Brief Answer:
It’s a clever remark, but that implied small difference can have monumental impact, and make all the difference.

Detailed Answer:
This challenge, notably posed by Richard Dawkins on the Joe Rogan podcast (Joe Rogan podcast (Rogan_Dawkins Episode #1366, 27:01–27:25) and by Ricky Gervais during a Stephen Colbert interview, suggests that Christians and atheists both dismiss countless gods throughout history, and an atheist simply takes it a step further by not believing in yours.

To capture the essence of this challenge, consider these examples from social media:

  • “There have been nearly 3,000 gods, but only yours is real? The others are just nonsense?”
  • “Thousands of religions and gods exist, but don’t worry—yours is the only correct one.”
  • “With over 30,000 religions and 5,000 versions of Christianity, only ‘yours’ is right. You’re a joke.”
  • “Roughly 4,200 religions, and yours is the only one that matters? You must think everyone else is foolish?”
  • Godisimaginary.com has even made this “proof #28” in their list of reasons they believe God is imaginary.

While these remarks may sound amusing and catchy for social media, we must ask: Are they valid? During his conversation with Richard Dawkins, Joe Rogan claimed, “That’s a home run.” No Joe, it’s more of a swing and a miss.

This challenge commits a “category error,” or an assumption of equivalency between all the different beliefs

Dawkins and Rogan’s claim would be reasonable, if the other gods they refer to were all equally reasonable, documented, and supported by the evidence. However, this is not the case. 

If you assume the biblical God is equivalent to the others, you expose yourself as one who has not checked the evidential support – want to hear some? 

The other claims of Gods are reasonable to reject, due to lack of reasonable evidential support, but the denial of just one more, trying to nonchalantly make it seem like no difference – can make all the difference – because one of these claims is not like the others (as the old Sesame Street teaching song explains).

Christianity is unique among worldview beliefs as its claims are rooted in history, if the resurrection did not occur, then the belief can be falsified. And further rooted in checks and evidence provided through science, philosophy and other fields of study, on a level absolutely unique, which no other belief system, including atheism and agnosticism can reach. 

Would you like to discuss some of these differences? 

Let’s try this logic in an example and you are in the jury

A defense lawyer in court could say, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you all believe 7.8 billion other people in the world are innocent of the murder of the victim. Why not just believe one person further, my client, is innocent?” Do you see how this is a massive mental miss.