David Malllinak is the pastor of Berean Baptist Church — an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation in Ogden, Utah. Several years ago, Mallinak wrote a post titled Why It Stinks to be An Atheist. As is common in such articles written by Evangelical preachers, Mallinak writes about an atheism that does not exist. He claims to have heard all the atheist arguments, yet he dismisses them out of hand.
Mallinak begins by saying:
If, as the atheist claims, all the world is a product of impersonal forces – the collision of matter and energy – or perhaps, lightning striking mud, then what we really have going on is this gigantic chemical reaction which members of the press somberly describe as “breaking news.” Sometimes the chemicals fizz; sometimes they pop; sometimes they experience diaphragm spasms; sometimes they debate. But the chemical activity from one beaker to the next really doesn’t matter because it isn’t really anything anyway. Some brains spark rationally, and some quite irrationally, and that is what chemicals do given certain temperatures and atmospheric pressures.
Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of gods. That’s it. Any other belief added to this statement is beyond the scope of atheism proper. While most atheists accept evolution as the best explanation for our biological world and accept scientific consensus for the age of the earth and the universe, not all atheists do. Many atheists are indifferent about matters of science. I, for one, have little interest in discussions about the beginning of the universe. I am far more concerned about the here and now than what took place billions of years ago,
Mallinak would have us believe, based on his ignorant understanding of human minds, that atheists believe rationality and irrationality are based solely on chemical processes. While the brain sending and receiving chemical/electrical signals throughout our bodies controls all sorts of physical processes, including thinking, we must not ignore how external influences, education, experiences, and traumas affect our thinking too. Rationality and irrationality are affected by both nature and nurture.
Mallinak goes on to say that because atheists believe in a world of impersonal causes our lives lack wit, will, wisdom, personality, design, intention, or purpose:
Ideas have consequences. The atheist imagines a world without God – a world of impersonal causes. In the ultimate order of things, there can be no wit, no will, no wisdom, no personality, no design, no intention, no purpose. Thus, Christian apologists have pointed out that nihilism is the only consistent atheism.
While this may be true on a cosmic level, it is certainly not true as we live our day-to-day lives as godless heathens. Sure, some atheists are nihilists, but most are not. The reason for this, of course, is that most atheists are humanists. It is secular humanism that provides many atheists with an ethical and moral foundation by which to live their lives. (Mallinak writes as if he’s never heard of secular humanism.) Humanism gives them meaning, purpose, and direction. Want to call humanism a religion? Fine, I don’t care. To suggest that atheists don’t have wit, will, wisdom, personality, design, intention, or purpose is absurd, nothing more than an attempt to paint atheists in a bad light. Humanism provides a comprehensive challenge to Mallinek’s Fundamentalist worldview. And the good news for humanists is that we are free to draw from all sorts of worldviews as we build a moral and ethical framework for our lives, including Christianity. I have no problem admitting that my worldview is deeply affected by the fifty years I spent in Christianity — for good or ill. I embrace the good things I learned from Christianity while rejecting those beliefs and teachings that cause harm. I view the Bible as a book of wisdom and spiritual teachings, just as I do other religious texts.
Mallinak believes that atheists live in denial of the logical conclusions of their beliefs; those beliefs, of course, as defined by a right-wing preacher:
If we could get our atheist friends to be honest with their own worldview and to follow their premises to their logical conclusions, this is what we would get. And that’s why it stinks to be an atheist. Because once in a while, as someone else has pointed out, the atheist looks around him at all the beauty and all the splendor and all the delights of this world, and feels a strange and alien sensation creep into his heart that for a moment makes him want to contradict his own premises and feel what the Christians describe as “gratitude.” But in that moment of insanity, he stumbles over two roadblocks. First, his atheism leaves him with no way of accounting for the sensation of gratitude, aside from an exalted notion that his feelings are actually things and that they mean something. How irrational in a world of impersonal cause! And then, if those irrational sensations persist, he looks around for someone to thank and finds nobody.
Mallinak lives in a religious bubble that requires a God for goodness to exist; for beauty to exist; and for gratitude to exist. Lacking imagination, Mallinak cannot fathom a world without his peculiar version of God, one shaped by his idiosyncratic interpretations of the sixty-six books of the King James Bible. Mallinak alleges that he has talked to atheists; that he has atheist friends. I question how many intimate atheist friends he might have. IFB preachers have little room in their lives for people who disagree with them; especially people who consider their beliefs and practices harmful, both psychologically and physically.
