Atheism Is Not Logical

When anyone is asked whether they believe in God they will frequently respond by asking the inquirer for the definition of God. That definition usually will have a great effect on the answer, even if the answer is Yes. But when someone claims to be an atheist, there is no similar question. My response to someone claiming to be an atheist is to ask what God they do not believe in.

Here is an example of what I mean: I had the chance many years ago to attend a lecture by Carl Sagan at the University of Arizona. He was noted for his agnostic or atheist views and he got the question from the audience of whether he believed in God. He said that depends on your definition of God. If you understand God to be a nice avuncular man who sits in the sky and counts all the sparrows that die, the answer is No. But, if you understand God as the sum of all the laws of the universe, then the answer is Yes.

So, how can someone claim to be an atheist without knowing the definition of the inquirer’s concept of God? Or, to turn it around, ask the person claiming to be an atheist what God is it that they don’t believe in? To make a blanket statement that one is an atheist without the above clarification seems to me devoid of logic.