Are There More Atheists Now?

Are There More Atheists Now?

Pastor Vincent - 19 June 2021

Weekend Devotion: Are There More Atheists Now?

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Just a few days ago, our national papers reported that there is a greater number of people in Singapore not identifying with any religion. In fact, in relation to the last population census conducted, the most recent census showed that people who doesn’t believe in God (i.e. the Atheists) grew from 17% to 20%, so to speak.

 

Now, it is interesting to know that more people are not finding any need for any religion or any involvement with divinity of any sort, as they indicated so. But how should we see this from a biblical point of view? Just as more people are identifying themselves with atheism, but are they really atheists in the absolute sense?

 

<Ro 1:20-21> makes a clear case here:

 

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

 

Now, the Bible make a clear case here, i.e. Man has a sense about God. He knew God, although it is not a complete knowledge of God. But man has a sense that there is something more than the physical realm, because that mechanism was put into him since creation.

 

Unlike all animals, Man clearly has a moral capacity that he knows that he is accountable to. Not only to the law of a country per se but to his conscience. There will be fear in his heart if he goes against his conscience. On the contrary, he will be at peace if he listens to his conscience.

 

But who is the ultimate arbitrator of the things in his conscience?

 

Well, Man is not absolutely sure, but there is some form of accountability he knows he is subjected to. So though fallen, Man has a sense with regards to some form of divinity, though there is a limit to what he knows. So when there are more people who identify themselves with atheism, first, what do we read out of this?

 

Yes, there may be more people who claim to believe in science which offers no evidential proof of God. There may be more people buying into the argument for the case of non-existence of God. There may be more people not inclining themselves to any religion or religious practices, but are they atheists in an absolute sense?

 

The Bible tells us No.

 

In fact, no one is an atheist in an absolute sense. No one can deny the sense of divinity in the human heart. Of all living creatures, only human being visits churches, temples, adopt religious practices like prayers, meditation or seeks supernatural experiences.

 

I was once recommended by someone to visit a person who doesn’t believe in God, and who always claims that people who believe in religions are foolish and senseless. But amazingly, when I visit that person, whose wife was suffering from terminal illness, he accepts my prayers for his wife. He closes his eyes to pray with me. It seems to me that when a person is in desperation, and which in this case where doctors and medical science offers no solutions, he will be willing to try anything, including one that involves divinity.

 

You see, when all else is lost, man will accept anything beyond the physical realm as solution. He may hope for a miracle, or he may hope for a supernatural intervention, performed by something that is beyond human. So in that sense, we know that no one is an absolute atheist.

 

Now, but why is the case for atheism increasing? Why are more people given over to the argument that there are no case for the existence of God?

 

Now, I like to offer 3 simple reasons for that phenomenon.

 

1) Because propagandas tend to win over general sentiments, and very often without having to win an argument intellectually. And people often believe in things merely by sentiments, yet without good reason.

 

In this modern world, there is a whole lot of information, news and voices from everywhere. And usually, the loudest one, the most vocal ones seem to be taken as the general sentiments. Sometimes they may not be the majority, but they are the loudest. It’s just like the LGBTQ movements. They are in fact the minorities, but they are making inroads into every facet of society through propagandas. When big companies pump in money to support those movements, those agendas went viral on the internet. And same for atheism. When loud atheists erroneously link up science and atheism, claiming that “if one is sound and believe in science, he wouldn’t believe in religion”. Well, to me that’s a fallacy, I would say. So we must be discerning, my brethren.

 

2) People believe things out of supportive social settings, not because of intellectual rigour. For instance, even if you are somewhat captivated by the idea of God, but if your friends, if your close colleagues, or even close family members are people who doesn’t have any religion, or who identify themselves as free thinker, you will tend to align yourselves with them. But ask yourselves, have you really been convinced in your heart and mind that there is no God, or is it that you are leaning towards people who are your emotional and psychological support.

 

Now, I came from a non-Christian family, and before I knew the gospel, I always identify myself as a free thinker even though I harbor the thought of the existence of God, and about life after death. But all these senses are being obliterated because of family connections. But am I really a free thinker? Am I someone who doesn’t have any sense of the existence of God? I don’t think so. And thank God, who found me with the message of the gospel, and now, all my siblings and parents were converts. So identifying yourself as a free thinker doesn’t mean you are an atheist.

 

3) And the last reason I would give for the increased number of people identifying themselves as atheists, is that in a busy and information saturated society like ours, people are not given enough time to think independently, especially with regards to the existence of God. When there is busyness and overload of information, we tend to only believe what we see at face value. And that is why so many people in practical society like ours say that they only believe in money. They only believe in what works. Or they only believe in peace and prosperity. I mean yes, peace and prosperity are human needs. No one like wars and conflicts. But does peace and prosperity prove anything about the existence of God? No. It is only a temporal need, but it says nothing about whether God exist or not. And if we let money and practical needs dictate our beliefs about the existence of God, then we are subjecting ourselves to a great lie. Because my friends, if knowing God has to do with your eternity, with your redemption, with your eternal blessings, then you’ll be a fool to let whatever that is temporal and material impede you from knowing Him. And no wonder <Ro 1> says: “their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened”.

 

So I like to conclude by making a critical call to Christians. Let us not be brought over to the lie that there’re more atheists nowadays, but keep on evangelizing, and we will come to see how the Holy Spirit draw people to God in a massive way. 

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Pastor Vincent Choo
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Vincent serves as the President of The Blessed Run Church. He is also the Senior Pastor of The Life Church and Missions (Singapore) and is an ardent missionary to the Chinese World. He currently lives in Singapore with his wife, Qiufen, and has three kids, Mary, David, and Caleb.

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