The title, “Atheism, the Enemy of Civilization,” is at the head of a treatise, something of an insult, but it nevertheless states a fact. It is a slight insult in that the most deep-seated enmity of atheism is rather directed against the true God, as even the term itself implies. It is, as a matter of fact, the enemy of civilization only as the inevitable result of being the inveterate enemy of God. God’s opponents, inimical to man’s Creator, are the foe of man-and the image of God in man. That the atheist is the enemy of civilization has been demonstrated from the beginning of civilization itself. Modern atheist sociologists and anthropologists will deny this, but since the Tower of Babel, the atheist has endeavored to make this world, God’s workshop, a society of Satan. Scripture has the last word, as in everything else, on this “ism,” noted in Psalm 14:1, “The fool hath said in his heart, ‘There is no God!’ They (atheists) are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.” The atheist has done more than any other to wreck the world. 

H.G. Wells, the English atheist historian, refers to his intellectual niche in the words “We godless people . . .” (Crux Ansata, XXI). He conceived of atheism as the religious goal of evolution. This, to the Christian, is saying no more than that atheism is the goal of pseudo science. Certainly a false science will produce an outlook of infidelity, Wells was an enemy of Protestantism, as much as he was of Romanism, teaching that Protestantism leads to atheism, for, to him, “the ultimate Protestant” is one who “has no scrap of religious belief left in him” (ibid., XVIII). 

Atheism is the enemy of science. Darwin, the father of evolutionism, was no Christian, but neither may we say he was an atheist, even though the system which bears his name is atheistic, bestial and has never produced a really colossal scientific leader. Darwinism, strictly, is not science. It is a very unsettling and unsettled interpretation of science. The true scientists were men not bearing the brand of atheist, but men like Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, Isaac Newton, and Mendel. 

Atheism is the enemy of society. These God-deniers are not pleasant, winsome personalities. The notorious, contemporaneous Mrs. Madelyn Murray is living proof of this. Wherever in the world you meet with them, you cannot bear long to be in their presence, even out of curiosity. God Himself cannot stand them and only tolerates with infinite longsuffering these vessels of wrath preordained to destruction. When the Lord, using the Flood as a besom of destruction, swept the face of the, earth clear of skeptics, He showed early in history what He thought of atheists. 

A great wave of atheism sweeps our country. The government now forbids the use of prayer and Bible reading in the public schools. These schools with our colleges and universities teach an atheistic philosophy, which leads to despair and moral degradation. Atheists are not noted for upright moral conduct. The American Association for Advancement of Atheism (4-A) in its 1928 report says that its first “Damned Souls Society” was organized at Rochester University, N.Y., one of the purposes of which was to secure “greater sex freedom, of which the church has been and is the greatest enemy.” Atheist literature specializes in obscenity. In the 4-A 1929 report is an article entitled, “The Cohabitation of Church and State.” It regards the church as “Uncle Sam’s Mistress.” Atheism is despicable, revolting and guilty of the unpardonable sin in its blasphemous charge that it was the Holy Ghost who “had that little affair with the Virgin Mary.” Small wonder the 4-A claims to be a “wrecking company,” the motto of which is “Kill the Beast” (religion). It states profanely, “To hell with compromise—the 4-A is here to ensure a complete job in the wrecking of religion.” History shows that atheism is the wrecker of society. The Ten Demands of the 4-A also show this: 1) Taxation of church property. 2) Elimination of chaplains and sectarians from public pay rolls. 3) Abrogation of laws enforcing Christian morals and restricting the rights of atheists. 4) Abolition of the oath in courts and at inaugurations. 5) Nonissuance of religious proclamations by chief executives. 6) Removal of “In God We Trust” from our currency, and the cross from above the flag. 7) Exclusion of the Bible as a sacred book from the public schools. 8) Suppression of the bootlegging of religion through dismissing pupils from religious instruction during school hours. 9) Secularization of marriage, with divorce upon request. 10) Repeal of anti-evolution and anti-birth-control laws. These, it is well-known, are also the objectives of the Communist party in this country and of the National Council of Churches. 

