Have you ever been challenged by this statement: “Christians are atheists when it comes to 99.9% of all gods; atheists just add one more to the list”? Sometimes it's stated this way: "Atheists just believe in one less god than Christians do." (See note on grammar below.)
A statement like this carries enough rhetorical dazzle to leave an unsuspecting believer in a quandary about how to respond. It may even cause some doubt and confusion regarding the validity of the Christian faith. The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate that these claims, while being rhetorically clever, are logically flawed and have no meaningful implications for Christianity or the existence of God. They might sound significant, but they have no argumentative power.
The major flaw in this kind of statement is that it denies definitions and confuses categories. By definition, a theist believes God exists. Also by definition, an atheist believes God does not exist. (Many atheists today will argue they lack any belief about God as opposed to not believing God exists; but, that's another topic for a future blog.) To say a Christian is an atheist with respect to anything at all is a contradiction of what it means to be a Christian and what it means to be an atheist. They are two distinct categories fundamentally grounded either in belief or disbelief.
To say a Christian is an atheist regarding all the gods in the world except one doesn't make any sense. It's like saying a married man is a bachelor with respect to all the women in the world except his wife. Or, that an ax murderer is a law-abiding citizen with respect to all the people he hasn't killed.
As Greg Koukl writes in his book Street Smarts:
Being an atheist is not a degreed property, as philosophers would say. You can't be mostly atheist but a little bit theist. You either believe in God or you don't. The switch is on or off.
Another flaw in this type of statement is that it says nothing meaningful about Christianity or the existence of God. For the sake of argument, let's say it's true that a Christian is an atheist who believes in one God. What follows logically from this? Nothing! It's not a logical argument against the existence of God. It's more of a wrong-headed observation or a clever slogan that serves as nothing more than a distraction. It implies nothing about the truth of Christianity. You can't get from "A Christian is an atheist who believes in one God" to "Therefore, God doesn't exist" or "Therefore, Christianity is false."
A faulty assumption that underlies the thinking behind the "one God more (or less)" slogan is that there is no more evidence for the God of the Bible than for any of the ancient mythological gods. Another assumption is that Christians have not given careful thought to what they believe. Many atheists think that Christianity is an exercise in blind faith or wishful thinking in spite of a lack of evidence. Nothing could be further from the truth! There is no evidence for the existence of the ancient mythological gods. That is why neither atheists nor Christians believe in them. But, there is an abundance of evidence for the God Christians believe in and for the truth of Christianity.
It's not difficult to understand how an atheist would view Christianity as just another absurd belief system, because they summarily reject anything involving the supernatural. But Christians base their faith on good reason and evidence that Christianity is true. Ultimately, Christianity stands or falls on the historic event of the resurrection of Christ. There is much historical evidence accepted by virtually all scholars (including critics of Christianity) who have seriously studied the topic. (See previous blogs on evidence for the resurrection here, here here, here, and here).
When you are confronted by objections or challenges to Christianity like the ones discussed above, remember to ask yourself what follows from it. What does it imply that would disprove God's existence or the truth of Christianity? Many times, you will find the answer is,
"Nothing!"
Note: According to Merriam-Webster.com: "Generally, fewer is used when the number of things is counted ("fewer problems") whereas less is used when the number is measured ("less trouble" or "less time"). However, this is not a strict rule and there are accepted instances of less being used with countable amounts such as "250 words or less," "3 items or less," and especially with money ("less than $20") and distance ("less than 3 miles"). I'm considering the use of less as an exception in this case.
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