A Popular Argument for Atheism Reconsidered

Exploring the advancement of science from an open theist’s perspective

There is a well-known argument against theism that goes something like this:

Originally it was believed that the supernatural realm was responsible for everything — the rain, earthquakes, natural disasters, mental illness, and of course biological complexity. Yet, as science advanced it became clear that most of the things presumed to be supernaturally caused were, in fact, fully explicable by natural means.

And so if this trend continues it is likely that the existence of God will be rendered less and less probable until his existence will be completely disproven.

This is one of those arguments that does seem convincing on its face. But I can’t help but feel it’s missing a step somewhere.

I propose this thought experiment to demonstrate.

We’ll make two assumptions to simplify the thought process:

Given those two assumptions, it would be reasonable for us to believe that everything we experience is a direct consequence of divine intervention, just as many of the ancients did. For all we know, God not only created animals, for instance, but he literally willed each one into existence out of thin air.

Like… ‘poof’ there’s a rhino. And ‘boom!’ there’s a pony!

Then, we learn about re-production and we realize that there is a complex mechanism by which rhinos and ponies come into existence.

Would it follow that that discovery casts doubt on our belief that an intelligent mind is the source of everything?

If we consider our two basic assumptions:

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