One reason God lives rent-free in some atheists’ heads.
PixabayI know someone who is fiercely, even aggressively, atheistic. He posts constantly on social media about why God isn’t real and doesn’t hesitate to mock anyone who says otherwise.
But he wasn’t always like this.
Years ago, he and his wife attended the same church as my wife and me. He wasn’t especially passionate about his faith, but neither was he hostile toward it. Today, though, he’s something different, what some might call not just an atheist, but a “hatetheist,” openly contemptuous of belief and quick to ridicule those who hold it.
So, what changed?
I could be wrong, but having watched his life unfold, the shift seems less philosophical and more personal.
At one point, he had everything: his own successful business, a sprawling home, lake houses, boats, and even a plane. Life looked untouchable. Then it unraveled. His reputation in business soured, work dried up, and he lost nearly everything. Attempts to rebuild failed. Now he works a standard 9-to-5 job and lives in an RV.
And it was about this time he developed his atheism. Coincidence? You tell me.
Hating what isn’t real
Pastor Doug Wilson, who debated the late atheist Christopher Hitchens on multiple occasions, said that some atheists have two declarations: 1. There is no God; 2. I hate Him. The guy I know falls into this category.
Now, let me quickly add that this mindset is present in only some atheists and certainly not all. I know plenty of unbelievers who don’t rail against the idea of God and are very thoughtful and peaceful in their approach to the idea of His (non) existence. There’s no rage at the idea of God, and He’s not living rent-free like He is in my friend’s head.
In other words, they don’t get mad at Santa Claus because they don’t get what they want at Christmas.
For other unbelievers, though, the mindset seems to be, we’re not getting what we want and deserve, and we should be. And we need someone to blame other than the person in the mirror.
Scripture talks about the mind of the unbeliever being “hostile toward God” (Rom. 8:7) and “rage” being directed at the Creator (Ps. 2:1-3). But that’s a different kind of stiff-arming than what this is.
In his message, Mercy, Not Sacrifice, Tim Keller talks about two atheists he knows who aren’t married and are fuming over their singleness. Not just distressed; they’re mad.
They’ve told him that others who aren’t as good, kind, thoughtful, etc., as them have spouses, and they feel that is so unfair. The odd thing is, though, “fair” in this context has no place, given what life without God is, as Richard Dawkins wrote: “In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice.”
Keller says people in their shoes silently know down deep there is a power behind life, and they’re mad because a. that power hasn’t delivered for them or b. they’re unwilling to face their conscience that accuses them of committing faults that have led to their situation.
On that point, C. S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity: “The more you obey your conscience, the more your conscience will demand of you. And your natural self, which is thus being starved and hampered and worried at every turn, will get angrier and angrier.”
Bingo.
But what do you do with that anger? There are at least two directions to go.
The first is to take responsibility when the unpleasant things in life that come down on you are your fault. Your anger drives you to honestly look into the mirror and assign blame rather than upward. And to take steps to modify the behavior that robbed you.
But what about the times when life comes out of nowhere with a sucker punch, and you’re left blindsided through no fault of your own? Then you can direct your anger upwards, but you do it in the right way.
J. Todd Billings showcases how to do this in his excellent book Rejoicing in Lament, where he explores the provocative question of whether it is ever OK to outright vent at God. While some Christians say no, Billings notes that we see in Scripture, and especially in the Psalms, lamenting cries aren’t shy at pointing the finger at God for trouble the writer is experiencing, such as part of Psalm 66: “You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. You made men ride over our heads” (vv.11–12, my emphasis).
Billings and other theologians note that God put those psalms in His book for a reason — to show us that crying out to Him is not sinful, but rather an expression of faith. They point out that the psalms of lament have the author running not away from God, but to Him for help.
This being the case, we see that a proper venting out of our true feelings to God isn’t sinful. As an example, many overlook the fact that at the end of the book of Job, after all Job’s outbursts, God chastises Job’s friends and says, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has” (Job 42:7, my emphasis).
Miroslav Volf describes this fact powerfully: “Rage belongs before God … not in the reflectively managed and manicured form of a confession, but as a pre-reflective outburst from the depths of the soul. This is no mere cathartic discharge of pent-up aggression before the Almighty who ought to care. Much more significantly, by placing unattended rage before God we place both our unjust enemy and our own vengeful self face-to-face with a God who loves and does justice.”
In the end, the issue isn’t whether anger exists; it’s where it goes and what it reveals. For some, anger becomes a shield against accountability or a way to make sense of pain by assigning blame upward.
But the irony is hard to miss: the very intensity of that anger often betrays a deeper awareness that life is not random, that justice should exist, and that Someone ought to answer for it. The question, then, isn’t whether we feel outrage when life collapses or disappoints us, but whether that outrage pushes us away from truth or drives us toward it.
The better path, as Scripture and experience both show, is not to suppress anger or weaponize it against God, but to bring it honestly before Him. Rage that runs from God hardens; rage that runs to Him transforms. One leads to bitterness and blame, the other to clarity, humility, and ultimately healing.
And perhaps that’s the quiet reason God never really leaves some professing atheists’ thoughts because, even in their resistance, they haven’t fully escaped the One they’re still, in some way, reaching for.
Robin Schumacher is an accomplished software executive and Christian apologist who has written many articles, authored and contributed to several Christian books, appeared on nationally syndicated radio programs, and presented at apologetic events. He holds a BS in Business, Master's in Christian apologetics and a Ph.D. in New Testament. His latest book is, A Confident Faith: Winning people to Christ with the apologetics of the Apostle Paul.
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