The popularity of some memes tend to fluctuate for some reason or another. One meme which has become popular again with internet atheists recently has Ricky Gervais saying:
There have been nearly 3000 Gods so far but only yours actually exists. The others are silly made up nonsense. But not yours. Yours is real.
Interacting with this meme is a bit difficult because it’s not really making a claim. The best I can do at this point is give different interpretations of what it’s trying to say in the form of a question or claim and respond to those. Here are some possible interpretations:
- “Why do you believe your god exists but others don’t?”
- “What is the probability that your god exists when all these countless others, don’t?”
- “Did you disprove all the other gods in order to come to the conclusion that yours exists?”
- “If you applied the same methods you used to disprove other gods to yours, then you wouldn’t believe in a god.”
- “You’re an atheist regarding the existence of all those other gods, right? Well, I just go step further and say the same regarding the god you believe in.”
“Why do you believe your god exists but not the others?”
Because there is good evidence justifying the belief that God exists. A lot of the time, atheists try to place God, who is an immaterial and necessary being, in the same category with Harry Potter, the Flying Spaghetti monster, or Zeus. This is a fundamental error. Regarding the first two examples, see:
Refuting Fallacious comparisons of God to Harry Potter, Santa Claus and other Fictional Characters.
As for Zeus or Thor (whom I’m pretty sure Ricky had in mind when he said this) both are competing explanations for thunder or lightening people gave in the past. They aren’t an immaterial necessarily existent deity with the power to create from nothing and bring about the existence of the universe, for example. To see arguments (which are evidence, though not scientific evidence) for the existence of God see:
Divine Certainty: A Qur’anic and Philosophical Argument for God
“What is the probability that your god exists when all these countless others, don’t?”
The probability of existence is incredibly high (I am quite certain) and this is due to the evidence we have. If it’s being argued that the nonexistence of countless alleged deities like Zeus or Thor somehow makes God less likely to exist, than that is fallacious. It would be similar to saying that 2+2 doesn’t equal 4 since all other answers to the question are false. 2+2 not being 3 has no effect on the probability of it being 4.
“Did you disprove all the other gods in order to come to the conclusion that yours exists?”
I don’t need to disprove all the other gods in order to come such a conclusion. All I need to do is prove God exists. If God exists, then Zeus, Thor, or whatever have you, can’t exist.
“If you applied the same methods you used to disprove other gods to yours, then you wouldn’t believe in a god.”
But I do apply the same methods. Where are the valid and sound arguments for Zeus, Thor, etc?
“You’re an atheist regarding the existence of all those other gods, right? Well, I just go step further and say the same regarding the god you believe in.”
This question is based on a misunderstanding of how language works. There aren't degrees of theism, its binary, this is to say that you either are one, or aren't. For example, it would be irrational for someone to say that they are a vegetarian when it comes to eating cows (even though they eat lamb) or an anarchist when it comes republics (even though they advocate for a direct democracy). The point of this misuse of language is to make atheism sound less radical than it really is.
As it stands, I've shared 5 possible interpretations of what the meme might be trying to argue. If I think of another or come across something else trying to explain it in the best way possible, I’ll add it then respond to it as well.
