Why not be against Satan?

First, thanks for your very quick response. You are true to your word about responding.

Second, I’m ok with you posting our correspondence under such a condition.

Now, let me get to a short response. I don’t think the burden of proof is on the theist alone. Anyone who makes a claim, whether “there is a God” or “there is know god,” should then be able to provide support for their position. Atheism by default is incorrect. Having a website named “Iamanatheist,com” is a claim and therefore some burden of proof does lie on you.

In truth, neither of us can say “I know there is or is no god.” That would require us to be all knowing. We can only say “I believe…” Belief only requires us to be more than half convinced our argument is true. I am more than half convinced there is a Creator and you are more than half convinced there is not.

If I may, let me provide a topic upon which you may respond. We can take turns providing, once we’ve explored a topic.

Topic: Christians claim man is “fallen”. What is stance and why?

I agree that anyone who claims that God does or does not exist has the burden of proof. However, I make neither claim, so the burden of proof is not on me. My claim is that I have seen no compelling evidence that deities exists.

I agree that I bear the burden of proof for my claim “I am an atheist,” but I’d say that is either a trivial item or an unprovable one. I am an atheist in the sense that I am not convinced that deities exist and therefore have no belief in God. I can’t prove to you that I have this belief (I could be lying), so you’ll have to take my word for it in the same way that I take your word when you say you are not an atheist.

I would disagree with the statement, “Atheism by default is incorrect.” My guess is that people generally are, by default, atheists until they are introduced to the concept of religion. I don’t know if this has been studied, however.

You say that neither of us can state with certainty that God does or does not exist (which makes you a theistic agnostic — one of the few that has written to me). Many theists would disagree with this point, as they believe there is solid proof that God exists. I agree that nobody can prove that God does not exist (although certain descriptions of God may be able to be proven to be impossible).

You are right that I am more than half convinced that God does not exist. To clarify, I currently believe the odds of a creator existing to be vanishingly small. If you would like to describe me as someone who does not believe that God exists, that’s fine with me — it’s still distinct from someone who claims that God definitely does not exist.

In my opinion, you give a false impression of our positions by saying that each of us is more than half convinced. It seems to me that it would take quite a bit of evidence to even half convince someone that a supreme being exists. On the other hand, no evidence is needed to not convince someone that a supreme being exists. If you have even half a belief that God exists, you should have a very compelling argument for the existence of God to offer me.

You end by asking, “What is stance and why?”. I’m afraid I don’t understand this question. Can you explain further?

Category: About atheism, Discussion | Tags: | Be the First to Comment »

Why not be against Satan?

