Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Dr. David M. Berman

It is my desire to present the true understanding of the social, political, and economic realities that are associated with an atheistic world-view.  Atheism structurally is similar to other world-view from the standpoint of it having its own ramifications concerning social, moral, political, and economic opinions.

What is a world-view and why is it important to discuss this question? A person’s world-view is defined as the basic philosophical “looking glass” that one uses to form their opinions on various moral issues. It is the basis by which one comes to a judgment of social policy, moral behavior, government involvement, and economic policy. It is the single most important ingredient in how that person conducts their life and how they respond to various events and circumstances in living.

How does a person’s world-view form? A person’s world-view forms in many ways including the teaching they received in their formative years and their experiences. People come to conclusions often times based on emotions rather than logic since humans are quite emotional beings. It is often the case that a person’s positions come not from an investment in logical thought, but rather as reactions to things that displease their emotions. Example; A person may come to the conclusion that all people of a certain race are bad due to their negative experience with a particular person of a specific race. After that experience and their emotional reaction to it, they develop a conclusion that all people of that race must be bad.  This is illogical since, in my example, they have not had bad experiences with every person of that race.

In this article I specifically want to discuss the world-view of Atheism from a philosophical prospective. This article is not intended to be an apologetic on creation (even though I am a creationist). It is intended to look at the logical conclusions of Atheism, what history teaches are the results of Atheism, and the irrational conclusions of Atheism philosophically. Let us start:

Atheism asserts that there is no God and that everything we see, feel, think, and experience is simply based on a random accidental process that came not from any design, but rather with no purpose, plan, or active involvement of any supernatural being of any kind, shape, matter, or form at all. They contend that everything we see, feel, think, and experience is nothing more than an accident.

Theism on the other hand, asserts that there is a supernatural designer of all creation and that the super natural designer is the reason for the ecosystem, and the complexities of species etc.

What is the logical conclusion of Atheism concerning morals? If one truly is an Atheist, said person cannot, with certainty say that there is any absolute moral right or wrong including any absolute human right. Am I saying that all Atheists have no morals? No. I am not saying that at all. There are plenty of people who are atheistic in their world-view that would say it is wrong to steal, wrong to have an extra marital affair, as well as coming to a host of other moral conclusions. Therein lies the problem. The problem philosophically is that it is impossible to truly be an Atheist who believes that there is no God and that everything we see, feel, think, and experience is simply based on a random accidental process that came not from any design, but rather with no purpose, plan, active involvement of any supernatural being of any kind, shape, matter, or form at all, and at the same time say that it is wrong to steal, wrong to have an extra marital affair, or to come to any unconditional opinion of any behavior.  Of course an Atheist would say; “If what you do hurts somebody that’s what makes it wrong.” However there is a problem with this when one logically assesses that statement. How is it possible for all things to be totally random, without design, everything an accident with no cause other than random action, with no moral creator, and at the same time there to exist a right or wrong moral action? It is completely illogical to say you are an Atheist and then declare any absolute right or wrong moral action.

This logical conclusion is a real challenge to an Atheist in that it forces them to attempt to come up with all sorts of explanations as to why they can believe in right and wrong and at the same time be Atheist. The problem with all their explanations is that they are illogical if one does not believe in God. In other words, if there is no God who created what we see, and if there is no divine maker of absolute moral behavior, then nothing is right and nothing is wrong. The individual Atheist might himself believe, based on his moral view and experiences, that certain things are right and certain things are wrong, but he cannot make an absolute argument for or against any moral behavior if everything is an accident with no creator. It simply holds no water and is philosophically dishonest.

The Theist on the other hand believes that God created not only the creation but also the conscience and moral law. The Theist therefore logically believes that there are absolute moral directives from the Creator. It is a logical deduction.  An interesting question would be; “How would a moral being exist without said moral being having been created by a moral being?” The logical answer is simply that it wouldn’t. One of the great philosophical arguments for the existence of God is that people are born with a conscience and develop moral codes.

If Atheism is brought to its logical conclusion there can be only one result. If all restraint is put away from Atheism so that the consistent philosophical position is lived out in reality, there can only be chaos. Atheism’s end is destructive to society because it has no moral base whatsoever.

