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A recent atheist commenter wrote:
so i stumbled upon… “No, it’s not impossible to maintain, and I’m of the opinion that no amount of skepticism is enough.”
Absolute skepticism is arrogance, or at least an utter lack of trust in the experiences and knowledge of others.
You hear something from a friend, but you’re skeptical, so you go look it up. You find ten other people that agree with what your friend said, but you’re skeptical of them. Where does it end?
When people say absolute skepticism is impossible to maintain, they’re not lying; it is impossible. Eventually you have to give in to trust.”I recently turned atheist. You are right i didn’t have a good relationship with my father. but arrogantly i think i am an absolute skeptic. It hurts my brain, but i think i’m closer to the truth. I would like to be a theist again, when i was happy. now being a atheist, i am depressed. but none the less, I can’t justify believing in Christianity. I wish i could but i can’t. I see so many errors in it. How do you rationally believe in Christianity, [if even possible]?
I’m responding here, not as a shrink, but as a Christian and fellow human being.
I appreciate your comment very much. I can tell from what you wrote that you are distressed by both your skepticism and your atheism. You want to believe, but you have deep doubts. You see all kinds of “errors” with Christianity.
Believe it or not, I at one time, was in a similar position. You have a lot of questions about Christianity. So did I. And we are not alone. All believers have doubts at times. In fact, I think doubt is a necessary part of faith. It wouldn’t be called faith, if there was no doubt. What I would ask you to do is to sincerely pray to God. Say something like, “God, here is what keeps me from believing in you. I want to believe, but I have trouble believing because… Please lead me to the answers of my questions.” And, start to listen for the answers. Do even more than that. Start to seek out the answers. God will accept you with all of your flaws. He accepts me, and I am as flawed as anybody. Don’t seek the answers to your questions because it will make you happy, because believers may have even more challenges. Seek the truth.
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (1)
You ask the question:
How do you rationally believe in Christianity, [if even possible]?
I answer you unequivocally, Yes. You can rationally believe in Christianity. There have been many atheists who have rationally examined the evidence and came to believe. (2,3,4,5,6) God can help you with your skepticism if you let Him.
(1). John 8:31-32 (NASB)
(2). Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias
(3). The Case for Christ, Lee Strobel
(4). The Case for Faith, Lee Strobel
(5). Who Moved the Stone, Frank Morrison
(6). Testimony of the Evangelists, Simon Greenleaf (Full Text Available Online)
I write on the psychological aspects of atheism, because academic psychology and academic tradition has been biased and focused on the psychological aspects of belief in God. I feel there needs to be a little balance to this issue. Recently, there has been some research that seems a little more even-handed in the study of belief and disbelief. It is a very large and ongoing study.
I have noted before, the association between a poor relationship with one’s father and atheism. Paul Vitz noted this association for the most extreme atheists. The recent study presents some data on the issue in terms of what atheists and believers say about their relationship with their fathers.
There certainly is a correlation here. It looks as if approximately 56% of atheists believe that they had a good relationship with their father, whereas, 62% of believers believed they had a good relationship with their fathers. Granted, that’s only about a 6% difference. So, while the association I’ve noted between relationship problems with the father and atheism exists. It does not appear to be the whole story. I would also point out, that in treatment, that beliefs about one’s relationships with one’s parents often changes during the course of treatment. Patients often come to see their relationship with their parents in a new light–the light of today’s understanding. So, I will admit that the relationship may be less strong than what I have presented before, but certainly does exist. This factor with the mother, is not associated. The study also did not examine the strength of belief and association with the relationship with one’s parents (which is the notion of Paul Vitz).
I’ve also asserted the following before:
4). They portray themselves as enlightened, intelligent, tolerant, moral, caring, accepting, loving, peaceable, and kind. And sometimes, they really and truly are. I’ve known them and met them. However, they are not tolerant, in general, of the beliefs of “believers.” They can tolerate anything but that.
I think the data broadly supports this assertion. You can see more graphs here.
The data does seem to show that atheists (on average), view themselves as more intelligent than the rest of the population.
So, as you can see, 68% of atheists believe they are more intelligent than the average person, whereas, 52% of Christians believe they are more intelligent than the average person. This is a stronger association than the assocation between the relationship with the father and atheism. So, this confirms what I’ve stated with respect to intellectual elitism and atheism. However, I would also state that I have never seen a study of IQ scores of believers vs. atheists. So it is at least possible that their beliefs about their intelligence are accurate. But on average, in my opinion, this intellectual elitism does exist.
I will continue to examine these issues in Part VI.
I have continued my psychological study of atheism, and have more to add on the subject (see Part I and Part II). Severe loss during childhood or adolescence and childhood unhappiness also appears to be a factor in the making of an atheist. However, this research was published in 1932, and to my knowledge has not been replicated or studied further. While the research is somewhat scant, there have been some studies that have revealed interestingly demographic and experiential associations with atheism. One study found that half of younger atheists had lost one or both parents in childhood and had an unhappy childhood and adolescence. (1) I would speculate that the rising divorce rate is a factor in current development of atheism, because on average this would result in a greater degree of absence of the father.
While the study cited above is interesting, this study is from 1932, and has not been repeated recently to my knowledge. There have been many cultural and sociological changes since that time. That said, there is some evidence to support part of the assertion of unhappiness.
“In representative surveys of the U.S. population in the 1970s and 1980s, the unaffiliated were found to be younger, mostly male, with higher levels of education and income, more liberal, but also more unhappy and more alienated in terms of the larger society.” (2)
In the US, more men than women are atheists 7% (men) versus 1.3% (women). (2)
So the factors most associated with becoming an atheist are (not ranked in order of significance):
1). loss of a parent in childhood
2). unhappy childhood/adolescent period
3). younger age
4). male (almost 7 times more likely)
5). have an avoidant attachment style
6). had relationship problems with their father (see Some Psychological Aspects of Atheism).
7). some women have had traumatic experiences with clergy (Probably for men to, but this hasn’t been studied.)
8). higher education and income
9). more liberal in political beliefs
10). more likely to self-identify as an intellectual elite and place a high value on intellectual achievement
So, it’s important to keep in mind when speaking with an atheist that they may be quiet familiar with pain and suffering personally. In my experience, they may be unlikely to reveal this and point to purely ‘intellectual’ reasons for their atheism. I’m not saying that they don’t have some intellectual reasons, but I am asserting a strong psychological component to becoming an atheist. Often, there appears to be a strong component of anger fueling their beliefs, of which they may have little awareness. It’s interesting to me, the split between men and women in atheistic beliefs, and I’m not sure of the explanation for that difference.
As an update to Part II, take a look at Paul Zachary Meyrs website (Note he eschews his Christian name for “PZ”). In particular, take a look at the comments to see if you can see the elements outlined in Part II of this series.
(1) Vetter GB, Green M: Personality and group factors in the making of atheists. J Abnorm Soc Psychology 1932–1933; 27:179–194
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