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Criticism of atheism is criticism of the concepts, validity, or impact of atheism, including associated political and social implications. Criticisms include positions based on the history of science, findings in the natural sciences, theistic apologetic arguments, arguments pertaining to ethics and morality, the effects of atheism or the assumptions that underpin atheism on the individual.


Science[edit]

Some criticisms of atheism focus on the scientific foundation for atheist assumptions, assertions, and positions concerning science and evidence. Examples include contemporary scientists, such Physicist Steven Barr[1] , and Cosmologist Carl Sagan[1] deists philosophers such as Voltaire and Antony Flew , and theists Citing finding in physics, such as physical constants, and big-bang cosmology showing the universe is fine-tuned to life-permitting values,[2][3][4][5] Alvin Plantinga, University of Notre Dame Professor of Philosophy Emeritus wrote "It’s much more likely that the universe would be life-friendly given a creator than given just chance or naturalism.” In response to atheist arguments asserting that that evolutionary biology provides a complete accounting for life,[6][7] atheist philosopher Thomas Nagel pointed out that the position "is an assumption of the scientific project rather than a well-confirmed scientific hypothesis".[8] In 2004 analytic, evidentialist philosopher Anthony Flew, after a career developing arguments for atheism, renounced atheism in 2004. In 2008, Flew co-authored the book There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind , in which he detailed the evidence that led him to embrace theism.


History of Science[edit]

Key figures in the scientific revolution, such as Sir Isaac Newton,[9]. described the role of atheism as minimal during the early 18th century, writing that that atheism "never had many professors[9]. Sociologist Steve Fuller, University of Warwick Chair in Social Epistemology makes a similar observation, writing "atheism as a positive doctrine has done precious little for science." He notes, "More generally, atheism has not figured as a force in the history of science, not because it has been suppressed, but because whenever it has been expressed it has not specifically encouraged the pursuit of science."[10] University of Oxford Professor of Mathematics John Lennox holds that atheism is an inferior world view to that of theism, and attributes to C.S. Lewis the best formulation of Merton's Thesis. Merton's Thesis asserts that science sits more comfortably with theism, on the basis that Men became scientific in Western Europe in the 16th and 17th century because "they expected law in nature because they believed in a lawgiver.", the conclusion that belief in God was the motor that drove modern science. The leading American geneticist Francis Collins also cites Lewis as persuasive in convincing him that theism is a more rational world view than atheism.


Morality[edit]

Other criticisms of atheism focus on effects on morality and social cohesion. The Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire, a deist, queried the implications of godlessness in a disorderly world stating "If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him".


Social Cohesion[edit]

The father of Classical Liberalism, John Locke, believed that the denial of God's existence would undermine the social order and lead to chaos. Edmund Burke, a 19th century Irish philosopher and statesman praised by both his conservative and liberal peers for his "comprehensive intellect", saw religion as the basis of civil society. Burk (deleted "and", new sentence) wrote that "man is by his constitution a religious animal; that atheism is against, not only our reason, but our instincts; and that it cannot prevail long". In his Reflections on the Revolution in France, Burke railed against "atheistical fanaticism". Pope Pius XI wrote that Communist atheism was aimed at "upsetting the social order and at undermining the very foundations of Christian civilization". In the 1990s, Pope John Paul II criticised a spreading "practical atheism" as clouding the "religious and moral sense of the human heart" and leading to societies which struggle to maintain harmony.[11]


Atheists in History[edit]

The advocacy of atheism by some of the more violent exponents of the French Revolution, the subsequent militancy of Marxist-Leninist atheism, and prominence of atheism in totalitarian states formed in the 20th century is often cited in critical assessments of the implications of atheism.The 1937 papal encyclical Divini Redemptoris denounced the atheism of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, which was later influential in the establishment of state atheism across Eastern Europe and elsewhere, including Mao Zedong's China, Communist North Korea and Pol Pot's Cambodia. Critics of atheism often associate the actions of 20th-century state atheism with broader atheism in their critiques.


Various poets, novelists and lay theologians, among them G. K. Chesterton and C.S. Lewis, have also criticized atheism. For example, Chesterton holds that "He who does not believe in God will believe in anything."[12]

KSci (talk) 03:09, 17 October 2016 (UTC) KSci (talk) 03:35, 17 October 2016 (UTC)

  1. ^ a b Barr, Steven (26 September 2006). "The Mythological Conflict Between Christianity and Science | An interview with physicist Dr. Stephen Barr". Dr. Barr: Many atheists believe that all religion is at bottom either a pre-scientific attempt to understand natural phenomena through myth or an attempt to obtain worldly benefits through magic. And since they see science as the antithesis of myth and magic they cannot help but see all religion as antiscientific. Of course, such people haven't a clue what true religion is all about.
  2. ^ Rees, Martin (May 3, 2001). Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces That Shape The Universe. New York, NY: Basic Books; First American Edition edition. p. 4.
  3. ^ Gribbin. J and Rees. M, Cosmic Coincidences: Dark Matter, Mankind, and Anthropic Cosmology p. 7, 269, 1989, ISBN 0-553-34740-3
  4. ^ Davis, Paul (2007). Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right for Life. New York, NY: Orion Publications. p. 2. ISBN 0618592261.
  5. ^ Stephen Hawking, 1988. A Brief History of Time, Bantam Books, ISBN 0-553-05340-X, p. 7, 125.
  6. ^ Dawkins, Richard (1996). The blind watchmaker : why the evidence of evolution reveals a universe without design (New ed. with a new introduction. ed.). New York: Norton. ISBN 0-393-31570-3.
  7. ^ Dawkins, Richard (2006-09-18). The God Delusion. Houghton Mifflin. p. 142. ISBN 978-0-547-34866-7 – via Kindle Edition V4.0216.
  8. ^ Nagel, Thomas (2012). Mind and Cosmos Why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. Title, 8, 11. ISBN 978-0-19-991975-8.
  9. ^ a b Newton, Isaac. "A short Schem of the true Religion". The Newton Project. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  10. ^ Fuller, Steve (2010). "What Has Atheism Ever Done For Science?". In Amarnath Amarasingam (ed.). Religion and the New Atheism A Critical Appraisal. Haymarket Books. pp. 75–76. ISBN 9781608462032.
  11. ^ Address by Pope John Paul II to the Bishops of USA on their Ad Limina Visit, 28 May 1993
  12. ^ http://www.chesterton.org/discover-chesterton/frequently-asked-questions/cease-to-worship/
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