The God of the Atheist
Modern ‘scientific’ atheism, we are told, is not so much a belief system as a way of looking at the world without putting on the glasses of our culture. We are told that the entire world can be understood without the need for a ‘god’ to explain it. Yet could it be that atheism is actually a religion itself, with its own deity?
Finding Atheism’s God
“All…thoughtful men acknowledge a first Cause,” wrote the 18th century theologian John Gill. He then explained that, having found a first cause, or original reason for everything that follows, all thoughtful men “there stop, and which they truly call God.” In other words, Gill indicated that by asking ‘why’ until we come to the most basic reason, we will always be able to find the deity of a worldview.
This idea becomes the clue that will lead us to the atheist’s god. The Christian God can be traced to “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The triune God of the Bible is therefore the most basic reason for everything else that follows.
Similarly, we can trace the god of the atheist all the way back to the beginning, searching for the most basic reason for everything else that follows. What do we find? Chance.
The god of Chance
What a random selection for a god! Yet the nearer we come to this god of chance, the more we see how godlike and divine its followers portray it.
What is more powerful than chance, since (given enough time) the most impossible will happen? Chance can form entire galaxies and super galaxies, the most minute and intricate organisms that exist and the most lofty and glorious worlds. What then is more omnipotent (all-powerful) than chance?
What is more eternal than chance, since – existing at all times, without any cause or reason for its existence – chance has always been dabbling with all that exists or does not exist, and will always continue to dabble with such things?
What is wiser than chance, since – no wisdom having any intrinsic value of its own, but only being the random combinations of chance – all knowledge is able to be created by chance? What then is more omniscient (all-knowing) than chance?
What is more righteous than chance, since – as there is neither absolute right or wrong in a world ruled by chance – the only certainty or absolute is chance, and therefore it is the only logical basis for determining what is right or wrong?
What is more sovereign than chance, since chance created everything out of nothing, and created all order out of disorder, and randomly determines all things?
Yes, this is the god of the atheist – the god of chance, an omnipotent, eternal, omniscient, righteous, and sovereign god. Yet unlike the atheist, I have no interest in worshipping such an impersonal deity. Nor do I need to, since the reality of order and design in the universe can never be explained by the god of chance.
