Reviewed by Rev. Andrew W. Lanning

Is Atheism Dead? Eric Metaxas. Washington, D.C.: Salem Books, 2021.
432 pages, hardcover, $19.29.

Overview

The title of Metaxas’ book—Is Atheism Dead?—is a play on the title of a famous 1966 Time magazine cover, which blared the question in enormous font, Is God Dead? The magazine paraded the supposed scientific evidence that the universe did not need a God to create it and sustain it. Metaxas’ response, after roughly half a century of mounting evidence, is that it is actually atheism that has died, not God. In fact, the title of Metaxas’ book is not so much a play on the Time magazine cover as it is a ridiculing of that cover and a celebratory dance on that cover’s grave. Metaxas argues that science, archaeology, and a critical analysis of atheism all point unmistakably to the fact that God does, indeed, exist. For Metaxas, a careful review of the evidence does not lead to the conclusion that belief in God is untenable but to the conclusion that atheism is untenable. The evidence does not raise the question Is God Dead? but raises the question Is Atheism Dead?

Metaxas’ thesis is that atheism is not an intellectually valid system because the evidence from science and archaeology irresistibly points to God’s existence.

We are living in unprecedentedly exciting times. But most of us don’t know it yet. That’s essentially the point of this book, to share the news that what many people have dreamt of—and others have believed could never happen—has happened, or at any rate is happening this very minute and has been happening for some time. By this I mean the emergence of inescapably compelling evidence for God’s existence. (3)

Metaxas divides his book into three main parts, each consisting of roughly ten chapters. Part one is a survey of scientific discoveries, all of which demonstrate that our world could not have happened by accident or by merely natural causes. In this section Metaxas treats the fact that the universe has a beginning, the fact that the universe is unimaginably fine-tuned, and the scientific mystery of the origin of biological life.

Part two is a survey of archaeological discoveries, all of which corroborate the biblical record. In this section Metaxas reviews such developments as the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls and other manuscripts, the discovery of Jesus’ childhood home in Nazareth, and the discovery of Sodom.

Part three is a critical review of several prominent atheists. In this section Metaxas demonstrates problems with atheistic philosophy. Metaxas especially criticizes the claim that science and discovery are only compatible with atheism and not with belief in God.

Metaxas concludes where he began.

So by 1966—and by default ever since then—the cognoscenti determined without saying it openly that God really was dead, or actually never had existed…

What are we to do about it?

Well, for one thing we can reject it with every atom of our being. Have we not seen that there is enough evidence to do so? Because there is much more evidence than merely enough. There is enough evidence to leap toward the God who created the universe and who created us…

As it happens, God—back then [in Jesus’ day] and again now—has revealed things to us that we did not know before, that we could not have known before, that we couldn’t have even imagined. And based on these new things, then and again now, we can say something deeply and heartbreakingly beautiful and true: God is not dead. He is alive.

Rejoice. (392, 403; emphasis is Metaxas’)

 

Analysis

I thought I would like this book. I wanted to like this book.

First, because the author, Eric Metaxas, has forever endeared himself to everyone who loves Martin Luther. Metaxas’ biography of Luther is outstanding. When it arrived in my mailbox in 2018, I dropped almost everything for a few days to read it and savor it. In fact, in the middle of writing that last sentence, I got up and pulled the Luther biography down from my shelf to reread the table of contents. Metaxas’ chapter on Luther before the Diet of Worms is still a favorite. One could argue that Luther’s stand before the emperor at the Diet of Worms in 1521 was more important for the Reformation than were Luther’s Ninety-five Theses on the church door in Wittenberg in 1517. Metaxas brings Luther and the Diet to life. Those of us who could not be present in person at the Diet that day have the next best thing in Metaxas’ retelling of it. And I still get a lump in my throat upon reading the title of chapter 22, which title is the final words that Luther ever penned, just before his death: “We Are Beggars. This Is True.” After Luther’s biography, whatever Metaxas writes I really want to like.

Second, I wanted to like Is Atheism Dead? because it is just plain interesting. It is jam-packed with facts and figures and discoveries and tidbits and observations that stagger the mind. A sample from the section on scientific discoveries:

Have you ever considered the stunning flora and fauna on our planet? The panoply of terrestrial life is almost too vast to imagine. There are 900,000 different species of insects alone. There are 400,000 species of plants, including mimosa plants that immediately fold up their leaves when touched, and carnivorous plants that eat flesh, and monstrous eight-foot-tall plants that bloom once every 40 years and have a fragrance that mimics the stench of rotting corpses. There is a plant existing only in the harsh desert of Namibia that can live 1,500 years, and in California there is a tree called the General Sherman that sprouted from the forest floor when Aristotle was a boy. It now stands 275 feet tall, with a trunk whose circumference is 113 feet. (83)

