The Village Atheist

You may remember the old “village atheist” trick of putting a watch on the podium and saying, “Now, if there is a God, in five minutes he must strike me dead.” Not a single person who has given that challenge has ever received a response. This whole routine is a piece of Americana that may be on the verge of being forgotten.

People like the nineteenth-century orator Bob Ingersoll and others used to go across the country and try to bait churches with this kind of thing. As if that was really proof! It’s the equivalent of an ant walking through your room and saying, “If there is a person up there reading a book, in five minutes he will throw the book down on me.”