What do atheists argue against God?

Atheists argue that there is no good reason to believe in gods, and that suffering counts against the God Christians describe. This page is that case. The general question of suffering, asked by anyone, is the problem of evil. What atheists say they hold in common is What do atheists believe?.

Key points

• Atheist Alliance International says the reason is: “Because there are no good reasons to believe in gods; and I won’t believe in them for bad reasons.”
• American Atheists say atheism rejects “the assertion that there are gods,” and that this rejection is not itself a claim that there are not gods.
• The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states one form of the argument from evil: God’s existence is treated as logically incompatible with certain evils, or with certain non-belief.
• Those are two different arguments: a lack of sufficient evidence, and a claim that evil rules this God out.
• Psalm 13:1How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?Psalms 13:1 · King James Version already asks, “How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD?” The protest is in the Christian Bible.
• Romans 1:20For 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:Romans 1:20 · King James Version says the invisible things of God are understood by the things that are made. John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version says the Word was God.

Not enough evidence

Atheist Alliance International, What is atheism? puts the practical reason this way:

Because there are no good reasons to believe in gods; and I won’t believe in them for bad reasons.

Atheist Alliance International, What is atheism?

The same page says a person can be an atheist without claiming that no gods exist. The argument here is about reasons for belief, not a completed proof that the Christian God is impossible.

American Atheists, What is an atheist? describe the same refusal:

It is not an affirmative belief that there are not gods nor is it a statement about any other beliefs a person holds. It is simply the rejection of the assertion that there are gods.

American Atheists, What is an atheist?

Rejection of a claim is not, on their page, the same sentence as “I have shown that God does not exist.”

Suffering

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Atheism and Agnosticism describes one atheistic argument this way: “God’s existence is logically incompatible either with the existence of certain sorts of evil or with the existence of certain sorts of non-belief.”

That is the logical form. A second form, which the encyclopedia also distinguishes in the wider discussion of evil, treats suffering as evidence against trust rather than as a strict disproof. The problem of evil keeps those two apart and quotes the biblical protest. This page does not add a survey number for how often the argument is used.

The Christian claim

Christians say the public world is already the evidence Romans 1 names.

Romans 1:19–20^1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. ^1:20 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:Romans 1:19–20 · King James Version, King James Version:

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:

Romans 1:19–20 · King James Version

The claim is not that a gap in a textbook is God. It is that what has been made shows the power and Godhead of the one who made it.

On suffering, Christians do not say every horror was a useful lesson. Psalm 13 asks whether God has forgotten. The Christian answer is that the Son entered death, and that the resurrection says death did not keep the last word. That answer is the problem of evil and the resurrection of Jesus.

The God those pages mean is not an anonymous force. John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version, King James Version:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1 · King James Version

Jesus is God. That is the deity of Christ.

Frequently asked questions

Is “there is no God” the only atheist argument?

No. American Atheists define atheism as a lack of belief, not as the sentence “there are not gods.” Atheist Alliance International says some atheists do add the claim that no gods exist, and calls that hard atheism.

What is the argument from evil?

One form says an all-powerful, all-good God is incompatible with certain evils. Another says suffering is strong evidence against trusting that God. Both are stated on the problem of evil, which is the general page, not an atheist creed.

What do Christians offer as a reason?

Romans 1:20For 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:Romans 1:20 · King James Version points to what has been made. John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version and the resurrection are the claim about Jesus.

Keep reading

• What do atheists believe?
• Does God exist?
• The problem of evil
• The resurrection of Jesus