Thanks for responding to my e-mail. Okay I understand that you probably are swamped by e-mails but I have to tell you that really I would hope that you would respond to me personally but that is up to you. I have given you my e-mail because I really cannot beg you to accept what I have said or will say but only to persuade you. It’s like trying to make someone love you when really that choice is up to them. I am only trying to persuade people about who Christ is not in my point of view but His and that I accepted it that way and it’s what I KNOW that this is the only way and I can either except what He says about it or I can reject Him. You see He has given us that choice and you believe the way you do because that is your choice. I am NOT trying to argue my point and that I am right. You are a person and you get up every morning and go to bed every night and have your own routine through out the day just like me. I don’t have a clue to who your are man or woman and not for my sake but yours only that I care that you would spend YOUR eternity with me and Christ. You said in your reply about atheist and agnostics and agree that they will spend eternity in the same place. But remember when I first responded I said that anyone who is an atheist, agnostic or believes in God WITHOUT believing what He did for them IS going to the same place. Okay this is going to sound ridiculous and a poor analogy but I like the show Reba. Ever watch it? Well in this particular episode Reba is upset with her son in law because he is questioning whether there is a God or not. Now as a christian I know that God in his wisdom when He wrote the Bible said that we must believe in Him and what He DID in order for Himself to accept US. If I believed that everyone is right about going to heaven in their own way then I would have to agree with what happened on the horrible day of September 11th. But I don’t. They believed in dying for their god but thankfully mine died for me. Anyways the point is that Reba’s character can believe in God without Jesus and Van her son-in-law not believe in God at all and both die and go to hell. So to you this does not matter because you do not believe in God who is Jesus or satan. But did you know that if you do not accept Him you ARE for satan? My husband has a friend who yes believes in God but was raised in a “religious” family. I am not religious at all. Did you know that God hates religion? Religion is what keeps man from God. Sounds a little contradicting doesn’t it? Choose ANY religion you want. Who started it, when it got started and it all ends up the same…… how good you can be to get to heaven. I have talked to alot of people about the Lord. And I never try to pressure them at least I hope. Anyways most people say “well as long as I am good”…… So what if you weren’t ? How good do you have to be to get to God? He doesn’t come down or yells from heaven and says to me hey you are doing good as long as you don’t do this….. or this….. This would be like trying to make a career by being a tight rope walker without a net. Funny thing is that I have never met someone who said to me I am so terrified because I don’t know how good to be. Alot of people say as long as I don’t murder, steal. etc…. I’ll be okay. And so if you did God’s grace is not bigger than your sin? Of course it is. Obviously you deserve punishment but the worst thing anyone can ever do is REJECT Him. Did you know that this is the worst thing anyone could ever do. Hard to believe. So I hope that Reba in real life believes in more that God but what He did for her too. He is not a respector of persons. You talk about morals. Where do we get our morals from? Why is it wrong to steal, lie, sleep around, etc….? Why should we even have such a thing as morals. By what standard or whose? Who are we committing crimes against? Why are we still living by standards that are written from a book called the Bible? Really think about this. Okay will you respond to this one. I think I stated this the first time I e-mailed you. But doesn’t it just peak your curosity why we take the name of God AND Jesus in vain. Especially when He tells us not to? See God wrote that before He was manifested in the flesh. He called Himself right there Christ. And we do say these TWO names. Interesting. So as I was saying before I went off on one of my bunny trails, that my husband has a friend who believes in a god and will not accept thee only God. He wants proof. He is very logical type of person. Really it is a failure for himself to accept how God sees him. Anyone that is a christian, saved, born again, salvation all the same thing believes this one pivotall point. They see/saw themselves as sinners and unworthy for Gods grace and yet knowing they cannot not do ANYTHING to EARN this they just simply accept it and accept Him. ANYONE who call themself a christian and believes none of this is simply not a christian. Proof is all around you. Please after reading this go to your window and look out all around you. Do you not see it. Life….people, animals, trees. Your breathing right. Pretty incredible. What are you breathing? Did you create that? Earth. Wow here is something pretty incredible and yet Job a book in the Bible Job the man,noted that the earth hangeth upon nothing. How would he know that? Or in the book of Isaiah how would he know that the earth was round? Please tell me this? Okay I could go on and it is getting pretty late at least for me this is late, I’m not so young any more. I don’t want you to be up for a challenge. I do want you when you go to bed(when the thought process is magnified, at least mine is) and say to yourself and really think to yourself I have really made this a joking matter in the first place for me and the other atheist and created a web site around it as well? As well as this lady is telling me that if I am atheist , agnostic or someone who believes in God without Christ are headed to the same place. And would you think that there could be a possibility of heaven and a hell? Also do you not think that when you established your web site that there would be people out in computer land that really care about being righteous and not right? I have met plenty of people that are moral and not saved(christian) who I would rather hang with than people who believe like me. A huge difference though is that we are seperated considerably by Gods view and I just couldn’t talk to them in a general way about Him because they would not understand. They would not understand the fact that He is my life and any time I mentioned Him they would be thinking I was preaching to them instead of just them understanding He is just my friend. And yes I am really going but I want to ask you two things. Don’t you want to rely on something better than yourself and your family and friends. And I am not saying that that is a bad thing by no means. But don’t you just get tired of depending on yourself and for you to sort our your problems. And the other question is are you afraid to respond to me personally? You will want to resist because satan will want you to. But you do have a choice to respond to me personally. And I have to tell you that one day you will die because that is what the Lord says. Don’t people die? All of these products to keep us young and live longer but you will die. So will you just please answer this question with a yes, no, or I don’t know above any question you could ask or answer of this e-mail. DO YOU KNOW FOR CERTAIN IOO% IF YOU DIED THAT THERE IS NOT A HEAVEN OR HELL, GOD OR SATAN? And do your REALLY want to know. It is so simple. You don’t have to pay any money, sign a contract or even have to get a loan. It is free. And you don’t even have to do anything for it because you never could. That is something religion doesn’t teach you.

Thanks for understanding about my e-mail situation. I will respond to your comments, but doing so in my blog allows my readers to share what both of us have to say.

