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God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof That the Atheist Doesn't Exist

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Although well written, like many books on apologetics Mr. Comfort's book is aimed squarely at strengthening the faith of existing Christians. Many of Mr. Comfort's arguments against atheism are also arguments against theism in general (and Christianity in particular).

For example, he asserts that ""There is no God," is... an absolute statement... For the statement to be true, I must know for certain that there is no God in the entire universe. No human being has all knowledge. Therefore, none of us is able to truthfully make this assertion."

However, "There is a God" is also an absolute statement. For the statement to be true, Mr. Comfort must know for certain that God is not a figment of his imagination or a cruel trick played by aliens. No human being has all knowledge. Therefore, none of us is able to truthfully make this assertion.

In Ray Comfort's world then, everybody is agnostic. That may be true in the strictest sense, but it's simply not very helpful.

Mr. Comfort elaborates: "[i]f you insist upon disbelief in God, what you must say is, "Having the limited knowledge I have at present, I believe that there is no God." "

Similarly, to be intellectually honest, Mr. Comfort should say "having the limited knowledge I have at present, I believe that there is a God."

Again, that mouthful is not too helpful. Are the shorthand versions really that bad?

Mr. Comfort's book is full of similar equivocations, false dilemmas and circular logic. As such, it's unlikely to convince its claimed audience, while the encouragement it gives to true believers may be negated if these errors are pointed out to them while witnessing.

I bought this book late last year because I was curious what Ray Comfort's reasoning was behind his claim that "god doesn't believe in atheists." I was immediately struck by the silliness of many of Ray's arguments, and his continuous use of the bible for his "proof."

Before I start to explain what I didn't like about the book, I'll tell you what I did like. I think that Ray is a good writer, and the chapters are fairly short, which make for quick and easy reading. Well, that was a short list, wasn't it?

Now for the problems...

There are gaping holes in every single one of Ray's arguments, and his use of the bible is nothing more than circular reasoning. I also find it odd that on the back of the book it stated that, "Contrary to popular opinion, the existence of god can be proven - absolutely, scientifically, without reference to faith or even the bible." Hmmm.... that's funny. Didn't Ray change that claim to exclude the use of the bible for his debate with the Rational Response Squad in May of '07? I sense a little deception on Ray's part there.

Another problem with Ray's arguments is he uses a lot of quotes of scientists taken out of context. One example is Ray says in his book that in a Time Magazine article "subtitled 'Geologists show that carbon dating can be way off' should show you that scientific proof isn't worthy of your trust."

This is a clear lie because I was able to go to the Time Magazine website and found this article archived. The truth is that in the article the scientists themselves rejected the Carbon-14 date and used a different, more reliable method. It's not that Carbon-14 isn't useful, as even the article said that it was a "vital tool for historians and paleontologists," it's just that some dating methods are more useful for certain periods of time and certain substances, and scientists know this, and can adjust their methods as they go.

On page 67, Ray says, "If you are a believer in evolution, answer this. Did the fish first that crawled out out the ocean to be come an animal have lungs or gills?"

I find this comment extremely ignorant because if Ray would do just some basic research he would see that some tetrapods had both lungs and gills. In fact, from Kenneth Miller's book "Finding Darwin's god," pages 124-125, it says, "In 1991, two British scientists reported on an unusually detailed skeleton of Acanthostega, a remarkably fish-like tetrapod. Paleontologists have recognized for years that the earliest tetrapods retained scores of fish-like characters, but this specimen of Acanthostega was so well preserved that it contained....internal gills. No other amphibian possesses internal gills, and the structures preserved within the fossil make it clear that Acanthostega could breathe with its gills underwater, just like a fish, and could also breathe on land, using lungs."

These are just two of the large blunders by Ray Comfort in this book.

"god Doesn't Believe in Atheists" is a very poor attempt to distort the truth, and deceive people about the science of evolution (among other things). It would take just a small amount of research to see all of the lies that Ray uses in this book, and I think that is despicable, and says a lot about his supposed 'truth.' If he did have the truth he wouldn't be forced to lie about the facts as much as he does.

I think the title of this book should be renamed "Why Atheists Don't Believe in god," because it's a picture perfect example of the many fallacies that christians use to fool themselves into believing, and atheists know the truth behind these many fallacies. These are many of the reasons "Why Atheists Don't Believe in god."

For a more detailed response you can find my chapter by chapter refutation of Ray's book on my blog called Arizona Atheist.

On the back of his book, Mr. Comfort promises to absolutely, scientifically, and without reference to faith or the Bible prove that God exists. He then goes on to extensively quote the Bible, while referring to faith and failing to employ science in his arguments. I guess the saying; "You can't judge a book by its cover" pertains to the back cover as well.

Recently, I had a conversation with a college student who was upset because he was required to take so many "useless" general education courses, such as History and Introducttion to Logic and Formal Reasoning.
At the time, I hadn't yet read this book. If I had, I could have used it and the quasi-arguments Mr. Comfort uses as examples of the type of rhetoric that a general education is designed to protect us from.

