Why Atheists Need Faith
By Michael Guillen, 9/23/21, Wall St. Journal

Atheism’s central conceit is that it's a worldview grounded
in logic & scientific evidence. That it has nothing to do
with faith, which it associates with weakness. In reality,
faith is central to atheism, logic and even science.

I became an atheist early in life & long believed that my
fellow nonbelievers were an enlightened bunch. I relished
citing studies appearing to show that atheists have higher
IQs than believers. But when I was studying for my
doctorate in physics, math and astronomy, I began
questioning my secular worldview.

Like one of Hermann Hesse’s tormented intellectuals,
I set off to explore alternatives—beginning with Hinduism,
Buddhism & Judaism. This turned into a decades-long intel-
lectual-spiritual journey. Ultimately I became a Christian,
but along the way I discovered fascinating differences &
similarities among humanity’s many religions & philosophies.
I learned that all views of the world differ in
3 essential ways.

First, foundation. All worldviews are built on core beliefs
that cannot be proved. Axioms from which everything else
about a person’s perception of reality is derived. They
must be accepted on faith.

Even reason itself—the vaunted foundation of atheism—
depends on faith. Every logical argument begins with
premises that are assumed to be true. Euclid’s geometry,
the epitome of logical reasoning, is based on no fewer
than 33 axiomatic, unprovable articles of faith.

Second, size. Every worldview—that is, every person’s
bubble of reality—has a certain diameter. That of atheism
is relatively small, because it encompasses only physical
reality. It has no room for other realities. Even humanity’s
unique spirituality and creativity—all our emotions,
including love—are reduced to mere chemistry.

Third, deity. Without exception, every worldview is ruled
over by a god or gods. It’s the who or what that occupies
its center stage. Everything in a person’s life revolves
around this.

When I was an atheist, a scientific monk sleeping 3 hours
a day & spending the rest of my time immersed in studying
the universe, my worldview rested on the core axiom that
seeing is believing. When I learned that 95% of the cosmos
is invisible, consisting of “dark matter” & “dark energy,”
names for things we don’t understand, that core assumption
became untenable. As a scientist, I had to believe in a
universe I mostly could not see. My core axiom became
“believing is seeing.” Because what we hold to be true
dictates how we understand everything—ourselves, others &
our mostly invisible universe, including its origin. Faith
precedes knowledge, not the other way around.

Atheism demands a small cosmos, so that's all secularist-
materialists see. They bend over backward to interpret
every pixel of evidence solely in terms of space, time,
matter & energy. For them, that’s all there is. It’s a
religious conviction they cannot prove but take on faith.

Atheists commonly believe that science will ultimately
demystify everything. But science’s worldview is becoming
more mystical, not less. Witness supernatural-like concepts
such as virtual particles, imaginary time and quantum
entanglement. Even atheist Sam Harris admits: “I don’t
know if our universe is, as JBS Haldane said, ‘not only
stranger than we suppose, but stranger than we can suppose.’
But I'm sure that it's stranger than we, as ‘atheists,’
tend to represent while advocating atheism.”

The overwhelming evidence, I’ve discovered, makes it
crystal clear: Faith is the foundation of the entire
human experience—the basis of both science and religion.
Our faith in physical reality drives us to seek treatments
for deadly diseases like Covid-19, to explore the depths
of the sea, to invent the perfect source of energy. Our
faith in spiritual reality drives us to create breath-
taking works of art, music, and architecture; to see life
as a divine creation, not an accident of nature; to be
curious about things that are not of this world.

For all those reasons and more, I’ve come to learn that
atheists are greatly mistaken: Faith is anything but a
weakness. It is the mightiest power in the universe.

Mr. Guillen is author of “Believing is Seeing: A Physicist
Explains How Science Shattered His Atheism and Revealed
the Necessity of Faith,” just out from Tyndale Refresh.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/atheists-need-faith-christianity-science-reason-physics-math-astronomy-11632426886

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