As a child in Sunday school, I was taught many stories from the Bible. One of these was about a man named Elijah who worshiped the One True God, aka the God of Abraham. He encountered some other people who worshiped a false god named Baal. Elijah issued a challenge to Baal’s followers: They would set up two piles of wood for making burnt offerings, one for the True God and one for Baal. Each side would pray to his god to miraculously start the fire required for a proper offering.
Over a hundred prophets of Baal showed up and prayed with all their might, but nothing happened. Then it was Elijah’s turn. Before he began praying, he poured water on his own pile of wood, just to handicap himself and make God look more impressive. So of course Elijah prayed to God and almost immediately the wood was consumed in a huge fire. The One True God had proven his power.
As a child, I remember vaguely realizing that God didn’t do this sort of thing in the modern age. It’s not as if the whole Sunday school got together and prayed really hard and caused some wood to catch fire; we could only hear about such things in stories. I figured that perhaps God had changed his approach in the centuries since Elijah walked the Earth, and then I just forgot about it.
But I should have realized the implication: maybe God doesn’t start fires in the modern age because God doesn’t exist. Maybe he’s depicted displaying his power in stories only because the stories are not true. (That’s the approach we took when it came to other religions, but not our own.)
Couldn’t we at least consider this idea?
Where, exactly, do we find God in the modern world? We can find believers almost everywhere, but where do we find God? Where is his influence actually seen, and not merely assumed?
There are preachers who claim to perform miraculous healings, but on closer inspection they always fall through. For instance, a healer may speak to a large crowd and pray for them, and claim that some of them will be healed as a result. Then later the people who feel they’ve been healed may come up onstage and share their experiences. But of course, some diseases and illnesses do go away on their own (this happens to atheists just as much as Christians), so it’s only natural that some people will get better even if no miracle took place.
What you need is something like Elijah’s challenge. Get two groups of patients with similar problems; make them as equal as possible. Then have one group receive prayers from Christians, while another group gets no prayers. See what happens.
Well guess what? They tried that. The people who received prayers were no better off than the people who didn’t receive prayers. (Though I’ve heard of various studies reaching conflicting conclusions, actually. This happens with every medical topic, not just prayer. But my point still stands: Overall, the evidence shows no logical reason to believe that prayer has any more power than placebos.)
Why is God always off-camera? Why does he seem to disappear whenever we take a closer look? Why can’t one of these faith-healing preachers get up on national television with an man who is clearly missing an arm, and pray really really hard until the arm grows back? That would be impressive! But nobody does that, because it wouldn’t work. (And then the believers would probably make excuses.)
And allow me to offer an anecdote. Back when I was a child (and a Christian), there was woman at my church who developed cancer. This woman also happened to be the mother of one of my friends, and by all accounts she was a good person. I prayed for her earnestly, night after night. Other churchgoers prayed too. I can only imagine how fervently my friend prayed, with the life of his mother at stake. But despite all our prayers and efforts, she died.
(Somehow, this experience did not lead me to question the existence of God. In fact I became more religious in the years that followed, though in college I lost my faith and became an atheist.)
The Bible says that God loves us. Jesus Christ often healed the sick, and one time he even raised the dead. But when it comes to the real world, there are no such healings. We have to rely on doctors instead. Why is that?
In the New Testament, God becomes human flesh in the form of Jesus. He is then crucified and resurrected as part of a (rather strange) plan to redeem humanity. One of the disciples, Thomas, is initially skeptical of the reports that Jesus has returned from the dead. He declares that “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
So Jesus shows up personally and gives Thomas all the requested evidence. Thomas then changes his mind and accepts that Jesus has indeed come back from the dead.
Why doesn’t Jesus offer the same courtesy to the rest of us? Why doesn’t he show up and demonstrate his miraculous powers? We have the Bible, of course, but why should we trust that? (Especially considering all the other holy books that make claims about their own religious figures). How difficult could it possibly be for an omnipotent God to show up every couple of months and put on a big show in front of people and thus prove himself to the world?
Yes, I suppose it’s true that some people would disbelieve in God even after he made these demonstrations. But that’s beside the point. The point is that God doesn’t seem to even try to demonstrate his existence. Apparently God only does stuff when the facts are obscured, when the cameras are pointed elsewhere or when the alleged event takes place in the distant past.
If there is a God, why doesn’t he simply show up?
(My answer to that question should be obvious. I’m sorry if it’s upsetting to you. Please be aware that atheism does not imply despair or immorality; atheists can be happy and moral just like anybody else.)