A Christian Defends Popular Theobabble with Amateur Theobabble

Religious personal opinion doesn’t replace epistemology 

 

In my article here last week, I explained exactly why He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands—popular though it might be—is nonetheless theobabble. It makes no sense whatever when we honestly admit that there is so much pain and suffering in the world. But devout folks have devised ways to divert attention from these realities. It was no surprise, therefore, a Catholic jumped into the debate. One of his earliest comments was:
 
“God has a plan. Human beings act freely within that plan. People committing acts of violence and mass murder are acting against God’s Plan. God’s divine providence makes sure that good comes from the evil. So basically, if had not been for Gods plan, the human race would have destroyed itself long ago.”

God has a plan. 

No, this won’t do! This devout fellow—presenting himself as Charlie Malvida—declines to describe and defend his epistemology. How does he know this? Please provide us with the details. We have repeatedly asked theists to tell us where we can find reliable, verifiable, objective data about god(s). Humans have imagined thousands of gods, and religious bureaucrats of countless varieties for millennia have boasted that they know exactly what their gods are like, what they expect—and that they have plans. Without the data, why should we believe any of them? 

God’s divine providence makes sure that good comes from the evil. 

Same problem. How does he know that god always engineers good to come from evil? Both of these statements are theobabble—because the epistemology is missing. He fails to present the reliable, verifiable data to back up his claims. 

And yet again: “God is THE standard, by virtue of being God. Learn what ‘God’ means and then get back to me.” Western monotheism is deeply divided on what “god” means. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and Mormons—each with different, supposedly inspired scriptures—do not agree. This scandal is especially pronounced in shattered Christianity, with many thousands of conflicting, bickering brands.  

Charlie also has his blinders on: “I offer the Catholic point of view. You offer the atheist point of view. What you just offered in your comment was pure personal opinion about something you never took the time to understand. On the other hand, I have authentic experience surviving catastrophic, life-long evil and coming out better for it because of my religious faith.”

Here he condemns “pure personal opinion” while failing to recognize that his “Catholic point of view” is likewise pure personal opinion—unless he can explain his epistemology. And he makes a revealing confession: “…I have authentic experience surviving catastrophic, life-long evil and coming out better for it because of my religious faith.” That is, his Catholic point of view—that view of reality that he came to trust and embrace—allows him to not be crushed by “catastrophic, life-long evil.” That God has a plan—as he understands it—explains the evil, and offers comfort. 

But the god-has-a-plan approach has very limited application. I have often asked if such devout folks would have welcomed the opportunity to preach this message in Nazi concentration camps, to horribly abused prisoners who knew they might be moments away from death, who had lost families, homes, and livelihoods. “Don’t worry about all this, folks, because things are working out according to god’s plans.” 

And here is a statement that reflects arrogant and aggressive ignorance, Charlie’s assertion that “Atheists think in lockstep meaning that atheism is a brainless, mindless ideology. You all think alike, argue from the same set of talking points, are triggered by the same non-atheist ideas.”

It looks very much like Charlie has never taken the time to understand atheism, and thus describes it as “a brainless, mindless ideology.” For a very long time now, serious thinkers have pondered Christianity—and noted its profound weaknesses and flaws. He accuses atheists of not really knowing much about religion—"something you never took the time to understand.” But it is precisely because we have studied religion, especially Christianity, that our critiques are so detailed, so thorough. 

It’s Charlie who has plenty of homework to do, to catch up on understanding the amazing variety of atheism. He might start with the works of Robert Ingersoll, then move on to the insights of Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, H. L. Mencken, Bertrand Russell, and Clarence Darrow. They all represent brainless, mindless ideology? 

It would be absurd to argue that this applies as well to the authors presented in 2009 volume, 50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists, edited by Russell Blackford and Udo Schüklenk. Charlie needs to study the major anthologies assembled by John Loftus: The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails (2010); The End of Christianity (2011); Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails (2014); Christianity in the Light of Science: Critically Examining the  World’s Largest Religion (2016); The Case Against Miracles (2019); God and Horrendous Suffering (2021). These works include essays by many different atheist authors who do not follow “a brainless, mindless ideology.”

A few years ago, my Cure-for-Christianity Library website was created (the title based on Mark Twain’s comment that reading the Bible is the best cure for Christianity). Indeed the Bible has served that function, but this library now has more than 500 titles (and I’m behind on adding more!). Not all the authors listed are atheists, but their intent has been to describe exactly why and how Christianity has been falsified. 

Charlie will find much more homework to do here. So many books to read and digest, by Valerie Tarico, Guy P. Harrison, Richard Carrier, Tim Sledge, David Fitzgerald, Seth Andrews, Abby Hafer, Bart Ehrman, Jerry DeWitt, Raphael Lataster, Greta Christina, Cassie Fox, Karen Garst, Annie Laurie Gaylor, Dan Barker, Robert Conner, Steve Wells, David McAfee, S.T. Joshi, Hector Avalos, Peter Boghossian, Candace Gorham, James A. Haught, David Eller, Carolyn Hyppolite, Susan Jacoby, Deborah Mitchell, Amber Scorah, Marlene Winell, John C. Wathey, Victor Stenger, Phil Zuckerman, William A. Zingrone (especially his 2016 book, The Arrogance of Religious Thought: Information Kills Religion).

I also recommend careful reading of books and essays by Sean Carroll (see especially his 2003 essay, Why (Almost All) Cosmologists Are Atheists), Carl Sagan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking. Apologists have been inclined to dismiss the books by Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett, but these works must be studied carefully as well. 

If any further proof were needed that Charlie is not paying attention, at one point he also wrote this: “Unless the atheist can bring some logical reasoning to the table, instead of personal opinion, the atheist is stuck in his own finite head where it is impossible to think about things infinite like God.” The authors I have mentioned do a good job of “logical reasoning.” We’re so weary of theists who “  think about things infinite like God” without showing us where they find the data.
                        
I’ll address one more of Charlie’s comments: “The natural beauty all around us is proof of God's competence.” Of course there is natural beauty, and atheists savor it as well. But his comment reflects aggressive and arrogant unawareness—unwillingness to squarely face—the pain and suffering of the natural world that prompts us to doubt his god’s competence. How can it possibly be considered competent that a god placed humans and animals on a chaotic planet that poses so many dangers? Such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes; also thousands of genetic diseases, mental illnesses, microbes that cause illnesses and death, and—for thousands of years—high infant mortality rates. This appears to be very poor planning indeed, not a sign of competence.  

An especially fatal blow to Christianity can be found in an essay written by Richard Carrier in 2018, Dying-and-Rising Gods: It’s Pagan, Guys. Get Over It. He describes, in detail, nine other dying-and-rising gods that were popular in the ancient world. Christianity copied the idea, or as Carrier remarks, “Jesus is just a late comer to the party.” 
 

David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes:
·      Guessing About God (2023),
·      Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available. 
·      Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
 
His YouTube channel is here. At the invitation of John Loftus, he has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.
 
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.