Notice something interesting about the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings? Atheists are nowhere to be found. Every time there is a public gathering there is talk of God and divine mercy and spiritual healing. Even secular people like the poet Nikki Giovanni use language that is heavily drenched with religious symbolism and meaning.
The atheist writer Richard Dawkins has observed that according to the findings of modern science, the universe has all the properties of a system that is utterly devoid of meaning. The main characteristic of the universe is pitiless indifference. Dawkins further argues that we human beings are simply agglomerations of molecules, assembled into functional units over millennia of natural selection, and as for the soul--well, that's an illusion!
To no one's surprise, Dawkins has not been invited to speak to the grieving Virginia Tech community. What this tells me is that if it's difficult to know where God is when bad things happen, it is even more difficult for atheism to deal with the problem of evil. The reason is that in a purely materialist universe, immaterial things like good and evil and souls simply do not exist. For scientific atheists like Dawkins, Cho's shooting of all those people can be understood in this way--molecules acting upon molecules.
If this is the best that modern science has to offer us, I think we need something more than modern science.
Reader Comments ( Page 4 of 27)
46. Deborah,
I'm a Christian and this is why I believe that my "..loving, powerful God allow this?" evil in the world.
"If God exists, why is there evil in the world? You know, this is a difficult stumbling block and question for many people. The simplest way to look at this question is to examine God's nature and his desire for mankind. Look at the logic. God loves us and wants us to love him back. And how could we love him back unless we have the freedom to not love?
God could have made us like robots who do nothing more than say, "I love you. I love you. I love you." But we'd be forced to do that and that wouldn't be real love. Love is a choice. And if you have a choice you have to be able to choose not to love and that in itself is the nature of evil. Evil is choosing not to love. So when God gave us the freedom to choose, he gave us not only our greatest blessing, but he also gave us our greatest curse because we can choose to do right or choose to do wrong.
The reason there's evil in the world is not because of God, but because God gave us the freedom to choose. Now the potential for love outweighs the existence of evil, because you see, evil is only going to exist for a short time, but love is going to go on forever. And all of the suffering and all of the death that we see in the world today are the result because man has chosen to make wrong choices."
Jacob at 2:12PM on Apr 18th 2007
47. Hope that helps you know from a believer's point of view! But about this article, I don't agree with the writer. I'm a Christian but I don't see the point in using a time like this to attack atheism - Christians shouldn't be "attacking" anyone in the first place. What we should be doing is praying for the victims and their families and keeping them in our thoughts.
Jacob at 2:15PM on Apr 18th 2007
48. Unlike SOME people I could mention, atheists do not feel any need to twist a horrible tragedy to support bigoted religious and political views.
Your words prove that you know absolutely nothing about atheists.
Mark at 2:16PM on Apr 18th 2007
49. Why did Cho shoot up the campus and take 32 down with him? Because there is evil in this world. He was a hurting individual who became numb to the devastating consequences of his actions, and he acted out his darkest fantasy. As long as free will exists, good and evil will battle. A loving God wishes us to freely choose His ways of righteousness, the golden rule, and to love our neighbor as ourself. Righteousness is a progression based on our choices and reponse to God's love and guidance. When we don't choose Him, we choose evil. Evil is progressive and we continue to choose and/or indulge selfishness; thus (at it's darkest level) innocent victims. If God took every degree of selfishness and/or evil out of this world, we would not exist.
He allows us to continue existing, wanting us to finally respond to the conscience he gave us as a meter to measure right from wrong, evil from good.
R M at 2:26PM on Apr 18th 2007
50. Jesus said, In THIS world you will have trials and tribulation,but be of good cheer,I have overcome the world. People of faith know that when they die,their spirit returns to the Lord.
That is how we find peace in times of despair.
God has never stopped evil. We all have free will and bad things happen to good people.I know that I will live after I die. Do you have that hope? The bible is a great place to start searching for answers. The reason that we see doctors is because we are of an intelligent design. God gave us brains to use. He will not be tested and does not perform magic, although miracles do happen. Thank you Lord for taking the innocent victims of VT to be with you and comfort them. I pray for all the victims and their families and all the students and teachers.
I also pray for all the people in this world.
ALYSE at 5:23PM on Apr 18th 2007
51. Cho was merely exercising his "Free Will"
I own a gun to prevent "God given free will," from being exercised on me.
breckandy at 4:38PM on Apr 18th 2007
52. Atheists don't seize upon tragedies as an opportunity to proselytise or at least try to wax superior to those who don't share our views. Since you, however, have thrown down the gauntlet,I'll put this to you:
Why do you need to be told how to behave or what the difference is between right and wrong? Are you that sick at heart, and devoid of moral fibre that you need a book of rules to guide you through life? I don't, and most people I know don't, and that includes almost all of the devout Christians I know. They - and I - know that moral behaviour is a set of axioms with no need to refer to scriptures. Do you think we do need to? If you do think that, why? Do you? Why/why not?
If I am tempted to take personal vengeance, or do damage to a person, I don't stop to think "hang on, what would Gandalf do?" or "What would Arthur Dent do?" I think "What are the consequences? Somebody is going to get hurt and to what end?". It's what decent human beings do irrespective of their religious beliefs.
