Atheism Does Not Deny Truth

In this brief post I will explain and refute a problem I have encountered in Christian circles just enough to concern me.  The problem is the way some Christians straw man atheism and atheists and claim that either atheists do not believe in absolute truth or that atheism is wholly incompatible with the existence of any absolute truths.  Although I am surprised that this is not obvious to everyone with a functioning mind, the truth is that this is a dramatic and fallacious misrepresentation of atheism and many men and women who identify as atheists and that it does nothing but irritate those who know that the charge is a false absurdity.

Atheists believe it is absolutely true that:
1. Truth exists.
2. Some truths can be known.
3. God does not exist.
4. Logic is reliable (many will affirm this).

Since they could only hold that God does not exist if truth exists, if truth is at least somewhat knowable, and if it is absolutely true that God does not exist, they cannot declare themselves atheists without actually believing in some form of absolute truth.  Even when certain truths cannot be justified if atheism is true, atheists sometimes do believe in them still.  While many modern atheists may believe in objective moral facts and obligations, atheism itself is logically incompatible with objective morality; however, this does not mean that atheists themselves do not believe that some things really are inherently morally right or wrong.  Thus the embarrassing claim that all atheists believe in an amoral existence is false.  In fact, sometimes they condemn things like illicit torture and illicit warfare more frequently than Christian pastors or laypeople do, or with more moral conviction.

However, logical truths exist by necessity whether or not God exists, and atheists frequently recognize this, although there are some truths that exist only if God does also--for instance, moral and theological truths fall into this category.  But logical truths would not be affected by God's non-existence.  Also, some people do not know the distinction between absolute ontological truth and absolute epistemological certainty and may end up thinking that someone, perhaps an atheist, is denying that absolute truth of a matter exists when he or she is merely saying that we can at best have subjective, malleable perceptions of the issue in question, which is a totally different position.

Please, Christians, stop saying that atheists do not believe in truth or that they cannot justify absolute truth in their worldview.  Absolute truth exists no matter what worldview is true, whether postmodernism, atheism, or some other belief system; the debate just centers on which worldview is true.  Even apart from the logical impossibility of such claims being correct, repeating falsities and straw man fallacies like this will hinder productive communication and debate between Christians and atheists.  Clearly, if Christians seek dialogue and debate with people from other worldviews, then misrepresenting those other worldviews, whether out of ignorance or fear or malice, will not contribute to the preservation of an environment where the representatives of other worldviews will be likely to desire such talks.  I hope that I never have to listen to another Christian propose either this incorrect generalization of atheists or this misrepresentation of atheism, and hopefully my readers also will never have to.