If there is no God, then there can be no Atheism. There is Atheism. Therefore, there is a God. To put the argument in symbolic form it looks like this: ~G --> ~A/ A/ .: G. Or, to put it another way: the necessary preconditions for the inteligibility/possibility of Atheism is Theism. Metaphors abound: theism is the lap the atheist must sit on in order to slap God in the face. Triune theism is the soil the atheist must till in order to plant weeds of unbelief. Holy Ghost oxygen is the air the atheist must breath in order to exhale insults against Christ. Et cetera.

This is just your everyday run-of-the-mill Modus Tollens argument. Pretty basic form of argumentation. Something anyone would learn in a Logic 101 class. It is valid- i.e, the conclusion follows from the premises. But is it sound?- i.e., can you hear the sound of approaching hoofbeats Wink

To put the argument in more practical terms: can one be an atheist in a world that has not already been influenced (to a greater extent than not) by Christendom? To be quite frank, how many atheists are there who are not baptized apostate Christians? In other words, if no Christendom then no atheists. There are atheists. Therefore, there must have been Christendom.

BTW, for all you atheists. The book I recommend you read is Against Christianity, by Peter Leithart. Here is a short excerpt from the opening page,

"The Bible never mentions Christianity. It does not preach Christianity, nor does it encourage us to preach Christianity. Paul did not preach Christianity, nor did any of the other apostles. During centuries when the Church was strong and vibrant, she did not preach Christianity either. Christianity, like Judaism and "Yahwism," is an invention of biblical scholars, theologians, and politicians, and one of its chief effects is to keep Christians and the Church in their proper marginal place. The Bible speaks of Christians and of the Church, but Christianity is gnostic, and the Church firmly rejected gnosticism from her earliest days."

And in the following paragraph, he says, "Christianity is the heresy of heresies."

Atheists love Christianity. Christians should love the Church and Christendom.

Sound too good to be true? That's because truth is always stranger than fiction.

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"The necessary precondition for the inteligibility/possibility of atheism, is theism. The necessary cultural precondition for the making of an atheist, is apostate Christendom." -Oecolampadius Van Till