Atheism Myths
Atheism & Satan.
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Myth:
Atheists worship Satan.
Response:
Here, we encounter a Christian assumption that, for some reason, only their god is
relevant to the atheist; and if the atheist does not believe in their god, then they
must worship the antithesis of their god, Satan. But the fact of the matter is,
atheists who don't believe in a god also aren't going to believe in the god's
supernatural competitor, either.
One scriptural source for the above claim may come from Matthew:
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)
Assuming that the believer interprets "mammon" to include Satan, this verse claims we must either love God and hate Satan or love Satan and hate God. Atheists obviously do not love and serve God, so they must love and serve Satan.
Such an argument is invalid, however. First, it assumes the absolute truth of the Bible, or at least of that particular verse. This is a circular argument because it assumes something which is at the heart of the disagreement between the atheist and the Christian. Second, it is an example a False Dilemma fallacy because it assumes that the above are the only two choices. The idea that there may not exist any God or Satan, which would open up a wealth of other possibilities, does not seem to occur to the believer.
The closest thing there is to atheist Satan-worshippers are atheists who treat Satan as a sort of metaphorical symbol for particular principles. It is a bit of a stretch to say that they "worship" this principle, though - how does one "worship" an abstract idea? Nevertheless, even if we do allow that it is a form of "worship," their numbers are small and most atheists do not fall into this category.
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