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The Irrationality of AtheismPosted: November 13, 2007

By Tom Flannery

When Christopher it!hens and "inesh "#$o%&a, t'o best(sellin) a%thors andintelle!t%al heavy'ei)hts, s*%ared o++ a)ainst ea!h other in a spirited debate at The

in)#s Colle)e last month, many o+ those in attendan!e 'ere probably e-pe!tin)somethin) *%ite di++erent than 'hat a!t%ally transpired.

it!hens, a+ter all, is the a%thor o+ the atheist mani+esto /od s Not reat,/ 'hile"#$o%&a has ans'ered 'ith a de+ense o+ the +aith entitled /What#s $o reat bo%tChristianity./ $o it seemed lie the per+e!t opport%nity +or a re(ena!tin) o+ the a)e(old ar)%ment bet'een reli)ion on the one hand and s!ien!e and reason on theother.

B%t that#s not ho' it t%rned o%t at all.

nstead, it 'as "#$o%&a, the Christian, 'ho appealed to s!ien!e and reason in hisallotted time. it!hens presented a !ase +or anti(theism 4a more militant and hostilebrand o+ atheism5, 'hi!h t%rned o%t to be predi!ated lar)ely %pon sheer emotion 6namely, a vis!eral hatred o+ all thin)s reli)io%s.

"#$o%&a !ited modern s!ienti+i! dis!overies that sho' 'e are livin) in a %niversetailor(made +or man, a %niverse so +ine(t%ned that i+ any one o+ do&ens o+ la's)overnin) the %niverse 'ere altered by the sli)htest o+ mar)ins it 'o%ld beimpossible +or li+e to e-ist on arth 4the only planet 'e no' o+ 'here anythin)even remotely resemblin) li+e can e-ist5. 8%st ho' +ine(t%ned is it9 Well, o-y)en!omprises 21 per!ent o+ o%r atmosphere i+ it 'ere 2; per!ent, spontaneo%s +ires'o%ld be breain) o%t, 1; per!ent and 'e#d all s%++o!ate to death. nd that#s onlyone o+ many s%!h e-amples.

 re they all <%st !osmi! !oin!iden!es9 =r, as "#$o%&a p%t the *%estion, 'hy sho%lda %niverse made %p o+ matter obey la's9 We !an all %nderstand ho' a man or'oman or even a !hild !an thin and a!t in a rational manner 6 b%t ho' do 'ee-plain a rational %niverse9

>ore to the point, ho' do atheists e-plain a rational %niverse9 Christians loo at arational %niverse operatin) in an orderly manner a!!ordin) to +i-ed la's and seethe )lorio%s handi'or o+ a rational Creator 'ho 'ors in an orderly manner and isby nat%re a ?a')iver. theists loo and see an a!!ident, b%t one 'here a mind(bo))lin) amo%nt o+ in+ormation based %pon a readable lan)%a)e 4"N5 and +ine(t%ned a!!ordin) to observable la's is 'ritten into nat%re itsel+. o' do theyre!on!ile these seemin)ly !ontradi!tory +a!ts9

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n his debate 'ith "#$o%&a, it!hens !ertainly !o%ldn#t. e didn#t even try. eno's very 'ell that s!ientists have spent h%ndreds o+ years sear!hin) o%t,dis!overin) and do!%mentin) the intri!ate, e-traordinary la's )overnin) o%r%niverse, and as "#$o%&a !hallen)ed d%rin) an e-!han)e on /annity andColmes/: /+ s!ientists have spent !ent%ries de!odin) the %niverse, 'ho encoded  it9/

B%t "#$o%&a didn#t stop there in his debate 'ith it!hens. e noted that the vastma<ority o+ s!ientists over the past +e' h%ndred years 6 Ne'ton, alileo, eplerand so many others 6 'ere not only reli)io%s, b%t 'ere pro+essin) Christians. epointed o%t that h%man !ons!io%sness and !ons!ien!e !annot be e-plained byrandom m%tations or the !han!e rea!tion o+ !ollidin) mole!%les. e sho'ed ho'reli)ion in )eneral 4and Christianity in parti!%lar5 has )otten a bad rap as thep%rported inspiration o+ history#s )reatest m%rderers and so%r!e o+ its )reatestmassa!res, 'hen the tr%th is that a hand+%l o+ )odless anti(theisti! monsters in the

20th !ent%ry 4$talin, itler, >ao, et!.5 sla%)htered +ar more many millions than 'ereilled by the reli)io%sly motivated thro%)ho%t all the !ent%ries o+ h%man historycombined . nd he re!o%nted <%st some o+ the 'ays Christianity has improved li+eand livin) !onditions +or %ntold millions o+ people the 'orld over, 'ith the help o+ ana%dien!e member 'ho related ho' the people o+ his home island %sed to eat ea!hother be+ore the Christians arrived 'ith the ospel and !annibalism *%i!lydisappeared.

n the +a!e o+ all this eviden!e, it!hens did little more than rail a)ainst od.it!hens, yo% see, !onsiders od a /!elestial di!tator./ e believes that livin) in

heaven 'o%ld be ain to bein) !onsi)ned to a !on!entration !amp. e has saidthat even i+ the od o+ the Bible does e-ist, he 'o%ld still neither love nor serveim.

Not that there#s anythin) ne' there. e is merely +ollo'in) in the +ootsteps o+ a lon)line o+ anti(theists thro%)ho%t h%man history 'ho e!ho the sentiments o+ the od(hatin) philosopher mman%el ant 'hen he admitted: /+ yo% !o%ld prove thee-isten!e o+ the Christian od to %s, 'e 'o%ld believe im all the less./ @o% see,the problem that the atheists 4and anti(theists5 have is not an intelle!t%al one b%trather a moral one. t#s not a matter o+ the head b%t one o+ the heart they don#t

believe in od be!a%se they don#t want  to believe in im.

ndeed, the eviden!e +or od is so over'helmin) that it taes +ar more +aith to bean atheist than it does to be a Christian. That +a!t 'as demonstrated yet a)ain inthe debate bet'een "#$o%&a and it!hens, as anyone 'ho 'at!hed it ob<e!tively'o%ld have to !on!l%de.