The Case for Atheism

This educational lecture reviews the arguments that serve as the basis for atheism.

Natural science explains the whole of physical reality in terms of sub-microscopic entities and physical laws which govern them from all eternity, and therefore is no need for any such hypothesis as the classical conception of supernatural powers, including God.

Most materialists maintain that the cosmos has always existed in some form. Therefore, there is no need for a supernatural creator to initially bring it into existence. Things exist because of “existential inertia,” that is, they exist because they have always existed and have no need for a cause to create or begin their existence.

The naturalistic explanation of Darwinian evolution is all that is needed to explain the appearance of new and higher forms of living things. Even human beings are simply very complex organisms that have evolved brains that can “compute,” using superior imaginative powers of sensation. If free will does exist, Heisenberg’s indeterminacy principle can explain it.

In this first of two videos, Dr. Dennis Bonnette makes the case for atheism by offering a complete explanation of all reality without recourse to any forces or entities beyond mere physical matter.

While Dr. Bonnette is not himself an atheistic or scientific materialist, he maintains that it is critically important to understand fully the best possible arguments for any philosophical position.

Be sure to watch the second part of this lecture series, in which Dr. Bonnette takes apart scientific materialism, to thoroughly refute atheism.

Dr. Dennis Bonnette retired in 2003 as a Full Professor of Philosophy at Niagara University. His most recent book is Rational Responses to Skepticism (2022).