A Psychology of Atheism

Nineteenth century thinkers were concerned to develop a psychology of theism. They asked this question: “Since there is no God, why are their theists?” They asserted that the reasoning processes of those who claim God exists are biased, that they have powerful psychological needs for positing a God. But it is only fair that atheists’ assertions of the non-existence of God be double-checked for bias. And it turns out that none other than the apostle Paul, speaking under divine inspiration, has identified a major bias in atheists’ thinking.

As we have seen, Paul declares in Romans 1 that men “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18b). The truth of which he is speaking is the truth of God’s existence. Men simply deny that there is a God—the essence of atheism. The Greek word translated “suppress” here has various senses. It can mean “stifling,” “repressing,” or “holding down.” Paul is communicating the idea of a tremendous, ongoing fight to hold down something that is constantly welling up. The implication is that atheists must strive to fight the manifestly clear knowledge of God. They must construct elaborate arguments to reason God away. They must studiously avoid certain data that lead to one inescapable conclusion. They must constantly reassure themselves and one another that no God is out there. But knowledge suppressed is not knowledge destroyed. Paul says unequivocally that the awareness of God gets through, for “they knew God” (Rom. 1:21a). Nevertheless, they carry on the fight. The results of this intellectual dishonesty are devastating. Because they reject truth, atheists live their lives on the basis of lies. And even sadder, their lives lose significance. They fall into futility in their thinking; in other words, the farther they draw away from theism, the closer they come to nihilism, which declares that there is no meaning to human existence. All this because, like the kings of Psalm 2, they will not have God in their lives.

In Romans 1, Paul basically lays out a psychology of atheism, showing that those who reject the existence of God do so for some reason that defies all reason. Why do atheists not want God to exist? To state the question another way, “Since there is a God, why are there atheists?” Some psychological bias drives the atheist to reject God. We will try to identify that bias in tomorrow’s study.