Although this book is not a convincing argument in support of atheism, it is clearly an embarrassment to fundamentalism (which is no small task).

Overall, i enjoyed reading this book, mainly because the author made some very good points. He states that just because we have not seen something does not make it true that it is not there. We have faith in so many historical and scientific things that we have not physically seen. And we have always trusted these things to be true. To make the assertion, "there is no god", one must know for certain there is none in all the universe. We do not have all knowledge. So to insist in disbelief in God, it must be said, "with the limited knowledge I have now, I believe there is no God." This uncertainty would then make an atheist into an agnostic. If a meaningful human relationship cannot be established without faith, how could you expect one with god if by unbelief you call him a liar? God will not show himself to a person that doesnt ask. Another good point: some say the church is filled with hypocrites. A hypocrite is a "pretender", so actually this hypocrite would be a non-christian! He is a non-christian pretending to be a christian. He's not on the Christian's side, but the other side. The third thing I thought was interesting: An atheist will ask, "why should one's inner convictions about God's existence indicate he exists outside that person's mind?" Well, why should one's inner convictions about the non-existence of God indicate He does not exist outside his mind? There is no difference! Our personal convictions do not affect reality....God simply IS. Conversion to christianity is when a fallible person admits that he is wrong and our all infallible Creator is right.

the saddest part about this book is that the whole thing could have been avoided had ray comfort consulted a dictionary throughout his fallacious rambling.

atheism: One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.

an atheist doesn't claim knowledge about a deity he knows nothing about; he simply doesn't believe a deity exists. therefore, i have to wonder if mr. comfort believes his own argument as he constantly begs the question and goes around in circles with himself. don't waste your money. if you want an intelligent argument for the christian faith, check out cs lewis' apologetic work. this guy is a poseur.

The God debate has always interested me, and I stumbled upon Ray's poor performance on Youtube debating the Rational Response Squad. I found this book equally sad and morbidly fascinating. The author seems to simply pull "science facts" off creationist websites, and I don't think he's studied any science for 40 years or so. He seems oblivious of modern fossils such as Tiktalik and Acanthostega.
His circular reasoning makes my eyes burn.

The arguments here make for interesting reading. However, the question of belief in God comes down to faith. Faith is not tangible. It cannot be studied under a microscope or weighed on a scale. Our "faith cards" can't be taken out to show people and make them say, "Oh, you're right." It is either in a person or it isn't. If someone has faith, God put it there. If not, He hasn't (yet). No amount of arguing by a believer will change the mind of a dogged unbeliever, and vice versa.

Yet, we are instructed as Christian believers to "make disciples of all nations." We need to remember that all we do is plant the seed. God makes it grow. We too often go overboard when trying to force our beliefs on others. It's as if we, and not God, are the ones who save people, and our confrontational style drives them away.

People, wrong and illogical as it is, judge God by the way people act. We must live lives worthy of the grace of God and shine as His light in the world. We are the only Bible some people will ever read. We need to act in love so that people will be drawn to Jesus because of our lives, not turned off by our antagonizing insistence that they are are wrong.

I thought this book was great. It easily explains that if something is designed, there needs to be a designer,(especially something as wonderous and complex as the human body) and uses observations of the world and logic to prove that it's more likely that God exists than doesn't. Im not sure it will speak to hard-core atheists that consider themselves intellectuals who need 'hard facts' that God doesn't exist (although I am aware that God has been scientifically proven) and they may be insulted by Ray's simplistic evidence, but many professed athiests won't be swayed regardless of how much 'evidence' is laid before them. I found his explanations simple and funny yet logical. I admitt that perhaps it gets a bit heavy on the bible stuff towards the end.

I am confidence it could sway the fence-sitter and will strengthen a Christian, and gives the Christian some excellent simple observations to bring up with an idle non-believer.

This book is a poorly written jumble of anecdotes and simplistic arguments. The author regulary makes a claim and then does not put forward any supporting evidence. I gave up reading the book after documenting the numerous errors, blinkered thinking, fallacious arguments etc. He will have to try a LOT harder in order to convince me that his particuar god exists.

This book is a valuable tool for those who wish to find out how NOT to put forward a cogent argument.

Alan Liefting

I am saddened by the fact that most Christians will never or hardly ever in their life read something about atheism or atheists by an actual atheists. They have to read a strawman version of atheism by someone like Ray Comfort. Atheism isn't the most complex subject in America but like evolution it is misunderstood. Atheism doens't mean an absolute belief there is no God (something Comfort parrots) but can be just nonbelief in a deity. Agnosticism by the way is non-knowledge of a God. I wish more Christians would read something actually written by an atheist in a magazine article, letter to the editor or even a conversation with an atheist neighbor. Aside to Christians, you probably know some atheists and don't realize it. Many atheists, especially in the South, hide their atheism. If your book is about attacking atheist positions that don't actually really exist, your book is more of a work of fiction then anything else.