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Books

The Making of An Atheist by Jason Spiegel

Matt DeStefano is unswayed by an argument explaining atheism by immorality.

C.S. Lewis had great disdain for the argument that theism was simply a matter of wish-fulfillment – that a belief in God’s existence was just a manifestation of a desire for an eternal afterlife. However, he also had sharp words for arguments that went in reverse – that disbelief in God is just due to fear of an eternal afterlife – which is the main argument offered by Jason Spiegel in this book. As Lewis wrote, “Men wish on both sides: and again, there is fear-fulfillment as well as wish-fulfillment, and hypochondriac temperaments will always tend to think that true what they most wish to be false… as a general explanation of [either atheism or theism] they will not help us” (On Obstinacy in Belief, 1960).

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