Isaac Asimov, on why he was an atheist

When asked if he was an “atheist” in an interview in 1982, Asimov replied:

“I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.”

“I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.”

How sad that an educated, otherwise well-rounded intellect would be willing to make such an ignorant statement!  It makes one wonder whether or not he “believed” in wind, because you can’t “see” it.  You can feel it, you can hear it rustling through the trees, and you can see leaves trembling in a breeze, etc., but you can’t SEE wind.  Therefore, “wind” must not exist…

Asimov admitted he didn’t have the evidence to prove that God doesn’t exit, yet he chose to go with his “gut feeling” that it wasn’t worth his time - which reveals unbelievable arrogance on his part, because he was, in reality, too dense to recognize the “Master Engineer” of a well-oiled universe where everything works in perfect tandem.

If Asimov were alive today, I would have this to say to him:  “If there is the 100 gazillion in 1 chance that this universe is a result of something akin to the "big bang" theory, then there must also be a respective equal chance that there exists a God who created it. As each probability is evaluated, we would surely see that the evidence is in more favor of a Master Engineer being responsible for Creation, rather than dice rolling "lucky seven" a gazillion times in a row”….

Asimov said about religious education:

"I would not be satisfied to have my kids choose to be religious without trying to argue them out of it, just as I would not be satisfied to have them decide to smoke regularly or engage in any other practice I consider detrimental to mind or body."

How is the idea of a Creator “detrimental to the mind or body”?  What a ludicrous and disgusting statement!  In other words what this “genius” was saying was, “I control my children and their every thought, and I insist they believe what I believe because, unless they believe what I believe, they’ll get sick.”

Even YHWH didn’t do THAT to us!  He GAVE us “free will.”  (See Deuteronomy 30:19, 20; Isaiah 48:18; Ecclesiastes 9:10; Proverbs 21:5 and Matthew 22:37, to mention a few!)

In his last volume of autobiography, Asimov wrote,

“If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul.”

That last sentence is ironically, almost correct.  “Almost” in that there is no such thing as a “righteous atheist.”  YHWH made the Rules for holy living, and unless an atheist follows those Rules, he isn’t righteous! Period.

And yes, God DOESN’T like money-grubbing, hypocritical preachers who wouldn’t know The Word if they fell on it.  Those preachers don’t belong to Him.  But, judging from what one can see throughout Scripture, God ALSO couldn’t care less about atheists.  He once wiped out the entire world by flood - a world that was busy ignoring Him! 

“If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words….” 

Well, how lucky for Asimov that God gave him a brain with which to THINK and CHOOSE “what” to believe!  Yes, we ARE free to “believe” in whatever “god” we wish – but that doesn’t negate the fact that YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is THE CREATOR and everything else is make-believe! 

According to Scripture (Genesis 1) YHWH made the universe and everything in it, including human life.  He set some Divine Rules for humans to follow – and if those rules are followed by those who know and “believe” in Him, they get to have eternal life.  Everyone else gets to be worm fodder – a thing Asimov will discover when he is awakened on Judgment Day, long enough to find out just how badly he messed up by thinking he was smarter that the One who made him!

YHWH gave us all free will … the free will to “believe” in Him and do HIS will … or not.

I used to love to read Asimov before I became a Believer.  Looking back, I wish I hadn’t helped to make this atheist rich – but then, at least I helped to make his brief earthly life a happy one and I hope he enjoyed it while it lasted because, for Asimov, that was it; his life was just a tiny blip in eternity.  He is dead and gone.

YHWH is still here, and will be forever.