Do atheists lack a belief in God?

A common rebuttal from atheists regarding their responsibility to defend their own view is to say that they simply do not have a belief. This, according to their view, absolves them from any obligation to shoulder a burden of proof. They claim that not believing God exists is substantially different from saying God does not exist.

One such atheist once explained this by using the illustration of a jar of jellybeans. He said if someone told him there were 500 jellybeans in the jar, he might not believe them. But that does not mean that he believes there are not 500 jellybeans in the jar. Therefore, this is an example of a lack of belief and is parallel to the atheist's lack of belief in God.

The problem with this illustration is, it is not parallel. The number of jellybeans in the jar does not have any implications in how a person lives his or her life. How I treat other people is not impacted by whether or not I believe there are 500 jellybeans. Even taking and eating a handful of the jellybeans is not affected by whether or not I believe there are 500 of them in the jar.

Do Christians decide if God is real?

A while back, I wrote about whether it is appropriate for Christians put reason above God's Word when it
comes to belief in Christ. You might think I'm repeating myself, here. I assure you, this is a different thing. The other post had to do with prioritizing reason above God's revelation. This one has to do with our role in belief.

In other words, while the previous post discussed whether or not reason should be prioritized over God's Word when it comes to understanding what is true and what is not, today I want to look at whether God's existence is dependent on our own personal beliefs about Him. It is an important distinction to make and hopefully it is one which can be understood properly. It essentially comes down to the question, "Do we create God by believing in Him?"

Do beliefs have moral qualities?

With all the political hot topics being bandied about regarding things like abortion, religious freedom, same-sex marriage and health care, as well as recent SCOTUS decisions, I thought this would be a good time to write a new post. Although I have not prepared a lot of material to keep things going, this seemed like something which needed to be addressed.

I have heard a lot of talk on both sides of the issues listed above and have noticed how these conversations have a tendency to degenerate and lead to quarrels, threats and even physical violence! This has gotten me thinking about not only the topics, but the way they are engaged.