Atheistic Faith!

Author: Walter Nuñez

Lo and behold! In denying the existence of God, atheists and nonbelievers alike have as much faith as religious believers affirming the existence of God. But where the religious believers do not make a big deal of having their belief on the existence of God based on faith, more specifically on reasoned faith , atheists and nonbelievers, on the other hand, refused to be labeled with their so called atheistic faith. It’s a funny thing, though, how hard they (atheists and nonbelievers) try to distance and differentiate  themselves from being associated with faith based belief. Atheists and nonbelievers will tell you that belief and more specifically faith, are not in their line of vocabulary. They claim that their negation of the existence of God is based on knowledge. Hence, it’s not that they believe but instead they know that God does not exists. In fact, with a high sense of modesty, they brandish that science works in their favor. It asserts that (science) is their ally as it is their main weapon in debunking the existence of God.

But there is a problem with this line of thinking.  Even their leaders like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, though noted and notorious of being a hardcore atheists. But, still fall short of being a full fledged  atheists in the truest sense of the word in the absence of conclusive proof against the existence of God. Given this backdrop, they are constrained to admit that strictly and scientifically speaking they are only agnostics rather than atheists.

The following is an excerpt from The New Naysayers written by Jerry Adler for the Newsweek Magazine, September 25, 2006 issue: “Dawkins and Harris are not writing polite demurrals to time-honored beliefs of billions; they are not issuing pleas for tolerance or moderation, but bone-rattling attacks on what they regard as a pernicious and outdated superstition. (In the spirit of scientific even handedness, both would call themselves agnostic; although as Dawkins says, he’s agnostic about God the same way he’s agnostic about the existence of fairies.)”

In general, there is no conclusive proof for and against the existence of God. Since, reality (i.e. totality of existence and events) is in continuous flux, therefore, not all things are accounted for and validated so as to be certain of the existence and nonexistence of the same (God). Going by the logic, it necessarily follows that there is a room for uncertainty on both sides (religious believers and nonbelievers or atheists alike) whether or not God exists. But where religious believers and nonbelievers especially atheists differ is that the former has faith and reason based on revelation (biblical events) and the laws of nature or order of the natural world, respectively, to cling to in affirming the existence of God. Whereas, the latter (nonbelievers and atheists) engulfed with the cloud of uncertainty  against the existence of God ,  is forever tortured with the possibility that a God may in fact exist, since it is short of the required certainty to rule out the existence of the same (God) in the absence of a conclusive proof.

So what have we here? If nonbelievers and atheists lack the conclusive proof to deny the existence of God, as is evidently the case. Therefore, what is their business of being a nonbeliever and an atheist at that in the first place? This betrays the very cause of atheism and undermines its very foundation. But just the same they have nothing to boot but only their so called atheistic faith nothing more nothing less. Unwittingly, that problem flies over their faces! What a shame!