Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins is "not an atheist" despite his claims, Creation Museum CEO and President Ken Ham recently asserted, because no true atheists exist as the Bible teaches that every person is born with an innate knowledge of God.
"Some Americans call themselves atheists - and many in other countries openly profess atheism, but as I explain in my article below, there are no atheists now, and there will be no atheists in eternity," Ham said in a Facebook post on Monday. The Creationist also linked to an article posted on his Answers in Genesis blog, in which he directly addresses prominent atheist author Richard Dawkins.
Ham first noted that Dawkins as in the past admitted he is not "absolutely sure about atheism." In making his case, Ham cited a 2013 interview between Dawkins and "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart, where the 74-year-old The God Delusion author was asked about what happens to people after they die.
Dawkins replied: "I don't know what happens to us, but I know that our consciousness is wrapped up in our brains. I know that our brains rot."
In responding to Dawkins' assertions, Ham writes, "So Richard Dawkins, a man who is so certain there is no God, is not totally certain about what's going to happen to him when he dies. And yet he speaks with certainty as he tries to indoctrinate people to believe in his religion of atheism!"
Atheism, Ham writes, is arguing is that "life is totally the result of natural processes. When you die, you cease to exist - or as Dawkins puts it, your brain will rot. Thus, when your life is over on this Earth, you will never know you even had such a life. Eventually, everyone will die - the whole universe will die a heat death - and so ultimately no one will even know anything existed!"
He continued: "So, from the perspective of a self-described atheist, why does it ultimately matter what anyone believes about anything? We can make whatever 'purpose' and 'meaning' for life that we want to during our brief existence - but in an ultimate sense, life is totally meaningless, hopeless, and purposeless."
Because God has placed the knowledge of God within each person, there cannot be any true atheists, Ham writes. He notes that people who claim to be atheists are "so aggressive" is because they know the truth, but do not admit it.
"They know God exists - the evidence is within them and all around them. But because of their sin nature, they don't want God. They are at war with God," he continued.
"Because the evidence within man and all around us in the creation is so strong, these atheists actively and aggressively attack Christianity and promote their atheism in order to 'suppress the truth in unrighteousness.'"
In the past, Dawkins has said that he will not debate Ham and often criticizes Creationism, or a literal interpretation of the Genesis story in the Bible. The Selfish Gene author has expressed a particular distaste for Young Earth Creationists, such as Ham, who believe the Earth is not billions, but only several thousands of years old.
The controversial professor has previously admitted that although in general he doesn't "despise individuals" and only their views, Young-Earth Creationists pass his "limits" on the issue. "I said I'd never despise individuals, just their views. But there are limits, and YE Creationists who refuse to look at evidence pass mine," he argued in an earlier Twitter post.
Dawkins has also defended human evolution, writing, "We are African apes and we are descended (as are chimpanzees) from extinct African apes." He added: "Modern monkeys are our cousins. We're not descended from them. But we're descended from ancestors which you could properly call monkeys."
Ham has in the past stated that Dawkins wants to impose his own "religion" of atheism at the exclusion of all others in response to Dawkins' assertion that religious parents indoctrinate their own children.
"Dawkins believes that children should be taught evolutionary naturalism as fact. He wants his religion of naturalism imposed on them. So children shouldn't be taught religion by their parents - they should be taught the religion of atheism by their teachers," Ham said in March. "All Dawkins is advocating is replacing one religion with another religion."