Another sample from the section on the fine-tuning argument. By fine-tuning Metaxas means that

there are certain things about our universe—and about our planet—that seem to be so extremely perfectly calibrated that they can hardly be coincidental. If these things were even slightly different, life would not even be possible…When we see how many things must be just so—and then just happen to be just so—we cannot help but wonder if perhaps mere coincidence isn’t enough to account for it. (36–37; emphasis is Metaxas’)

Metaxas gives the following example of fine-tuning:

We venture into the sublime madness of water in a subsequent chapter, and if ever there were something we took for granted, that would be it. But before that, let’s simply acknowledge the uncontroversial fact that water is inescapably central to life on Earth. But because of this, several things must also be very precisely just so. For example, if we were even slightly closer to the sun, most of our water would have evaporated, and life couldn’t exist. By the same token, if we were slightly farther away, all water would have frozen, also making life untenable. (43)

Another sample from the section on archaeological discoveries, under a full-page, full-color photograph:

In 2020 archaeologists published findings about this first-century home in Nazareth. To mark and preserve this holiest of sites as the very place where Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived, two magnificent churches had been built over it during the Crusader and Byzantine eras. The most recent of these was demolished by the Caliph Yazid II in 721 AD, and all traces of this site were lost for twelve centuries. (photo insert between 224–25)

The third reason that I wanted to like the book is because Metaxas skewers atheists, and he skewers them good. By the end of the book, he has a spit of all the leading atheists shish kebabed like so many plump morsels ready to lay on the grill. Sample quote:

Those who are militant in their atheism…not only cannot see that science has limits, but preposterously claim that science is our only way of “knowing” anything, and further claim that the material world to which science has access is all that exists. That’s like saying that because our eyes cannot smell or taste, there is no such thing as aroma or food. It is of course perfectly circular and silly. They say that science can only access the material world, and yet declare with the impossibility of evidence that the material world is all that has ever existed—or can or will exist.

[Christopher] Hitchens was among the loudest of these and often maintained that the scientific method and “evidence” were the only way to know anything…

In the end it seems that the so-called New Atheists and angry and militant atheists have less in common with honest agnostics than with less intellectually respectable groups such as Satanists, who are obviously more animated by a hatred of the God they suspect exists—and the people who claim to follow him—than they are of anything more intellectually robust. (369–70)

In spite of my fascination with Metaxas’ book, I have the strongest possible objection to Is Atheism Dead? I agree with Metaxas that atheism is bankrupt. But I strongly disagree with Metaxas on the reason that atheism is bankrupt. Metaxas treats atheism as if it were merely a problem of evidence. That is, Metaxas believes that the mounting evidence from scientific inquiry and archaeological discovery will convince people that God exists. In fact, he writes his entire book in order to broadcast the “emergence of inescapably compelling evidence for God’s existence” (3). Furthermore, Metaxas believes that the testimony of the telescope and the spade will be sufficient to make men believe in God. As one of the conclusions of his book, he claims that science, archaeology, and a critical evaluation of atheism have provided us with “enough evidence to leap toward the God who created the universe and who created us” (392). Believing that evidence from the heavens and earth will convince people that God exists, Metaxas views his mission in this book as a kind of scientific evangelism. He is out to proclaim the good news of the scientific and civilizational record that there is a God. Standing only upon what the microscopes and the obelisks have revealed, Metaxas declares as his last word on the matter,

Based on these new things, then and again now, we can say something deeply and heartbreakingly beautiful and true: God is not dead. He is alive.

Rejoice. (403; emphasis is Metaxas’)

Metaxas’ error is that atheism is not now and never has been a problem of evidence. God has always shown himself to every single human being, head for head (see Rom. 1:18–23; 2:14–15). God has manifested himself in stark clarity and in great depth. He has revealed his invisible things to all men: the fact that he exists, the fact that he is God, and the fact that he has eternal power. He has revealed the difference between right and wrong, and he has revealed that men must do the right and must not do the wrong. He has revealed his wrath against all who do not worship him, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, who do not like to retain him in their knowledge, who do not glorify him as God, and who change his glory into an image. God has revealed all of this about himself to every single human being in such a way that everyone has clearly seen God and clearly understood him. There has never been a time in the history of the world when men have not had enough evidence for the existence of God.

God has revealed all these things about himself to men in the creation. “That which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” (Rom. 1:19). The invisible things of God are known “from the creation of the world.” They are clearly seen and understood “by the things that are made” (v. 20). The work of the law is “written in their hearts” (2:15). One thing that no man can ever escape is the testimony of the creation. That man, no matter how limited by age or capacity, lives his life in the midst of God’s creation. That man himself is a creature of the Creator. Every man clearly knows that there is a God and that he must be worshiped. 

