human freedom

Atheism frequently arises out of definitional problems. The most prominent ones throughout history are restricted and inadequate definitions of “God,” “love,” and “evil.” We will consider each in turn.

If the existence of God cannot be disproved, what is the foundation of atheism? The brief answer is that it cannot be grounded in a formal argument based upon the definition of “God” as “absolutely simple” or “unrestricted,” or “infinite”. If a proof against the existence of God is to be formulated, it would have to have an alternative definition of God which introduces exclusionary properties, restrictions, or finitude into the definition.

For example, if one defines “God” as a being which would necessarily interfere with human freedom (which would be contrary to the purely inclusive properties of perfect love and perfect goodness/justice, etc.), then one might be able to formulate an argument which says, “If human beings are absolutely free, then ‘god’ (defined as necessarily interfering with freedom) cannot exist.”

But the definition of God in this argument is arbitrarily restricted and contradicts the absolute simplicity and unrestrictedness of the unconditioned Reality. Furthermore, if one understands a purely inclusive God to be perfectly loving and good, one would have to say that God helps human freedom in every way possible to be complete and perfect, and therefore, would not undermine human freedom.