Quite a few believers think it important to prove that atheism is illogical. I'm not sure why this is so -- after all, if they were consistent in their beliefs it wouldn't matter because their religion is centered on "faith," not logic. Strictly speaking they shouldn't need atheism to be illogical and, if it is, that shouldn't matter. Perhaps that's why they do such a poor job.
Hank Hanegraaff, a popular Christian apologist argues:
Atheism is the world view that denies the existence of God.
It's interesting that Hanegraaff would pretend to critique atheism while defining atheism so poorly. He has to know that most atheists and most comprehensive reference works don't describe atheism as a "world view" and most don't describe it as simply the denial of the existence of Christians' god. Atheism, if one looks carefully, is defined broadly as the absence of belief in gods -- that's what should be expected, if theism is simply the presence of a belief in some sort of god.
It is implausible that Hanegraaff doesn't know this. He might not agree with it, which wouldn't be a surprise, but why then wouldn't he try to make an argument for his position?
You see, to know that a transcendent God does not exist would require a perfect knowledge of all things (omniscience). To attain this knowledge you would have to have simultaneous access to all parts of the universe (omnipresence). Therefore, as an atheist, to be certain of this claim you would have to possess Godlike characteristics. ... The atheist is attempting to prove a universal negative. In terms of logic this is called a logical fallacy.
I've dealt with just this sort of claim before and Hanegraaff is absolutely wrong that it isn't possible to "know" that something doesn't exist. Depending upon the circumstances and how the "thing" is defined, knowing that it doesn't exist is indeed possible.
Thus, even if atheism is defined as the denial of the Christian God and even if atheists are all certain that this god doesn't exist, this isn't an inherently impossible position. If this "god" is defined with qualities that contradict each other, then we can say for certain that it doesn't exist.
First, atheism cannot adequately explain the existence of the world. ... Second, the atheistic world view is unable to provide the necessary preconditions to account for the laws of science, the universal laws of logic -- and, of course, absolute moral standards.
I'm always amused when I see such "arguments" used as a basis for insisting that there is something wrong with atheism. Even if we agree that atheism is a world view that denies the existence of the Christian God, so what if it can't adequately explain the existence of the world or natural laws?
Atheism also can't explain the reason there's always one sock missing in the laundry nor can it explain the in-field fly rule in baseball. So what? There are lots of world views that can't explain any of these things, either. The mere fact that something is a world view doesn't obligate it to explain things like the existence of the universe.
If individual atheists are serious about truth when it comes to God, let them consider the claims of Jesus Christ.
There are so many Christians out there who seem to assume that the only reason why someone would be an atheist rather than a Christian is that they simply haven't been exposed (properly, of course) to the message of Christianity. Hanegraaff appears to be just such a Christian, acting as though the atheists he is talking about haven't already considered "the claims of Jesus Christ."
The truth is that many atheists (and most that I have ever met) have done exactly that. Indeed, that's what made them decide to reject Christianity, even if they were Christians at one point themselves. When atheists are approached with these levels of arrogance and ignorance, it's almost guaranteed to cause them to dismiss anything that the apologist is trying to say.
As a result, any Christian who is unfortunate enough to imagine that Hanegraaff's ideas are sound will ultimately do far more damage to Christian apologetics and the image of Christians than anything any atheist could dream up. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but it does get tiresome to keep seeing nonsense like the above over and over.
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