I’d like to start by addressing your comment that I believe the way I do because it is my choice. I don’t see it that way, because I do not have the ability to believe or disbelieve facts at will. I can be convinced that something is true or untrue, but I can’t honestly believe just because I wish to believe. At best, I can trust that something is true, but doing so is admitting that I don’t know with certainty whether or not it is true, even if I am going to act as if it is true.

You say, “But did you know that if you do not accept Him you ARE for satan?” In what sense? In the sense that Satan would not want me to believe in God? To me, that sounds like an even more tenuous version of, “You’re not fighting the government conspiracy to create a police state, therefore you are part of that conspiracy.”

When you say you are not religious, I assume you mean that you are not part of any organized religion. There’s nothing wrong with that, but what do you mean when you say that “God hates religion”? The Old Testament doesn’t read like a book about a God that hates religion — in fact, he seemed to be encouraging it quite strongly.

You go on to talk about how all religions boil down to how good you can be to get to heaven. I disagree with you on this. Even if we stick to Christianity, Protestants specifically believe that you cannot “buy” your way into heaven with good works. To Protestants, salvation is available only through the acceptance of Jesus Christ.

You say that God doesn’t call down from Heaven and tell you what to do or not do in order to be good. If I understand you correctly, you are saying that God doesn’t tell us how good we need to be to get into Heaven. But the Bible addresses this point specifically, doesn’t it? All humans fall short of the glory of God. However, I’d argue that this does not imply that good works are meaningless, only that they are not sufficient.

You say that the largest sin is the rejection of God, and this agrees with the Bible. The problem here is how we define “reject.” If I am not convinced that God exists, then in what sense am I rejecting him. Would you permit me to describe you as someone who rejects my Uncle Walter because you don’t know if I have an Uncle Walter? I’d think not.

Where do we get our morals from. That is a large conversation, but in a nutshell I would say that my morals are logically required. Why do we have them? So that society can function and so that we can claim certain rights for ourselves. Who sets standards for morality? Any person who wishes to be logically consistent can develop a workable morality. Who are we committing crimes against? Other people, society, and ourselves. Why are we still living by the standards in the Bible? We aren’t. The Old Testament includes many acts that are blessed by God but that we would consider immoral (such as killing babies). The New Testament has a morality that is much more workable in the modern world, but its moral rules are generally pretty obvious, even to those who have not read the Bible (with obvious exceptions for its condemnation of certain victimless crimes).

I draw no philosophical conclusions from the fact that religious terms are used as curses. People were cursing in the names of gods long before monotheism. If you meant something else by this, please elaborate because the point is eluding me.

I certainly agree with you that life and nature are incredible, but I am not particularly impressed by scientific facts that are said to be found in the Bible. Job says that the earth hangs on nothing, but in the same chapter he says that God “hath compassed the waters with bounds” when the oceans of the world are not bounded. Isaiah speaks of Earth being round — not a sphere — and in any case, the Greeks considered the possibility that the planet was a sphere hundreds of years before Jesus was born, so the concept was not unheard of in the ancient world.

You ask if I think it is possible that there is a Heaven and a Hell. I’d say that it is possible, but that the possibility is extremely remote. I certainly agree that there are people who want to be righteous as opposed to wanting to be right.

You ask if I want to rely on more than just myself, my family, and my friends. Certainly, and I do rely on something more than this: I rely on reason, thought, and logic — not just my own, but that of many people. Would I like there to be a divine being that would take care of me? Sure, but my wishing does not make it so.

You also ask if I am afraid to respond to you personally. No, I’m not. But I told my readers that I would be responding to e-mail only on my blog from now on, and it wouldn’t be very honest of me to make an exception without an extraordinary reason to do so. Satan doesn’t enter into it.

Do I know 100% that there is no God/Satan/Heaven/Hell? No. Do I really want to know? Certainly. But you are wrong when you say that belief in such things is free. At this point, my belief would have to be based on my desire rather than on the facts, and if I did such a thing I would be giving up my intellectual integrity. That, to me, is too high a price to pay.

Category: Bible, Discussion | Tags: | 2 Comments »

Evidence for atheism

(This is my response to an e-mail from someone who asked not to be quoted online.)

At this point, because of the volume of e-mail I get, I no longer participate in debates that I can’t post on my blog. Sorry about that — it was eating all my time so I had to draw a line. I will answer your question about arguments for atheism by saying that I do not have an argument for atheism because I don’t believe there needs to be one. I am an atheist because I have not seen compelling evidence that God exists, and I believe that the burden of proof is on theists. Atheism is the default position. We can go into this further if you like, but only if you don’t mind my posting our correspondence to my blog (with any private info about you removed if you like, of course) so that all my readers may benefit.

