GOD AND THE GOOD-TOOTH-FAIRY

In a debate with Christian apologist William Lane Craig, the late atheist, Christopher Hitchens, admitted that atheism has no evidence against the existence of God. However, for Hitchens, this is not a problem. Why not? There is no evidence against the existence of the existence of the Good-tooth-fairy, and yet Hitchens could confidently and understandably dismiss its existence. Why then not also God?

In a number of ways, the Good-tooth-fairy (GTF) is not comparable to the Biblical concept of God. For one thing, unless we want to believe that the universe sprang into existence uncaused and out of nothing, we have to acknowledge that something or Someone had to be eternal and uncaused to explain the existence of everything else. However, the GTF is not a good candidate, unless we invest her with god-like qualities, making her identical to God.

In contrast, the God Hitchens wished to deny is a more-than-viable candidate to answer the questions of the origins of consciousness, freewill, objective moral law, the fine-tuning of the universe, DNA, laws of science, the cell, and even life.

In fact, it would seem like God is a more viable candidate to explain a vast number of phenomena than is Hitchens’ creator god – naturalism.

Responsible thinking requires us to choose between one God or another – naturalism or supernaturalism. However, naturalism remains an unproven god. There is not one shred of evidence that anything has ever happened naturally without intelligent (purpose or design). However, naturalism remains the god-of-choice within the halls of science.