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endangered. At the present time thousands of these practical atheists belong to the American
Association for the Advancement of Atheism.
Theoretical atheists are of a different kind. They are usually of a more intellectual type and
attempt to justify the assertion that there is no God by rational argumentation. Prof. Flint
distinguishes three kinds of theoretical atheism, namely, (1) dogmatic atheism, which flatly
denies that there is a Divine Being; (2) sceptical atheism, which doubts the ability of the human
mind to determine, whether or not there is a God; and (3) critical atheism, which maintains that
there is no valid proof for the existence of God. These often go hand in hand, but even the most
modest of them really pronounces all belief in God a delusion.[Anti-Theistic Theories, p. 4 f.] In
this division, it will be noticed, agnosticism also appears as a sort of atheism, a classification
which many agnostics resent. But it should be borne in mind that agnosticism respecting the
existence of God, while allowing the possibility of His reality, leaves us without an object of
worship and adoration just as much as dogmatic atheism does. However the real atheist is the
dogmatic atheist, the man who makes the positive assertion that there is no God. Such an
assertion may mean one of two things: either that he recognizes no god of any kind, sets up no
idol for himself, or that he does not recognize the God of Scripture. Now there are very few
atheists who do not in practical life fashion some sort of god for themselves. There is a far
greater number who theoretically set aside any and every god; and there is a still greater
number that has broken with the God of Scripture. Theoretical atheism is generally rooted in
some scientific or philosophical theory. Materialistic Monism in its various forms and atheism
usually go hand in hand. Absolute subjective Idealism may still leave us the idea of God, but
denies that there is any corresponding reality. To the modern Humanist “God” simply means
“the Spirit of humanity,” “the Sense of wholeness,” “the Racial Goal” and other abstractions of
that kind. Other theories not only leave room for God, but also pretend to maintain His
existence, but certainly exclude the God of theism, a supreme personal Being, Creator,
Preserver, and Ruler of the universe, distinct from His creation, and yet everywhere present in
it. Pantheism merges the natural and supernatural, the finite and infinite, into one substance. It
often speaks of God as the hidden ground of the phenomenal world, but does not conceive of
Him as personal, and therefore as endowed with intelligence and will. It boldly declares that all
is God, and thus engages in what Brightman calls “the expansion of God,” so that we get “too
much of God,” seeing that He also includes all the evil of the world. It excludes the God of
Scripture, and in so far is clearly atheistic. Spinoza may be called “the God-intoxicated man,”
but his God is certainly not the God whom Christians worship and adore. Surely, there can be
no doubt about the presence of theoretical atheists in the world. When David Hume expressed
doubt as to the existence of a dogmatic atheist, Baron d’Holbach replied, “My dear sir, you are
at this moment sitting at table with seventeen such persons.” They who are agnostic respecting