AN OVERVIEW OF MODERN ATHEISM

references to God were replaced with references to cause. This thinking was epitomized in these words: If events are due to natural causes, they are not due to supernatural causes. (Religion without Revelation, New York, 1958) This scientific discovery initially had a purely physical connotation, and although natural phenomena were now explained with reference to cause instead of God, this did not amount to a denial of God. It was the atheist thinkers, rather than the scientists who, by appropriating this concept of causation, equated this with the denial of God. From this point onwards, modern atheism began to hold sway. By laying much emphasis on the scientific discovery of cause and effect, modern atheists sought to convince people that there was no longer any need to make any reference to God for an explanation of events. For, if events were due to natural causes, they were not due to supernatural causes. We shall soon see how there is an irrefutable gap in the logic of this argument. This gap notwithstanding, this theory gained extraordinary popularity among modern scholars. Consciously or unconsciously, they began to regard the concept of cause and effect as a substitute for God. This way of thinking dominated all scientific disciplines. Here are a few examples to illustrate this point. Materialism Materialism is a philosophy as well as a culture. Looked at practically, materialism is the notion that there is now no need to wait for the next world where God will bless us with Paradise, a world where all desires can be fulfilled, because the ‘cause’ by which Paradise can be built right here on this Earth has finally been understood. And this ‘cause’ is modern technology. That is why ‘Paradise’ on Earth began to be ‘constructed’ by means of modern technology and modern industry. A whole civilization was brought into being in the name of materialism. Today’s man, totally oblivious of God, rushed towards the acquisition of this ‘Paradise on Earth’ in the concrete forms of modern civilization. The scientific discovery of ‘cause and effect’ initially had a purely physical connotation, and although natural phenomena were now explained with reference to cause instead of God, this did not amount to a denial of God. It was the atheist thinkers who equated this to the denial of God.