Most Atheists are not true Atheists because they do not think through their philosophical position and so they have a moral code. How do I prove that they have a moral code? It is simple really; all you have to do is ask an atheist if he/she ever gets upset with what another person does because they think it is wrong? Surely every Atheist has experienced witnessing what they think is a moral lack in another person’s life. Example; if an Atheist has their car stolen, they, like anyone else, have a sense of wanting justice in the matter. Why? If it is true that there is no God, and that everything is an accident, then why should there be justice for the car theft? Is the Atheist saying “The car belongs to me, and therefore the thief committed a wrong action in taking what is mine, and stealing is a moral violation, so therefore I want my car back and I want him prosecuted? If the Atheist says that, he is violating his own world-view since in his position, all is an accident, there is no God and so there is no absolute right or wrong. He may be upset because it was his car that was taken but he cannot say it was a wrong action and be consistent with his atheistic world-view. The Atheist in this example clearly believes in right and wrong but if he truly is a believer in the Atheist world-view it is totally out of character to demand justice. The Theist knows that there is an eternal God and due to the Creator creating the world in a specific design, it is also clear that he also established a moral code of behavior. Theists understand that without the absolute universal giver of a set of moral laws, there cannot be a right or wrong. That is logical.

Many Atheists point to what they say is destruction coming from the Theist world-view. Their contention is that Theism is the cause of wars and killing. This is a reasonable question; “Is theism itself the cause of many wars?” The answer is that there has been wars based on Theism however that in no way tells the real story. To lump all Theists into the category of causing wars is like blaming all matches for the action of an arson. Anyone can use anything for their own gain or their own twisted purposes. It is a sophomoric argument for someone to say “I’m an Atheist because people have killed because of religion.” How is that a logical argument about the existence of  God or not? When speaking of a believer in God you have a wide range of positions concerning God. Up until this point I have made no distinction about any specific religion. We have simply been speaking about Atheism and Theism. There certainly have been many who have murdered in the name of religion. 911 will clearly speak to that fact. The fact is that there have also been many murdered by Atheists (Stalin, Lennon, Mao, Pol Pot to name a few). In fact tens of millions have been slaughtered by Atheists. It would be equally sophomoric to say “I am not an Atheist because Atheists have murdered people.”

Christians (real Christians) do not believe or practice murder for any reason. Most Christians believe in the right of self defense but no Christian believes in murder. You don’t see Palestinian Christians strapping bombs to themselves and blowing up civilians on a bus. Since our leader Jesus did not teach us to murder, anyone who murders in the name of Jesus is not a Christian but rather someone who is misrepresenting Christ. For Islam it is different. Mohammed did murder and teach his followers to do so. So there are various religions in the world and it is illogical to lump them all together. This article is dealing with the supposition; “If there is no God.”

If there is no God:

1) Everything is an accident

2) There can be no moral code that has absolutes.

3) It is illogical to have moral outrage at anyone for anything.

4) There are no natural “rights” as acknowledged by the Constitution of the United States of America.

5) Human “rights” do not exist.

6) Murder is not wrong.

7) Any categorical judgment about anything is illogical.

What are the social, political, moral, and economic ramifications of an atheistic world-view? Or asked another way “What would a society be like if everyone truly believed the logical conclusion of a true Atheistic world-view?” The answer is chilling.  If a society was to truly believe that there is no right or wrong, that everything is nothing more than an accident, that there are no “natural rights,” and that absolute human rights do not exist, then what do you have? A totalitarian society based on the falsehood of natural selection with its ultimate end being survival of the most powerful and the subjugation of anyone who is weaker in any way. Since that society would believe that there are no absolutes, they would believe that all things are relative and subject to the ebb and flow of whatever the powerful in society decide from time to time.

You may give the same old argument that conscience is a result of social conditioning but that makes no sense. First if it is a result of social conditioning only, why is it that in every culture there are certain universally held very clear moral agreements such as laws against stealing? Second, why did the conditioning develop in the first place if there was no innate conscience?

So to sum this up. If one truly is an Atheist, they must believe that there are no absolute moral standards. That their children are worth no more than any other accidental piece of matter, and that all we see has no purpose whatsoever.

Open your heart Atheist. Stop hiding behind your illogical belief that you can have it both ways. If there is no God, there are no absolute morals, and if that is the case than you and your children are worth nothing more than any other piece of matter that you believe accidently got here. The truth is that there are moral absolutes because God does exists and He created us all giving us a conscience. Swallow your pride and bow your knee to the obvious. The creation is a witness to the truth of the Creator. You can try as you will to defend your prideful position, but the truth is that you know intrinsically that there are certain actions that are absolutely immoral because the God who made you put that knowledge in your conscience, To deny that is not logic, it is not science, it is not enlightened, it is simply your attempt to cover your own desire to live outside of the authority of God….”A fool hath said in his heart, there is no God” (Psalm 53:1)