and righteousness. Warum? Because of their desire to be uncontrolled in their behaviors. This kind of atheist is sometimes called a Deist. He denies God because he wants freedom from any responsibility for his sin. He is like the person who does not want to come to the light because his deeds are evil ( John 3:19-20 ).

3. The Practical Atheist. By this we refer to a secret or partial atheism which is present in the majority of the world. These do not actually deny the being of God, but by their actions and lifestyle, by their evil and neglect of God, or by the denial of certain aspects and rights of His divine and sovereign rule over them, they deny Him and act as though there were no God. Even people who profess to be religious may be practical atheists in their daily living.

Titus 1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.

If the existence of God makes little or no impact upon the experiences of everyday life, then God may as well not exist.

Agnostic: someone who is not sure whether God exists. He does not know (a + gnosis/knowledge). Thomas Huxley coined the term in 1869 to designate someone who recognized that the great questions of life lay beyond demonstration. “I invented the word 'agnostic' to denote people who, like myself, confess themselves to be hopelessly ignorant concerning a variety of matters, about which metaphysicians and theologians, both orthodox and heterodox, dogmatize with utmost confidence.” Agnostics typically live very secular lives. Atheism is a firmer or more fixed position than agnosticism. Atheists supposedly know beyond doubt that no god exists; agnostics don't know for sure and generally are not interested in the topic.

Further refinement of the term atheism :

• Atheism is protest —a protest against the social and personal injustices often linked with religion and certain of its ideas in the past, which are held to be old fashioned, oppressive, or irrational.

• Atheism is the religion of the autonomous and rational human being, who believes that reason is able to uncover and express the deepest truths of the universe, from the mechanics of the rising of the sun to the nature and final destiny of humanity. There is a single, universal rationality, which human beings are able to identify and uncover through the appropriate use of rational reflection and scientific experimentation. The world can be fully understood and subsequently mastered using human rationality alone. Atheism is perfectly suited to this rational and logical worldview. It was the established religion of modernity. ⁷

• Atheism is a firm and principled commitment to the nonexistence of God, and the liberating impact of this belief. The very idea of God is declared to be outdated, enslaving, and a downright self-contradiction. ⁸

• On an atheistic understanding of things, there are no “ spiritual ” realities save those of our own making, arising from the circumstances of our social location and the secret dreams of our hearts. ⁹ God is a purely man-made concept. No spiritual realities exist outside us. Natural explanations may be given of the origins of belief in God.

• The word atheist can be extrapolated to mean a rejection of all supernatural beings and phenomena that are normally associated with the idea of God. Atheists do not believe in Heaven, Hell, devils, angels, miracles, holy ghosts, or rising from the dead. ¹⁰

• Atheism teaches that man is alone in the universe. Atheism therefore entails naturalism , the belief — as Carl Sagan famously put it, “The cosmos is all there is, all there was, and all there ever will be.” For most atheists, atheism also entails secular humanism , the belief that human beings must determine their own purpose for life and must solve their own problems. For an atheist, the only alternative to some such humanism is nihilism , the belief that life has no purpose or meaning. While nihilism is a reasonable inference from atheism, most atheists resist nihilism and argue for what Antony Flew calls Atheistic Humanism : a positive philosophy of life that embraces life as meaningful despite the lack of any divinely created purpose for the human race. This is the philosophy of the Humanist Manifesto I (1933), the Humanist Manifesto II (1973), and the Secular Humanist Declaration (1980). ¹¹

• Some atheists are not so positive in their assertion that no God exists. Some would define atheism as simply the lack or absence of belief in a God or gods. That is, an atheist does not necessarily deny the existence of a God, but simply has no belief in any particular God. Perhaps God does exist, but an atheist does not believe in him. Those who have never heard of the concept of God may be considered atheists, as are children who are too young to grasp the concept, in their view.

• Atheists may talk about God, but they are speaking metaphorically or symbolically. For example, Einstein famously quipped, “God does not play dice with the universe.” Likewise, Harvard physicist and author Steven Hawking uses the word “God,” but empties the concept of any biblical, theistic meaning. “God” for such people is simply nature or the laws of nature. Any “God talk” from such people should not be taken as an affirmation of biblical theism.

• Atheism is a vast and diverse empire embracing many kingdoms, each with its distinct identity, yet united by a common rejection of any divinities, supernatural powers, or transcendent realities limiting the development and achievements of humanity. Atheism comes in various forms, its spectrum of possibilities extending from a rather mild absence of belief in God or any supernatural beings to a decidedly more strident and rigorous rejection of any religious belief as manipulative, false, and enslaving. Atheism, in its modern sense, has come to mean the explicit denial of all spiritual powers and supernatural beings, or the demand for the elimination of the transcendent as an illusion…. Christianity, like all religions, was held to be deficient. Intellectually, its central ideas were ridiculous and untenable; socially, it was reactionary and oppressive. The time had come to break free of its clutches, once and for all. ¹²

Although atheism is not currently a common point of view in the US, it is an influential one. As Christian influence in the West declines, atheism will no doubt gain ground. Christians should be aware of atheistic arguments and be able to give an answer to them (1 Pet 3:15).

1 Zacharias, 19.

2 Geisler and Turek, 20.

3 Geisler and Turek, 22-23.

4 Keathley.

5 Mills, 28.

6 In the US, 82% claim to be Christian, 2% are Muslim, 12% are unbelievers, and Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and others make up the rest. Worldwide, 33% claim Christianity, 21% claim Islam, 14% claim no religion, 13% are Hindu, 12% claim other religions, and 6% claim Buddhism. The worldwide average is 85.7% who claim some kind of religious belief. National Geographic , Dec 2007, citing the World Christian Database. Around 7% of the US population claims to be atheist—that's about 14 million people.

7 McGrath, 221.

8 McGrath, 175.

9 McGrath, 188.

10 Mills, 26.

11 Boa.

12 McGrath, x.

Atheismus

Inhalt:

Lesson 1: Introduction and Definitions

Lesson 2: Biblical Data

Lesson 3: History of Atheism

Lesson 4: Claims of Atheism

Lesson 5: Christian Responses to Atheism

Lektion 6: Der Atheismus und Wissenschaft

Lektion 7: Der Atheismus und Moral

Lesson 8: Further Considerations

The following resources were helpful in preparing this material. Some of the language in the lessons comes directly from these sources. Asterisks mark books that were especially helpful and are recommended reading.

Kenneth Boa, No God at All: Western Humanism and the New Atheism. http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=3858

Francis S. Collins, The Language of God ( New York: Free Press/Simon and Schuster, 2006).

Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion ( Houghton Mifflin, 2006)

*Dinesh D'Souza, What's So Great about Christianity? (Washington DC: Regnery, 2007)

Norman Geisler and Frank Turek, I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books, 2004).

J. Hampton Keathley, Evidence For God's Existence http://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=216 (accessed Nov 2007).

*Alister McGrath, The Twilight of Atheism (New York: Galille/Double Day, 2006).

*Alister and Joanna McGrath, The Dawkins Delusion? ( Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2007).

David Mills, Atheist Universe (Berkeley, CA: Ulysses Press, 2006).

Martin Rees, Just Six Numbers (Basic Books: 2000)

*Ravi Zacharias, The Real Face of Atheism (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2004).

Others as noted

Brad Anderson , 2007-2008.