I have heard many Christians refer to atheists as fools…”because that’s what the Bible calls them.” Psalm 14:1 and 53:1 both say “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” 

So why not join the biblical Psalmist and call atheists fools? Because it’s almost undoubtedly not atheists being described, but people who live as practical atheists regardless of what they profess to believe.

In biblical wisdom literature, foolishness is the opposite of wisdom. “The fool” is the one who embodies a lack of understanding of God, a disinterest in truth and wisdom and lives opposed to God’s ways, with evil behavior in their lives as the result. “The fool” is closely associated with “the wicked.” 

(Not to mention the fact that atheism was not something you would have come across often in the Ancient Near East. Every nation was very religious and believed in many gods. Atheism is a fairly recent phenomenon by comparison.) 

In both Psalm 14 and 53 the scope of the Psalm is the overall depravity of mankind and the total rejection of God by the human race as a whole. He says things like “The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt.” (vs. 2-3, ESV) 

But before people of God’s chosen nation can get to thinking the Psalmist is talking about everyone else, the Psalmist ends with “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion.” (vs. 7a)

So who is the fool? 

When the Psalmist, in this case David, says “The fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God,'” we miss a bit of what’s going on by the English translation. When the Hebrew author says that this person “says [something] in his heart,” he’s using a teaching idiom, a phrase that connotes the idea of teaching oneself or reinforcing something to oneself. “Says in his heart” is not the same as “pondering to himself.” He’s not talking about thinking. To speak into or upon the heart, in Hebrew thinking, is to reinforce a truth on a person that changes them. 

Our beliefs determine our actions, and our actions reinforce our beliefs. Everytime we act on an impulse we reinforce a belief in it, whether or not we cognitively/intellectually believe in it.  Given the prevalence of pornography usage in our culture and in the church I’ll use that as an example: 

Bill knows pornography usage is wrong and damaging on multiple levels. If Bill finds himself alone, bored, stressed, or whatever his triggers are, and is tempted, and decides to let his guard down and indulges, even though he knows it’s wrong, he is reinforcing a functional belief within himself that pornography sets him right, that pornography is where he goes to get fulfillment and happiness. A world in which porn satisfies is a world without God. A world in which any material, temporal thing satisfies is a world without God. Thus Bill, a follower of Jesus, is impressing upon his own heart the non-existence of God, even though mentally/intellectually he believes in God’s existence. 

Let’s be careful in labeling atheists as fools because they don’t believe in God, when functionally we all do this by our actions to our own detriment. The remedy? It’s the rest of Psalm 14:7: 

When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. 

Continuing to keep our eyes on the point in time in which all things will be made right and put to rest; intentionally keeping our eyes fixed on God’s solution to our problem, and walking in obedience because we have hope.