Man’s problem is not evidence but unbelief. Atheism is not an intellectual problem but a spiritual one. A man does not become an atheist (or an idolater) because he could not find enough evidence for God. A man becomes an atheist or an idolater because he hates God, refuses to believe in God, suppresses the truth in unrighteousness, glorifies God not as God, is not thankful, becomes vain in his imaginations, has a foolish and darkened heart, and changes the glory of God into a creature (see Rom. 1:18–23). The atheist’s problem is not evidence but unbelief. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Ps. 53:1).

Man’s problem is actually deeper than unbelief. Man’s problem is God. God has revealed himself so clearly and unmistakably in the creation in order to leave man without excuse for his unbelief, atheism, and idolatry. No man will be able to say to God, “But I never knew! I never knew that I was to worship thee. I never knew that thou didst create me. I never knew!” God’s reply will be, “But you did know! You knew clearly my invisible things from the visible things that I made.” God reveals himself to men exactly so that all of his enemies are without excuse. “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20).

Therefore, the power to turn an atheist from his atheism is not a breathtaking tour of the latest science and archaeology. As gripping as that tour might be, it only leaves men without excuse. Rather, the power to turn an atheist from his atheism is the gospel of Jesus Christ by the operation of the Holy Spirit. An atheist does not need a book about fine-tuning. An atheist does not need a book about the Ziggurat of Ur. An atheist needs a sermon. An atheist needs the Bible. He needs to hear the God who is the Father of Jesus Christ. He needs to hear the call to repent and believe and the promise that all who believe in Christ are saved. Only the gospel—by the power of the Holy Spirit and according to God’s election—will turn an atheist from his atheism.

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Heb. 11:3).

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17).

All of this means that Metaxas’ project in Is Atheism Dead? is a failure from the start. The science may be interesting, and the archaeology may be astounding, but no one will believe in God because water behaves the way it does, because the mass of the universe is what it is, or because the Hittites lived where the Bible said they did. God’s word alone is the evidence that creates faith.

Metaxas’ project in Is Atheism Dead? is also dangerous to the mind of faith. It teaches that the trustworthiness of the Bible rests in something external to the Bible. It trains people to place their faith in the beaker and the bones instead of in the Bible. Metaxas’ book does not teach people to say, “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4). It teaches people to say, “Yea, hath God said?” (Gen. 3:1). It enforces the thinking that we may only believe the Bible if men confirm the Bible through their scientific and archaeological projects.

It is ominous that so many hundreds of thousands—and perhaps by now millions—of people have latched onto Metaxas’ project as if it were finally the answer to the problem of atheism. Metaxas himself expresses surprise at the enthusiastic reception some of his early articles on the subject attracted. Men everywhere are thirsty for scientific proof of God. They can’t wait to find Noah’s ark. They can’t wait for proof that the Bible is true. As if the truth of the Bible hangs in the balance! When a man’s faith rests in science and in all of the proofs that science can provide, then it is not faith in God or in his word.

Metaxas’ faith in science, and therefore his unbelief in the Bible, comes out throughout Is Atheism Dead? For one thing, Metaxas’ project to provide evidence for the existence of God is really only a halfway project. Metaxas often argues that the evidence all points to the fact that something or someone planned and made the world. But the God who is revealed in the creation is not merely a something or a someone. He is God. He is the Creator. He is the triune God. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He can be identified and named, definitely and specifically. Metaxas’ arguments often sound like those of the old intelligent design authors, whose project was merely to prove that creation pointed to some great intelligence that designed all things. Such projects are no better than paganism. If some great intelligence created all this, why not have it be Moloch or Baal or Allah? The truth is that creation does not merely point to a creator; it points to the Creator. It does not merely point to an intelligence; it points to Jehovah.

But Metaxas’ faith in science comes out especially in his acceptance of evolution. Metaxas believes that the universe is billions of years old, that it originated in a big bang, and that biological life evolved and evolved and evolved. Metaxas allows that a god was in control of it all. He would even call that god the God of the Bible. But the God of the Bible has nothing to do with billions of years and evolution. The God of the Bible has nothing to do with the big bang. The God of the Bible created in six days and rested the seventh. The God of the Bible created all creatures after their kinds, without evolution from one kind to the next. And the God of the Bible did all of that a few thousand years ago. The god of the big bang is not the God of the Bible. The god of evolution is not the God of creation. When one makes science his evidence, then he must inevitably deny the Bible and thus deny the God of the Bible.

It is dangerous for the church to found her faith on anything other than the word of God. Many brilliant men with compelling arguments and winsome presentations will interpret the exact same observational data in support of atheism. The faith of the church will then depend upon men and their interpretation of the data. Men are no foundation for faith! The only foundation for faith is God and his revelation. Rather, the church must say, “It does not matter to me if all of the data in the world testifies that there is no God.” (I speak foolishly.) “I know that there is a God, and I know who he is, because the Bible says so.” The cry of faith is always “Let God be true, but every man a liar.”