Category: About atheism, Evidence | Tags: | Be the First to Comment »

On Evolution and Jesus

Good evening. I am a Christian who stumbled across your website and began to read the reasons you stated for being an atheist. I have heard these before, and in response to your point of “I think evolution is the best explanation for what we see,” I have several disagreements. Evolution fails to answer the questions of how the universe came about, how living creatures could come from non-life, and how new genetic information could arise from one type of creature to another. The fact that the universe came into being by “chance” and species from “natural selection” fail to give the rightful credit to the God who created the heavens and the earth. Scientists cannot replicate the first cell, they cannot explain the “preCambrian explosion”, and cannot explain that if we are evolutionary creatures why we have a conscious and rationale that is able to distinguish right from wrong.

I understand that you say you are quite moral, but we as humans are not moral. Anyone judged against the ten commandments or Jesus’s sermon on the Mount understand that we all fall short. My question for you is have you ever truly read the Bible? Have you read the Old Testament to witness how the story fits into the New Testament and the salvation of Jesus Christ? I will walk by comfortable faith in the truth that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, man sinned against God, God promised his chosen nation of Israel to bring forth a Messiah, and Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and died for our sins on the cross on Calvary. There is a heaven and a hell my friend, and the only way to get to heaven is to accept Jesus Christ as your savior. I’m not sure if anyone has ever told you this good news before, but I hope that you give this a careful decision…it has eternal implications.

I just want to make a couple more points. Look at the miracle that is the Jewish people. The Roman empire destroyed the temple in 70 A.D. and they were dispersed from their homeland for nearly 2000 years. But God has brought them back into their homeland from the four corners of the earth! This was prophesized in the Bible just like Jesus’s first coming and his second coming. No civilization in history has survived the displacements and trials that the Jews have. And the reason they still exist is because they are God’s chosen people. If you’ve never read the Book of Revelation in the Bible I strongly encourage you to read it. I only have one more point to make. I read another article of yours and you said that there were eyewitnesses of Jesus’s miracles. If Christianity is just some hoax that people are fooled into, why did the early disciples and millions of people over history continue to be martyred for their faith? I think I can reasonably conclude the you would not die for holding to your atheistic principles, but yet millions have died for the sake of Jesus Christ. The reason is because this is the truth my friend, and if you have any questions, please email me as I believe everyone should know of the good news of Jesus Christ. God bless friend and I will be praying for you.

I’m pleased that you posted on my blog, and I’m happy to address the points you bring up. Taking them in order:

You are right that evolution does not answer the questions of the origins of the universe and life, but it’s not supposed to. Evolution explains what happens after life begins, and saying that it is wrong because it does not explain how life begins is like saying that mathematics is wrong because it does not explain where numbers come from.

You are incorrect when you state that evolution does not explain “how new genetic information could arise from one type of creature to another.” There are, in fact, many mechanisms for the creation of new genetic information, including mutation, gene duplication, insertion of DNA by viruses, and more.

You’re right that scientific theories about the origin of the universe and of species do not give credit to God. If they did, then they would not be scientific theories. This does not mean that God does not exist, only that God is not a topic for scientific inquiry.

You’re right that scientists can’t replicate the first cell, and since there is no way to tell precisely what that first cell was, I assume that they will never be able to replicate it. You ask about the “preCambrian explosion” — I don’t know what that is. If you mean the Cambrian explosion, then scientists have plenty of data on that and on life before it.

You say that science can’t explain how consciousness and a rational mind evolved. At this point, consciousness is an area that is just beginning to be studied scientifically, and to my knowledge we can’t even define it rigorously yet, so it’s no surprise that we can’t yet say where it came from. I’m not willing to give up the search at this early point, however. I’d say that there’s no mystery about how rational minds evolved — there would be strong selective pressure against irrational minds.

You say that evolution can’t explain how we can distinguish right from wrong. Since people can’t rigorously agree on what is right and what is wrong, I’d argue that maybe you are looking for an explanation of something that doesn’t exist. If you are talking about simple, gut-level feelings about right and wrong, there are copious theories about how these could have evolved.

