The Fatal Flaw: Atheism Against Itself

By JErry Garlough

Does it not seem strange that these patrons of truth have no actual base for the truth they espouse? Should not these champions of reason offer some plausible foundation for the rational thought they employ? Who can but doubt these adversaries of God who cannot even account for the moral sense by which they denounce Him? What shall we say of masters of science who would deprive science of the undergirding of truth and reason?

These are not lords of their own domain, as they might suppose. They are squatters on a land belonging to anothermere pretenders, plagiarizers of values not their own. Like the Prodigal Son, they have taken the resources bequeathed by a loving Father and squandered them in futile meanderings.

No one should take these men as seriously as they take themselves. They are not reaching for the far horizon line. Rather they are trapped in their tiny, cramped valley called physicality and have chosen to ignore every other doorway to reality.

They are not men reaching for the stars. They are rather like those who wade through muck and mire, stirring up more as they go.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 13, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449777838

JErry Garlough

Jerry Garloch holds a PhD in apologetics from Newburgh Theological Seminary in Newburgh, Indiana. His main qualification, however, comes not from academic standing but from years of addressing the issues presented herein. He lives with his wife, Pat, in Bellaire, Ohio. They have two children, Lisa and David.

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Copyright © 2012 Jerry Garloch

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-7784-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7785-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7783-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012922672

WestBow Press rev. date: 12/11/2012

Contents

Preface

Part One: Some Preliminaries

Chapter 1. The Horizon Line

Chapter 2. The Central Issue

Chapter 3. The Right Key

Part Two: The Foundation

Chapter 4. The Foundation of Truth

Chapter 5. The Foundation of Reason

Chapter 6. The Foundation of Morality

Chapter 7. The Foundation of Science

Conclusion

Appendix 1 Addressing the New Atheists

Appendix 2 Evil and the Fall of Man

Appendix 3 Theistic Language

Acknowledgments

Endnotes

To Patty, the love of my life,

and to our two adult children, Lisa and David.

And to the glory of Him whose name is Awesome

and whose position is unassailable

Preface

Atheism is its own worst enemy—not theism,

not faith, not religion. More than anything else,

atheism stands against atheism.

The time has come to write. The time has come for me to begin a project in which I find both delight and dread—delight because of the surpassing glory I see and dread because of the mud and muck through which I must now wade. These were the first words written when I began this project, and now that the book is complete, they fall with even greater force. The blasphemy, the sheer horror of great darkness can only be appreciated by those who have beheld the beatific vision. The glory of God over against the ugliness of atheism—a greater contrast can hardly be imagined. There were times when I had to walk away to refresh and renew myself, not because their arguments were unsettling to my faith, but because the thick, damp, sticky darkness was abhorrent to my soul.

The book you hold in your hand is much smaller than its original version. Growing out of my passion for the subject, I had written more than was necessary to make my case. Besides, in the back of my mind I could hear my wife’s voice, echoing, Simplify! Simplify! She is my best and most loved critic, and she is usually right. My secretary also gave constructive criticism in the same direction. But how does one simplify? In this case, it meant scrutinizing each chapter, paragraph, and sentence in an effort to make everything more concise. Believe me, it’s easier to write more than to write less, easier to elaborate than to delete. But hopefully the end result is a book that will be more accessible, and one that will yield results in a wider readership.

Atheism is its own worst enemy—not theism, not faith, not religion. More than anything else, atheism stands against atheism. Atheism defeats itself because of its inherent inconsistency because, if true, it destroys the very foundation upon which it stands. While accusing faith of standing on fables and myths, atheism seeks to erect its pretentious structure upon absolutely nothing. Nor will it be difficult to demonstrate both the emptiness and the profound incongruity of atheism.

To some, the atheist appears an impressive and fearful opponent, his belief system entrenched in scientific theory and in the halls of our great universities. But for my part, I do not see the atheist as a formidable opponent, nor is atheism anything but shallow. There is no great citadel to bring down, no great argument to encounter. To me, atheism looks more like a gigantic bubble resting upon a jelly-like foundation. Truth will easily burst that bubble and melt the foundation.

