The "Why" Matters
"The first effect of not believing in God is to believe in anything," G. K. Chesterton is purported to have said . (As is often the case with famous quotations, this one apparently has not been found in the written record.) Was the famous writer and Christian correct? I would say: it depends. Depends on what? On why a particular person stops believing in the existence of God. If someone stops believing in the Abrahamic God because it failed to fulfill what the person was--and still is --looking for in a deity, then such a person might well embrace a substitute god, even a worldly one like the state and especially the total state complete with a fuhrer. I think that probably describes many people. If, on the other hand, a person abandons belief in God because of a commitment to reason, then that person will not be in the market for an alternative god, even a worldly one like the state or a fuhrer. He will understand that reason and logic simply do not permit contradictions ...