 Some Dogmas of Religion does not contain a direct argument for the non-existence of God, but rather contains rebuttals of arguments for the existence of God. The Nature of Existence does contain a direct argument for atheism, which appears in chapter 43 of volume II. This argument is roughly as follows. At this point in the book, McTaggart believes that he has established that the universe consists of some number of immaterial spirits, each of which is a primary part of the universe. Roughly, to say that the xs form primary parts of y is to say that the way of carving up y into the xs is a privileged or fundamental way of carving up y. For an intuitive example, consider a sphere whose top half is blue and whose bottom half is red. Perhaps the sphere has infinitely many arbitrary undetached parts, but the way of carving the sphere into the top and the bottom half is a privileged way of carving it. McTaggart then argues that, if there is a God, then it is either identical with the sum of all that exists, or is the creator of all that is distinct from God, or is the mere guider and shaper of all that is distinct from God. God cannot be the sum of all that exists, since then God would be a person who is composed of other persons. But according to McTaggart, no person can have as a part another  person.[11]