Why Are Atheists So Passionate against God’s Existence?

Question of the week: Why do atheists and skeptics spend so much of their time and energy passionately arguing against the existence of God?

My answer: You raise here an excellent piece of evidence for the existence of the God of the Bible. In 2008 I did a debate¹ at the International Skeptics Society Conference at the California Institute of Technology in front of over 700 atheists. The other five atheist scientists who spoke were passionate and intense about the nonexistence of the God of the Bible. The gods of the other religions were ignored. As I engaged dozens of atheists after the debate, I stated that if they were really convinced the God of the Bible didn’t exist, they would treat him like they do the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. Their passion and intensity, I explained, showed that they really do believe in the God of the Bible but that they do not like him.

Their response was telling: “It’s not that we hate so much the God of the Bible. It’s that we despise his followers.” They all had stories of how they had been wounded by people who called themselves Christians. I replied that it is ironic and irrational that they allow sinful humans to get between them and a morally perfect God. Their second response also was telling, “If Christians understood how much damage they have caused, maybe they would behave differently.”

We Christians do need to behave differently if we want to see more unbelievers receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. We are called to love one another (John 13:35) and to love and bless our enemies (Matthew 5:44).

Endnote

1. We make The Great Debate available in its unabridged, unedited form.