- Feb 5, 2002
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"Rocks are atheist," an atheist claims—but if that's true, then what are we actually saying about atheism?
Some time ago, I saw an atheist list things that exasperate him, one of which is when his fellow atheists say that rocks are atheists. A prominent atheist, exhibiting no sympathy at all, insisted in response that, yes, indeed, “Rocks are atheist.”
Usually, this happens when someone defines atheism as “the lack or absence of belief” in God and then allows the definition to apply to anything that “lacks belief in God”—even if it’s a rock, which lacks the ability to have beliefs. Maybe that’s why this prominent atheist said rocks are atheistrather than atheists in order to distinguish between human beings who lack belief in God and everything else in the world that also happens to “lack a belief in God.”
Now, this might seem nitpicky to you. Who cares if atheists define themselves as people who “lack a belief in God” (or what some critics have termed lack-theism)? But the problem is that when some atheists do this, they think this removes any need to defend their atheism. They might say they don’t need reasons to lack belief in God any more than you or I need reasons to lack belief in Santa Claus or unicorns. If Santa, unicorns, and God can’t be proven, then we are justified in merely having a “lack of belief” in those things.
Continued below.
Do Rocks Believe in God?
Some time ago, I saw an atheist list things that exasperate him, one of which is when his fellow atheists say that rocks are atheists. A prominent atheist, exhibiting no sympathy at all, insisted in response that, yes, indeed, “Rocks are atheist.”
Usually, this happens when someone defines atheism as “the lack or absence of belief” in God and then allows the definition to apply to anything that “lacks belief in God”—even if it’s a rock, which lacks the ability to have beliefs. Maybe that’s why this prominent atheist said rocks are atheistrather than atheists in order to distinguish between human beings who lack belief in God and everything else in the world that also happens to “lack a belief in God.”
Now, this might seem nitpicky to you. Who cares if atheists define themselves as people who “lack a belief in God” (or what some critics have termed lack-theism)? But the problem is that when some atheists do this, they think this removes any need to defend their atheism. They might say they don’t need reasons to lack belief in God any more than you or I need reasons to lack belief in Santa Claus or unicorns. If Santa, unicorns, and God can’t be proven, then we are justified in merely having a “lack of belief” in those things.
Continued below.
Do Rocks Believe in God?
