Atheists' Objections to Evidence for God's Existence, Part 1

Is there any evidence for the existence of God? Yes.

It’s become common for some atheists to insist that there’s no evidence for God’s existence. They claim that any argument or evidence theists have put forth over the preceding centuries for the existence of God have been sufficiently answered by the advances of human knowledge, especially in the sciences. Remarkably, some even claim that they don’t have to address such evidence, because any evidence for God’s existence is intrinsically inadequate. This is basically arguing that God doesn’t exist because God doesn’t exist. On his “Pharyngula” blog, biology professor P. Z. Myers insists, “There is no god hypothesis, so there can be no god evidence, so let’s stop pretending that the believers have a shot at persuading us” (October 9, 2010). Steve Zara, custodian of the “Ask the Atheist” blog, wrote the following in a guest column for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science, entitled, “There can be no evidence for god,” July 30, 2011: “We [atheists] should make it clear that all arguments that lead to gods are wrong because they lead to gods! God is a singular mistake, a philosophical division by zero, a point at which the respectability of arguments breaks down. God is out of the question, the ultimate wrong answer.” But, this is nothing more than a propaganda ploy, a slogan to support the claim that theists rely entirely on blind faith, whereas atheists rely entirely on rational thought. It’s not enough, however, to simply insist that there’s no evidence for God’s existence. To be credible, atheists must address the evidence that theists put forth for God’s existence. Dismissing such evidence out of hand is a poor attempt to shut down the conversation rather than contribute to it.

The strategy today among many so-called new atheists is one of aggressive hostility. They’re not merely a-theists, but anti-theists, for they see faith not merely as the misguided superstitions of individuals, but as a force that’s generally harmful and destructive to the human condition. Faith, and especially its practical embodiment, religion, must not simply be dismissed as foolish and erroneous, but must be actively opposed as dangerous and pernicious. “I think religion is the most dangerous and divisive ideology that we have ever produced. It is also the only ideology that is systematically protected from criticism, both from within and without,” said Sam Harris (that second sentence is interesting, considering the money Harris has made selling books criticizing religion). In his magnum opus, God Is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens allows that he wouldn’t prevent believers from practicing their religion, though he doubts believers would grant him the same courtesy: “As I write these words, and as you read them, people of faith are in their different way planning your and my destruction, and the destruction of all the hard-won human attainments that I have touched upon. Religion poisons everything.” (emphasis in original). Hitchens apparently convinced himself that believers were as consumed with thinking about how to get rid of him as he was thinking about how to discredit them.

In this series of articles, I’ll consider the various strategies contemporary atheists employ to discredit the claim that there is evidence for God’s existence. While I’ll also make some comments on why I think these strategies are wrong-headed, a more formal response will be in the form of another series of articles presenting the evidence for God’s existence from philosophy, experience and observation. These articles are written from a Catholic perspective. They are written for Catholics, primarily to offer encouragement in the faith and, secondarily, to demonstrate that there are answers to atheists’ objections to the claim that God exists. If my Catholic confreres have any questions they would like to explore, I’m happy to offer any service I can. If any atheists are interested in engaging in meaningful, respectful conversation on these ideas, I’m happy to engage them. Anyone interested may contact me via my email address: rcchuntrn@gmail.com.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.