Last updated on October 31st, 2024
The number of British people calling themselves atheists is increasing daily. Up until the 1980s British schools had a Christian foundation, teaching Christian ways. Now, however, the names of God and Jesus are only allowed to be spoken in blasphemy; God is considered to be a mythical being, given the same rank as Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy; Creationism, which was taught and believed many years ago, is now considered a myth along the lines of fairy tales by the brothers Grimm.
Comparing God to Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy
There are many people in this world who have little money and would be overjoyed to be given enough to buy even a loaf of bread. But if one of these people lost a tooth you can be sure they wouldn’t waste time putting it under their pillow, believing that the tooth fairy might leave them some money. Likewise, any penniless adult will be worried at Christmas because Father Christmas is not going to come and leave the children presents, no matter how much they believe in him.
But if God is no more real than mythical beings, why do people cry out to him in their hour of need? Why does a drowning atheist cry out to God as a last resort? Why do we never hear of people in distress calling to their fairy godmother for help? Surely it makes no difference which mythical being one cries out to? Considering that atheists are known to have prayed in situations of need, why do they not put teeth under their pillows when they need money?
Nobody prays to a being they do not believe in, no matter how desperate they are. People do not believe in things they know cannot exist. It is obvious that people still believe in God because they cannot prove that he doesn’t exist.
If there is a God, show us the evidence!
Whether or not one can find evidence of God depends on what evidence one looks for. The complexity of a single cell shows us how unlikely it is to have evolved, requiring many parts to be operational at the same time, all working with each other. The only explanation for the evolution of the eye is very hard to believe, claiming that many entirely random mutations occurred in the same area over millions of years, ending up working perfectly together as a single organ. The world we live in, and the interdependence of life, suggests that there is a creator.
Atheists will argue against God’s existence no matter how much evidence is presented to them. Unless they have conclusive evidence that God exists they claim that God cannot exist. These same people believe that alien life forms more technologically advanced than ourselves might exist. There have been reports of many unexplained incidents regarding aliens; however, although there is no conclusive evidence, many atheists believe without question that aliens are out there, and yet they will not apply this same belief to God.
It is illogical to claim that God cannot exist because there is no conclusive evidence of his existence. Thousands of murderers have escaped a prison sentence because nobody could prove they committed the crime. It is illogical to claim that a person cannot have committed a murder because there is no conclusive proof. It may seem unlikely, but without evidence one cannot be sure.
Sometimes new evidence appears that convicts a murderer, many years after they were acquitted. In the same way, there is the possibility that evidence will appear that proves God exists. It is this possibility that makes it impossible to say that God does not exist.
Attempts to disprove religious experiences
People seem desperate to prove that God doesn’t exist. Scientific experiments have revealed that electrical stimulation of the brain’s occipital lobe has produced ‘religious’ experiences. Atheists have used this as evidence that religious experiences are no more than chemical/electrical stimulation; however, does this really prove that all religious experiences are false?
Every single experience we have is chemical or electrical: the very fact that we can think requires electrical impulses. The fact that stimulation of the occipital lobe also produces sexual experiences is ignored by atheists. To say that all religious experiences are false would be the same as saying that all sexual experiences are false. Hallucinations are produced by this same stimulation, but if somebody hallucinated that their friend was standing in front of them it doesn’t mean that any time their friend stood in front of them it would be a hallucination.
Although the sense of a religious experience can be created by stimulation, it doesn’t mean that religious experiences can’t be real. To put it in a scientific way, it is entirely probable that spiritual activity generates electrical stimulation in the physical dimension.
There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life
In 2009 a campaign was launched to promote atheism. Buses across Britain displayed advertisements saying “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.”
To quote the Website associated with the campaign:
The campaign began when comedy writer Ariane Sherine saw an advert on a London bus featuring the Bible quote, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find Faith on this Earth?” [sic]. A website URL ran underneath the quote, and when Sherine visited the site she learned that, as a non-believer, she would be “condemned to everlasting separation from God and then spend all eternity in torment in hell”.
Obviously Sherine believed that people would read this and spend their lives worrying that they would end up in hell. But, surely, to feel threatened by this signifies that one believes in both God and hell.
If people do not believe in God, why would a Website that says non-believers will spend eternity in hell cause them concern? If I visited a Website that told me I’d spend eternity in an ice chamber if I didn’t believe in fairies my first reaction would be to laugh. At such an obviously empty threat, the last thing I’d do is waste time telling people it wasn’t true.
Secondly, what point is there telling people that there ‘probably’ is no God? It’s like saying that you probably won’t die if you take an illegal substance. Probably tells us that there is still a chance.
The pleasure from taking drugs is too enticing for most people, which is why they risk their lives in taking them. They believe that they probably won’t die, and the pleasure is worth the ‘probably’ non-existent risk. The ‘it will never happen to me’ attitude is prevalent in today’s society. For the same reason, the lure of fulfilling selfish and unholy desires, people take the risk of believing there is no God.
Conclusion
If people want to believe in something, if it is of benefit to them or they find it interesting, they will not care about evidence. Likewise, if people do not want to believe in something they will ignore any evidence presented to them. The facts seem to indicate that people do not want God to exist, not that they disbelieve in him.