Do atheists believe in anything or is there absolutely nothing that is true?

The Christian Missionary posed a question this morning which I felt was worthy of a post of its own: Do atheists believe in anything or is there absolutely nothing that is true?

My answer to this question has been greatly informed by a series of lectures by University of Miami philosophy professor Colin McGinn entitled: The Modern Scholar: Discovering the Philosopher in You which I highly recommend. The first lecture on skepticism is available for free on iTunes.
The second lecture discusses "What is knowledge?" and explains that we generally accept that knowledge is a justified belief which is true.

The third lectures tackles the meaning of "What is truth?". McGinn explains that there are three theories of truth: the coherence theory, the utility theory and the correspondence theory. The coherence theory of truth states that the truth of any (true) proposition consists in its coherence with some specified set of propositions (i.e. something is true if it fits in with a set of beliefs which are accepted as true). Of course, the obvious problem with the coherence theory is that all the other propositions might be false. The utility theory of truth suggests that something is true (for example, jumping off a building will hurt me) by judging its utility. Again, it is easy to see this is wrong because it is the fact that something is true that makes it useful and not vice versa.

The accepted theory of truth is the correspondence theory which is the one that most people intuitively accept. The correspondence theory states that the truth or falsity of a statement is determined only by how it relates to the world and whether it accurately describes (i.e., corresponds with) that world. To use McGinn's example, I believe that I see a glass of water sitting next to me. Is that statement true? It is true if there actually is a glass of water there. Now I could be mistaken or I could be dreaming - it may be impossible for me to determine with 100% certainty whether that glass of water is there or not. However, the issue of whether one can determine truth is different than defining it.

So, after all that, I will answer the Christian Missionary's question as simply as I can. Atheists, as skeptics, believe in very little with absolute certainty. Most of us have confidence in a priori knowledge (i.e. knowledge which exists independent of experience, such as the laws of logic and mathematics). Despite residual uncertainty with respect to experiential a posteriori knowledge, we are quite content to lead our lives fairly certain that we are not brains in a vat or living in a matrix. We rely on the scientific method to explain nature to us, the origins of the universe and how life has evolved on earth. We don't have all the answers and may never have all the answers.

I have no difficulty with people longing for eternity or the concept of a supernatural creator. What concerns me is that devout Christians appear to have shut off their reasoning senses when it comes to God and the Bible. Most of them know perfectly well that almost anything is possible from a theoretical perspective. Most also know perfectly well that it is possible that there is no God (I would strongly disagree with them on the likelihood of the proposition). They are just unwilling to ponder about that possibility and what effect it would have on their lives because it goes to the core of their beings. I, for one, firmly believe that the Christian Missionary would not live his life any different if I could convince him that it is extremely likely there is no God aside from the fact that he would have alot of extra time on his hands.

Rick Warren certainly believes that he and his brethren would lead different lives if they did not believe in God. That is why I will have plenty to say about his chapter 6 of The Purpose Driven Life which is entitled: Life Is a Temporary Assignment. That instalment will be coming up shortly.

As always, thanks for tuning in.