The god of the Atheist

To say that Atheists have a god sounds like an oxymoron. After all, Atheists claim that they don’t believe in any gods. In fact, it’s used as an argument to support the idea that science and religion are incompatible. If someone was to say that things fall down because of the will of god, this would be perceived as being anti-science. The scientist examines the world and finds reasons — causes and effects. To attribute something to the will of god and therefore to not look for causes goes against this. I’ve explored this more here.

Now suppose we were to toss a coin and let’s suppose this coin toss was completely random. It can land heads or tails. What would be the cause that would result in the effect (outcome) of it landing heads or tails? The Atheist would argue that there isn’t one. However, suppose the coin toss was to determine an outcome such as ‘which of two jobs should I choose?’. The religious person would argue that by tossing the coin they are handing the outcome over to God. It is His will that will determine the outcome. This can’t be proved by science but is based on faith. The Atheist would argue that is random. There is no reason for the coin landing one way or the other. Of course, this is an unprovable proposition as well.

According to the religious believer, the coin toss result can be understood by understanding God. This may be using some religious theology or some other metaphysical thinking.

The Atheist attributes the coin toss result to the god of randomness. This god is capricious and doesn’t (according to the Atheist) respond to prayer or give preference to any outcome. There is an Atheist theology which is statistics. Any attempt to step outside of this theology is met with derision.

By Philip Braham on July 30, 2018