Is the existence of God tenable? Do
the so-called arguments for the existence of God have any truth-value? Can an
atheist live a more fulfilled and ultimately more comfortable life? H.J.
McCloskey attempts to answer these questions and more in his treatise On Being an Atheist. McCloskey claims
that atheism, not theism is a better explanation for the world we observe. In
this paper I shall tackle some objections McCloskey makes about the “proofs” of
God, namely the Cosmological and Teleological Arguments. I will then focus on
answering his objections to a morally perfect God who would allow evil to exist
in a world he created. Lastly I will look at McCloskey’s claim that life, as an
atheist, is more comfortable than a life based on the belief in a supreme
being.
Within
the first few paragraphs of his paper McCloskey consistently refers to the
arguments for God’s existence as proofs. What does he mean by proofs? Is he
placing an all to heavy burden on these arguments, burdens that need not be
applied? McCloskey goes too far in suggesting that we need to prove the
existence of God conclusively. What things are known with absolute certainty
outside of particular branches of mathematics like geometry? What should be
said rather is that upon examining and evaluating the arguments for God one
could draw the conclusion from the premises in these arguments that they represent
the most probable answer to the questions raised about design in the universe,
the cause of the universe and the existence of moral values and duties. As
theists, we are not trying to present any one argument as the sole case for
God, rather we are attempting to build a coat of chain mail in which each link
adds to the overall strength of the armor, or in this case sum total for the
validity of belief in God. This is a cumulative approach to reasoning the
existence of a necessary, all-powerful, immutable, immaterial, incorporeal
being, and we call this being God. We need not prove God exists we merely need
to give evidence that he is the best explanation for the universe and life we
observe.