Please do not mistake the above for presumption on my part. I am fully aware that many in our day have espoused atheism and consider it the worldview of the elite. These individuals consider religion of any type to be the passion of the ignorant. I am only saying that the godless structure called atheism is pretentious to the core and is no match for truth. At the same time, I understand that truth is like a sword to be wielded, and I pray that I may be enabled to wield it effectively. But I am confident of this: The point of that sword will burst the atheistic bubble, and the heat emitted from its blade will destroy its gelatinous foundation.

What normally happens is that those who promote atheism feel free to jump from one religion to another, cherry-picking what suits their purpose. The end result is that while they have critiqued all the major religious expressions, they have not approached anything resembling proof for atheism. I’ll go even further: In all my reading, I have never read anything that even resembles a credible attempt to prove atheism. Their contention seems to be that if they can successfully criticize religion, they will have proven atheism. Hardly! Rather than spending time in a futile attempt to destroy the rock-solid foundation of faith, atheism desperately needs to find a base for its own propaganda.

In what follows, I have provided a philosophical approach, not a religious one. I, of course, have a particular worldview from which my thoughts naturally flow, and I make no apology for writing from a Christian perspective. Having been a minister for over forty years, I think I am fairly well versed in the Bible; even so, I have chosen to use it only sparingly and never to carry my basic contentions. Accordingly, Scripture will be used only in a supportive role to undergird arguments otherwise established on a philosophical base.

Atheists have gotten more vocal and, it seems, more angry of late. This may be because they expected Christians to have folded their tents and vanished from the earth by this time. But we continue on, despite their best (or worst) efforts.

Throughout this book, I will confront some of the more recent and decidedly more radical voices of atheism: Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett. I cannot hesitate to say that some of their more recent books against God have greatly offended me. However, in my judgment, no truly informed Christian will ever be deceived by these authors for two reasons. First, these men know so little about Christianity that one will be hard-pressed to find his position affected by their blasphemies. Second, their arguments, especially against Christianity, are often wide of the mark, not to mention shallow.

Their books¹ have, in my judgment, crossed the line and

should arouse the indignation of every true Christian. For too long, we have watched our culture become increasingly secularized while we have simply tried to live and let live. But these new atheists² have declared war on all religions, especially Christianity, and Christians must hear the clarion call. Whoever can speak must speak, whoever can write must write, and every Christian must do his part to answer this clear summons to duty. We must make these men and others of like spirit rue the day they first lifted their voices or tilted their pens to dishonor our God. We must fight the good fight, not as radical Islamists would fight, but with the persuasive power of truth and love, enabled by the Spirit of God. The time has come for Christians to awaken from their long sleep. They should literally be crawling out of the woodwork to challenge these forces that defame our holy faith.

I, for my part, must acknowledge that I am somewhat humbled by the academic status of my opponents. I cannot pretend to match them in educational standing, especially not in science. I feel somewhat like David taking on Goliath. But to say I am humbled is not to say I am intimidated. After all, this is not about academic standing; it’s about ideas. And I’m not afraid to place my ideas alongside theirs and allow the reader to judge. Nor can the argument be settled on the basis of scientific acumen since, as I shall show, science is not their maidservant.

Admittedly, this is a subject about which I am deeply passionate, but I have tried throughout this book to be kind. In fact, everything I have written I have repeatedly reviewed with the intent of deleting any unkindness or undue anger from my words. I hope I have succeeded. Nevertheless, my efforts to be kind will not keep me from speaking firmly and to the point. To be sure, there are places where I myself have questioned whether my resolve to firmness had not turned to harshness. Perhaps I should have selected kinder, gentler words. But since the words used convey exactly what I meant to say, I have allowed them to stand, thinking that such language would better show our atheist friends just how others regard their blasphemies. If at any time my human passion has tended to trump my Christian charity, please accept my apology.

