Atheists: They Don't (Want To ) Believe There Is A God

One of the major arguments put forward by Atheists goes something like this: “If there really was a god, why do bad things happen in the world?” This is not one of the better logical triumphs from the Atheist camp, just one of the most beloved jabs that they all like to use. The fact is, it does not go anywhere towards demonstrating the fact that there is no god as much as betray the disappointment that they have towards reality. And, who can blame them?

The world is a messed up place. In Africa, at this very moment, small children are raising their siblings as AIDS has robbed them of their parents. Thousands of people every day die of starvation, die in major storms, and die in conflicts with other people.

No one argues that the world is not at times a terrible place. However, to impose a single idea of what a perfect world would be would result in an even worse reality. It can be argued that a truly loving God might have to temporarily allow the evil that results when freedom is granted rather than impose a mechanical perfection on the universe where no freedom is allowed.

The question really should be: since we live in a hard and often evil world isn’t it better to trust that there is a God and a future of hope?

Then again, maybe Atheists feel that they score higher intellectual points by claiming that the world is evil and pointless. There is an inherent contradiction, though, in imposing metaphysical ideas like “good” and “evil” into an argument while, at the same time, demanding concrete evidence or proof of divine existence. All that, and how do you determine the world even is wrong, with no standard of good to measure it against?