Christ is the Way of True Common Sense: A Critique of Atheism is the Way of Common Sense by Madalyn O’Hair (This is part I following the introduction)

Part One – Presuppositions

Part One of the essay I will attempt to uncover some of the author’s deeper assumptions.

Presuppositions
Fundamentally O’Hair believes there is no God. She sees the reality of life as one that is fully materialistic and rejects anything supernatural. This presupposition leads to her other beliefs which are summarized below.

1. Belief in God is at best a fairy tale that grown people should not even consider let alone children, and at its worst is a means to manipulate and control people. She goes further in providing that “religionists” promote a lie that does not fit with the reality of this world. God is a delusion that pulls people away from the truth.

2. Belief in God is a waste of time that takes the focus away from the “real” work that is at hand namely to love your fellow man and to do good in society. Prayer is useless because if there is no God, then prayers are merely empty words being spoken out loud. The most loving thing to do for someone is to do good to them directly rather than to convert or manipulate an individual as most religious people who seek to do. There is no God, so you have to do it yourself.

3. Belief in God is a philosophy of death whereas materialism is a philosophy of life. What she means by this is that many religions seek converts to die for a future hope in heaven whereas the philosophy of materialism is a religion that is for the here and now, a philosophy that promotes living life to the fullest here on earth and not for some future “pie in the sky.”

4. Belief in God exalts man to special place over the rest of nature whereas O’Hair believes men are animals and must share the earth’s resources with all the other animals. Men may be more evolved than other animals, but that does not make them any better. Man should not exploit other men or nature.

O’Hair concludes her article by looking to the philosophy of Immanuel Kant in creating an ethic to live by. She mentions three suggestions that should help in understanding rules and conducts and modes of morality this is what she calls the “categorical imperative.”

1. Treat ourselves and others as ends in themselves and not as means to an end.
2. Act so that any of your actions could be made into universal laws.
3. Search for truth or seek knowledge.

When talking about the categorical imperative, O’Hair says that she tries her best to follow these ideals but fall quite short. Again it is quite commendable that O’Hair follows these ideals.

It is clear that her understanding of life and the accumulation of these ideals stem from her worldview that as part of a material world, man is an animal wanting to achieve the next level of evolution. At a higher level, man will be able to control nature, man is capable of creating a social system based on reason and justice. One’s faith should be in one’s fellow man and his ability to transform the world by his own efforts. (105) And this understanding is all done apart from the reality of God or any supernatural forces.

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