Evidence of Atheist Delusion?

These Christians think all skeptical arguments are utterly lame, including mine. Who in their right mind would think this? Just once I'd like to hear a devout Christian say something like: "Hey, that's something I haven't thought of before," or, "This is a serious problem for my faith." It's just that these things are almost never said. No, they have the answers. And they laugh at all skeptical arguments, many of which derive from David Hume, who is thought to be the greatest English speaking philosopher who ever lived.

Now it's one thing to disagree with the skeptics. It's another thing entirely to think our arguments have no force at all. The fact that most Christians think they have no force at all simply means these Christians are delusional--John Loftus.

John Loftus of the Debunking Christianity blog has been lamenting the pushback he has been getting from believers who aren’t bowled over by his arguments. Since he is an ex-Christian I’m amazed that he doesn’t grasp the fact that theists and atheists have been locked in a stalemate for hundreds of years. Both sides have intelligent people with decent although imperfect arguments. Both sides seek absolute proof that God exists or doesn’t exist, proof that, at this point, doesn’t exist. I’m amazed that atheists like him can’t see that atheism is the mirror opposite of theism, that atheism is a belief that requires faith.

To a certain extent I agree with John that some atheist arguments like the problem of evil, the Santa Principle; and John’s Outsider Test for Faith do have some force, but I disagree that they prove that God doesn’t exist. The best atheist arguments show that it is possible that God doesn’t exist just like the best theist arguments show that it is probable that God exists. Since both sides are in a stalemate it comes down to whether you believe that God exists or that he doesn’t exist or that we don’t have enough information to know whether He exists.


Since this is the case, most of the negative things that John says about Christians could be applied to atheists. Since atheism can’t be proved, atheists make the “leap of faith” that God doesn’t exist. John said, “Christians are illogical and delusional” since they believe in what is not seen, but I think you can say the same thing about some atheists. In order to get escape the various cosmological arguments for God’s existence atheists will appeal to alternate universes, which aren’t verifiable, or they’ll claim that the universe has always existed even though science says that the universe had an origin 13.7 billion years ago.

As someone who has argued on both sides of the God debates I can understand John’s frustration. We’d all like to have the ultimate argument that finally ended the debate, but that argument just does not exist. If you have two skilled and well informed debaters then the argument will always end in a stalemate. People witnessing these debates must decide which side is probably right because whether you’re a theist or atheist it always comes down to faith.