Interestingly, Richard Dawkins makes a similar commitment to kindness at the very end of his first chapter. He writes:

I am not in favor of offending or hurting anyone just for the sake of it … I shall not go out of my way to offend, but nor shall I don kid gloves to handle religion any more gently than I would handle anything else.3

Then in his very next sentence (as he opens the second chapter), we find these putrid words:

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.⁴

One wonders how such perfect hatred could be registered against a nonexistent being. Such a vehement distaste would seem to argue better for a suppressed faith (cf. Romans 1:18ff.). Aside from showcasing a lot of nasty words, Dawkins has done little more than reveal his ignorance of the subject. Of course with his rigid, anti-God attitude, he apparently needs a lot of nasty words. But with all this, he has not made God go away. And I cannot help wondering what happened to his promise not to deliberately offend or if he can show me "anything else" he has handled so viciously. I have quoted him here at some length only to show the Christian community the kind of people we are dealing with. And, believe me, these are not isolated words lifted from a book otherwise gentle in tone. These words are representative of the entire book and of the other authors I have named.

Christians need to understand that we are in a war. But atheists also need to realize that this is a war they cannot win. Apart from confident arrogance, I intend to show that they have nothing of significance on their side.

One more word from Dawkins, and then I will leave him for a while. I was amused to find this verse on the dedication page of The God Delusion: Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? To which I respond, we do not need to see fairies, just the Gardener! At any rate, with such hostility and short-lived commitment noted for the record, we proceed.

It’s not necessary, of course, to answer every silly argument, thereby elevating it to a point of dignity. It is far wiser to ignore the folly, sometimes even playfully. What is foolish is foolish; what is shallow is shallow; and some things will need to be laughed off rather than taken seriously. This is the character of so many of the particular arguments employed by these men. We choose, therefore, to deal with most of them not specifically but in general. This is not because we find them so difficult. On the contrary, we have our own plan to follow and will not allow them to control our agenda. Accordingly, in the course of following my agenda, I will address some of their arguments, but for the most part, I will assign them to a separate appendix.

To be sure, I am genuinely concerned about people who so passionately champion a false cause and so carelessly challenge an almighty God. I cannot help but be perplexed by those who, in the name of reason, think so unreasonably and under the banner of tolerance write so vehemently. They bring outlandish charges against God and religion while venom literally oozes from their pages. These men are strangers in the dark whom truth could not recognize in the daylight. In a world where most people believe, they are strangers to humanity, walking in a deep darkness further dimmed by their own profound bias. Their vaunted arrogance blocks the way of truth so they are rendered incapable of receiving it. Nor could truth possibly recognize them as anything but mere shadowy pretenders. Thankfully, they have generated more heat than light. But we may dare to hope that it will be enough heat to light a fire under a slumbering church, in which case we will have them to thank for a Christian revival.

Philosophically, as I see it, the first step to be taken is from atheism to theism. After this, one will need to decide which brand of theism best suits our kind of universe. Significantly, one of the leading atheists of the twentieth century has recently taken this first step. Antony Flew, a man recognized in academia as a great philosopher of atheism, has recently declared himself a believer. Yet, as he points out, he has not changed his basic principle of operation. He writes:

When I finally came to recognize the existence of God, it was not a paradigm shift, because my paradigm remains, as Plato in his Republic scripted his Socrates to insist: We must follow the argument wherever it leads.⁵

It’s not surprising that Richard Dawkins tries to belittle Flew as one who is a bit senile, having found God in his old age. But no one who gives his book a fair reading will be able to dismiss Flew so easily. In addition, while not declaring himself a Christian, Flew sees Christianity as the best candidate among those claiming to be revealed religions. In Appendix B, he says:

In point of fact, I think that the Christian religion is the one religion that most clearly deserves to be honored and respected whether or not its claim to be a divine revelation is true … If you’re wanting Omnipotence to set up a religion, this is the one to beat.⁶

Here, if you please, is the pilgrimage of an honest atheist who becomes an honest believer. Having embraced theism, we can only pray that his next step will lead him to Christian theism.

Now, of course, the atheist will be quick to assert that one cannot prove that God exists. While it may