Atheism is the enemy of the state. Atheism has never built a state. It boasts of being empire builders, but it is a wrecking crew which ruins the state, as French atheism did that nation, which since the Reign of Terror, a natural product of atheism, to this day renders France a mediocre “power” in the world. Russia, too,the atheist country of the world, is representative of totalitarianism, tyranny, terror, torture and treason. 

Atheism is the enemy of the church. In the 1931 report of the 4-A it is recorded that “the Liberals and the Modernists . . . the Fosdicks, the Matthews . . . toss out first the Garden of Eden and the Flood, followed by the Virgin Birth, Atonement, and the Resurrection. Then they gain a victory by getting rid of Hell and Heaven . . . the Devil and God, though with much ado they keep . . . the last. They may save the vessel of ecclesiasticism, but how long will man sail the seas in an empty ship? They will go ashore and enjoy life with the atheists. We welcome the aid of the Modernists and pledge them our fullest cooperation in ridding the world of Fundamentalism . . .” There is also reported this item: “The supreme literary honor was conferred last year upon an avowed atheist, when the Nobel Prize was given to Sinclair Lewis, author of ‘Main Street’ and “Elmer Gantry” . . . a terrific indictment of evangelical religion.” The newsstands and paper-back book stores are overloaded with this kind of atheism. 

The June, 1933 4-A report states, “Most denominational schools . . . even when controlled by Fundamentalists, are often compelled to employ Infidels, who are hypocrites from necessity. Members of the 4-A are teaching in Catholic and Fundamentalist Colleges . . . Modernism is unworthy of serious notice. It is intellectual mush . . . Much as we dislike Modernists because of their illogical compromising, we must recognize that, for many, modernism is but a stopover on the road to Atheism…We should train our guns principally on such religious standpatters as the Roma., Catholic Church and the Protestant hotbeds of Fundamentalism . . .” At this point, we should keep in mind that Pelagianism (humanism) leads to semi-Pelagianism, which leads to Arminianism, which leads to Modernism, which leads to Atheism. The great Toplady was most perceptive when he said, “Arminianism is atheism.” “Arminianism has paved the way . . . to Atheism.” Arminianism is “Atheism in masquerade.” 

Atheism is an enemy of atheism. The origin of the world atheists trace to chance. But what chance they take in the denial of God—beyond all reason1 The atheist, who deserves no better title than Fool, says there is no God. Is it not reasonable to suppose there may be one for all he knows? He has discovered no God out in space, but how much of space has he explored? Has he searched all the shadow sides of all the planets, their satellites, and of all the galaxies of space? What would we think of a child who denies his fathers existence because he has been unable to find him in the dark? What does he gain by his denial of God? Freedom of conscience, he says, liberty to do as he pleases without interference of divine laws. His freedom, however, is that of the locomotive going off the trestle, of the body falling over the precipice, of the rotten tomato smashing into a brick wall. His pleasure is that of drunken swine swilling on festering, maggot-infested carrion. If there be a God, is it not reasonable to suppose that if I trust and obey Him I gain a happy eternity; but if there be no God, I lose nothing but my sordid filth, by firmly believing there is one? By believing in God I lose nothing; but by denying Him I jeopardize my eternal destiny. I lose His favor, His kingdom and eternal life for endless punishment. Is it reasonable to avoid this line of argument? If the atheist should be wrong, and he is, the only liberty he gains is to violate himself here, and to be eternally despised hereafter. The atheist is his own worst enemy. As well as being against every man, he opposes himself. His philosophy is like a pulled firing pin on a hand grenade which sticks to him like glue. It is ready to blow up in his own face. Bildad perfectly prophesies his end in Job 18:7-21. “His own counsel shall cast him down. Terrors shall make him afraid on every side. Destruction shall be ready at his side. The firstborn of death shall devour his strength. His confidence shall be rooted out, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. His remembrance shall perish from the earth. He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted. And this is the place of him that knoweth not God.” It would be the perfection of justice for hell to bar all others from its dominions, if it refused atheists.