I have been an outspoken atheist for almost seventeen years. I have answered allegations such as Mallinak’s many times. On the About page for this site you will find the following advice I give to readers:
You have one life. There is no heaven or hell. There is no afterlife. You have one life, it’s yours, and what you do with it is what matters most. Love and forgive those who matter to you and ignore those who add nothing to your life. Life is too short to spend time trying to make nice with those who will never make nice with you. Determine who are the people in your life that matter and give your time and devotion to them. Live each and every day to its fullest. You never know when death might come calling. Don’t waste time trying to be a jack of all trades, master of none. Find one or two things you like to do and do them well. Too many people spend way too much time doing things they will never be good at.
Here’s the conclusion of the matter. It’s your life and you best get to living it. Someday, sooner than you think, it will be over. Don’t let your dying days be ones of regret over what might have been.
I try to live by these principles every day. As far as gratitude is concerned, I give thanks/praise/credit to those to whom it is due. When my partner of forty-six years cooks an awesome meal, I don’t praise a dead Jew who lies buried somewhere outside of Jerusalem. I praise the person who prepared, cooked, and served the meal. When someone does something for me, I thank them. I focus my gratitude on those who matter, and not a deity who is nowhere to be found. And wonder? I am filled with wonder everytime I see my six children and their partners, and my sixteen grandchildren. What a blessing to have a wonderful family. I have a sense of wonder when I watch our four cats run and play with nary a thought of what is happening outside. We are blessed to have lots of wildlife frequent our yard; birds, squirrels, possums, raccoons, skunks, and deer. We also have numerous feral/stray cats that come to our home for food, water, and housing. I marvel at their abilities to survive both the cruelty of their former owners, but also nature itself. Finally, when I look at the night sky I am filled with wonder, grateful that I have been given this moment in time by my ancestors to experience life to its fullest. Yes, I live with a plethora of health problems and battle unrelenting, pervasive pain every waking moment of my life, but on balance, I am grateful to be alive.
Mallinak will reject the locus of my gratitude, but that’s his problem, not mine. He needs a God, a church, and a Bible for his life to have meaning. Having been indoctrinated and conditioned to have a Christ/God-centric life, he likely cannot fathom how an atheist can have a happy, satisfying life.
Mallinak writes:
I would rather worship the Triune God in all His glory and majesty and infinite, loving power and goodness, even if He was make-believe. Yes, I prefer an imaginary God to “the unyielding despair” required by the premises of atheism.
…
But of course, the Triune God is no more make-believe than the sun in the sky. Man could not invent such a God any more than a man could invent himself. If the Triune God Who has revealed Himself in Scripture doesn’t exist, then we cannot explain the world we live in. Morality goes away. Beauty is meaningless. Reason dies. All is meaningless, purposeless. It stinks to be an atheist.
Mallinak would rather believe in a mythical God than accept the world as it is. His ignorant view of atheism has allowed him to construct an atheist straw man, one which he burns to the ground, all the while surrounded by atheists who wonder what the crazy preacher is burning. Much like the deity he worships, Mallinak is torching a myth, Instead of allowing atheists to define themselves, Mallinak insists that he knows non-believers better than they know themselves. How could it be otherwise? He believes God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, lives inside of him, teaching and guiding him through life. He believes this same Spirit talks to him, both personally and through the pages of the Bible. He is certain that his interpretations of the Bible are right, and that his understanding of the Scriptures perfectly aligns with the mind of God. This kind of thinking breeds certainty and arrogance, so it is not surprising that Mallinak thinks he knows how atheists think and what they believe. (Yet, I suspect it upsets him when atheists ignorantly pontificate on what Christians believe without knowildedge and understanding of the religions and its teachings>)
Mallinak concludes his screed with his version of Pascal’s Wager:
Let me invite you to a thought experiment for a moment. Think of this as a spin on Paschal’s wager. If atheism is right, it doesn’t matter whether I believe in God or not. We all die like dogs, and then the skin worms get down to business. But if Christianity is right, we can make sense of the world. If God created the world, then that explains everything – reason, morality, goodness, truth, ice cream flavors, heat and cold, dreams and ideals and disappointments and satisfaction – it all makes sense. If God made the world, then we can justify our innate desires for the good of humanity.
Sigh, right? (Please see Why I Use the Word “Sigh.”) Mallinak’s wager is built upon the foundation of a false definition of atheism and a lack of understanding the humanistic principles by which most atheists live their lives. No matter how much Mallinak protests, atheists and humanists can explain “reason, morality, goodness, truth, ice cream flavors, heat and cold, dreams and ideals and disappointments and satisfaction.” It all makes sense to atheists, without deities and religion getting in the way.
Life is good. May Loki be praised! 🙂
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.
