Pastor and self-described "Christian apologist" Phil Vander Ploeg asserted over the weekend that world's "only" existing atheists live in "America and Europe."

During his Sunday sermon at First Baptist Spartanburg in South Carolina, Ploeg explained that people often asked him "why doesn't God make himself more obvious."

"Why doesn't God just walk into the room one day and say, 'Hello, I'm God, I'm real,' and then leave?" the pastor said. "God has revealed himself far more than some people want to acknowledge. It's obvious."

"The only atheists in the world live in America and Europe," he continued. "Everyone else knows there's a god. But we've developed a worldview in the West that justifies our actions. That's why we don't believe in God."

In fact, a 2012 Gallup International poll found that only a small percentage of the world's population of atheists live in Europe or the United States.

"China has the highest amount of atheists living in a single country with nearly 50 per cent of its population describing themselves as non-believers," according to Gallup International. "Around 47 per cent of people living in China describe themselves as atheists compared to an average of 13 per cent across the world."