In fact, freed from the quandaries that abstract ethics based on muddled and contradictory texts instil in people, I'd say that atheists actually tend to find it easier to be moral. We just don't need to wear badges saying "I'm an atheist" while we are doing so because we aren't trying to brainwash anyone.
Dave at 2:10AM on Apr 19th 2007
53. As an atheist and member of a prominent group, I feel saddened by this horrific act. But how can an atheist come out (as an atheist in public) and be supportive when people like you hate us?? My group does more charity work and raises more money than you can even scream out. "All propagandha" you say? Do some research and learn what real human beings are all about.
Amelie at 7:21PM on Apr 18th 2007
54. Is the author of this blog as blockheaded as he seems to me?
Call on your priests, ministers, bishops, imams, shamans, and clerics of any cloth if you really think they can make you feel better. What sort of inane "God of Love" allows events like this to happen if he/she has the power to prevent it? If "God" is to be called upon to give balm to the sore of heart and spirit, isn't this deity also accountable for the event in the first place?
If all of these religious believers were calling upon Zeus or Odin or Ra or Horus or some other god of the past, we'd probably consider them nutcases. But no one makes the same distinction when it's Jehovah or God or Allah. Why? There's no more evidence for the existence of the latter gods than there is for the former.
As an atheist, my response to the students, the faculty, and the families of the victims would be to offer compassion, patience, a hug, a shoulder to cry upon, a reassurance that in the main life is good even though it contains tragedy. Furthermore, my ethics urge me to show compassion and loving kindness to all my fellow humans and other forms of life on this planet we share. Perhaps if Cho Seung-Hui had more of that in his life, no one would be calling upon their mythological gods for succor.
You can wait around for your god to do something, but I suspect you'll be waiting for eternity. Me, I'm going out to do something real, like advocate for stricter gun control to get the kinds of weapons that Cho used more difficult if not impossible to acquire.
Les at 3:18PM on Apr 18th 2007
55. In times of tragedy, I turn to my family and the people who care about me for comfort. My family is not religious. It is the people who matter, not the religion.
Marv at 3:30PM on Apr 18th 2007
56. As an atheist, I find this little posting by Mr. D'Souza a complete insult. I am horrified and deeply saddened by the massacre at Virginia Tech. I can not imagine what the student body, faculty and parents of the victims are going through right now. If they need to find comfort through spirituality then I support that 100%. Never would I write an article condemning spirituality even though I am a non-believer.
I live in NYC, I witnessed 9/11 and I share the same sadness and grief as anyone.
Mr. D'Souza says we need "more than modern science". Well, at times like this the best thing we need is each other - especially the families who lost their loved ones at Virginia Tech.
Kelly O at 3:41PM on Apr 18th 2007
57. D'Souza has really crossed the line with this posting. No further comment.
Carl at 9:32PM on Apr 18th 2007
58. Jacob, I appreciate your response. But to me, the freedom of choice is the religiously-skewed way of saying people act in accordance to their mental/physical health. People who are ill do ill things. It's that simple. More people who own guns DON'T kill. If a sicko doesn't have a gun, he'll use a knife. Or a car. Or poison. Whatever.
You can't praise or blame a higher power in the same breath that you claim freedom of choice. It's like athletes or award winners who thank God for a win. If God doesn't take sides, and it's about free choice, why are you thanking God? It's all you, baby! You did it.
I'm not even an atheist, but I don't believe in God the way Christians insist God exists. "Organized" religions are essentially businesses, mostly corrupt and existing to manipulate. They are inconsistent and self-serving. For me, faith means believing we're all connected by one source, and people don't exist in a vacuum. So "do unto others..." is a fine philosophy. Stop inserting God into human issues as a source of responsibility or reason.
The concept of God has led to more turmoil, heartache and death than anything else in the history of the world. That's pretty telling, isn't it?
Lynn at 3:56PM on Apr 18th 2007
59. I am an atheist. I used to be a believer, and still consider myself Christian philosophically. That is, the tradition of my upbringing is still a major part of who I am, and I agree with many of the moral teachings of Jesus, although I do not believe in the supernatural. So where was I on Monday? I was at work here in the DC area when I learned of this tragedy. I was shocked and saddened by it. I imagined what it must have been like for the victims, I wondered what kind of person could so easily kill another person, and what kind of rage, loneliness, or delusion could drive such an act. I have at least two friends who were connected to Virginia Tech by family, including one who knows the girlfriend of a young man who was killed. Reading your article, I also wondered what religion or the lack thereof has to do with this. You obviously were waiting for such an event to exploit, just to attack a [relatively] silent and misunderstood minority. Atheists are human beings who feel sadness and anger, just like believers. I can assure you that I'm not riding around in my limousine drinking champagne, chuckling about the cruel randomness of the universe. I do not believe that this violence was a part of some larger plan, which only makes it that much more painful for us nonbelievers. My lack of belief in a supernatural being who loves and watches over us is exactly why I believe that we need to love and watch over one another, and do whatever we can to prevent such suffering in the future.
Brian at 4:08PM on Apr 18th 2007
60. My heart goes out to the victims and families of Virginia Tech. May they find solace in the love of God.
Most importantly, I pray for all the athiest; they will not wait untill they die to find out that there is a God.
Scientist can only prolong your life for as long as God allows them to..... after that.... it's just between you and God baby!
sandra at 4:13PM on Apr 18th 2007