You say that humans are not moral, but I’d say that we are likely just disagreeing on vocabulary. I would call moral anyone who has a rigorous system of morality and diligently attempts to stick to it. That one can’t do so perfectly isn’t an indication of immorality, but of imperfection, and I do not argue that any human is perfect.

You bring up the Ten Commandments, and seem to be proposing it as a standard of morality. I would argue that it is not a good standard, in that it is incomplete, not rigorously defined, and includes some items that I do not believe should be given moral weight (such as believing in God). I’d say that the Sermon on the Mount is a poor standard for similar reasons.

You ask if I’ve ever truly read the Bible. I don’t know what you mean by “truly,” but I’ve read multiple translations of the Bible, as well as dozens of books and scores of scholarly magazines about it. I read it when I was religious, and read it again many times afterwards. I’d say that I have a decent layman’s familiarity with the book.

I’m not sure why you bring up “the miracle that is the Jewish people.” You talk about them being the chosen people, and about how God has brought them back to their homeland. But didn’t God’s covenant with the Jews end with the coming of Christ? Returning to a previous point, many religious scholars argue that the Ten Commandments do not apply to Christians because they are part of the covenant with the Jews (the New Testament reasserts nine of the Commandments, but not the one about keeping the sabbath).

I don’t recall saying that there were eyewitnesses to Jesus’ miracles, but I agree that the Bible says that there were witnesses. I do not believe that Christianity is a hoax, so the balance of your argument does not hold for me. You assume that I would not die for my atheistic principles, but I’d say that would depend on the situation.

You say that the fact that millions of people have died for Jesus is evidence that Christianity is true. Do you consider Muslim suicide bombers to be evidence that Islam is true? Or the death of those who refused to convert for the Inquisition evidence that Christianity is not true? If not, then what is the difference?

I look forward to your response. Please let me know if there are any issues in your post that you feel I did not adequately address.

Category: Discussion, Evolution | Tags: | Be the First to Comment »

No Christians for evolution

You are wrong about millions of Christians believing in evolution. Evolution contradicts the Bible and if you believe in evolution you don’t believe in the Bible. If you don’t believe in the Bible then you aren’t a Christian or you’re illiterate. I don’t know if you are just too stupid to see something as obvious as this or if you are lying to try and convince good Christians that they can believe your lies without rejecting Jesus. I think ti’s both. I have read a few of the things on this page and you don’t have any idea what you are talking about. You say you are moral but without the Lord you are pissing on at least three of the 10 Commandments which makes you a liar so that’s another commandment you’re breaking. You covet corrupting Christians and that’s another commandment. You said that you were raised Christian so you are disrespecting your parents and that’s another commandment. I’m sure that your lies will lead to the death of many who beliee them and that’s another commandment. You’ve broken them all. You deserve to die in horrible torture for what you are doing and you will!

Evolution contradicts the Bible only if the Bible is being interpreted literally. The Catholic church, for example, has no problem with evolution, but it’s possible that you don’t consider Catholics to be Christians. If so, then you are saying that many people who believe they are Christians are not really Christians, and I think that makes your definition of Christianity overly narrow.

Now, the Ten Commandments. The 10C aren’t the whole of morality (I’d say they aren’t even part of morality unless you are Jewish). There are many immoral acts not listed in the 10C, including some which are worse than some that are listed (I’d argue that rape is worse than coveting, for example).

I won’t respond to your list of my “sins” — it’s really rather silly — but I will ask you a question: why do you care about the Ten Commandments? As a Christian, you believe that Jesus Christ fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament and the covenant with Israel, right? Well, if Jesus superseded the law of the Jews, then why are you hanging on to the 10C, which is clearly part of those laws? And if you are holding onto this part, are you holding onto the whole of the law (including maintaining a kosher kitchen, etc.)? Perhaps you are, to use your words, “too stupid to see something as obvious as this” or are just denying Jesus and holding onto the 10C because they are a handy way to berate people who disagree with you.

Category: Evolution, Hate mail, Personal attack, Theology | Tags: | 1 Comment »

Hate Mail

The only reason people believe in evolution [Darwin worship] is the hatred of GOD to the extent of throwing away what is true before their eyes. Evolutionists are atheists because they fear GOD’s control over their life and want to belive that they are in control so that they can enjoy the animal pleasures of sin without guilt.

I think the religious people — including many million Christians — who agree with the theory of evolution would disagree rather strongly with your point of view.

Clarifying my own position: I don’t hate God, I think that evolution is the best explanation for the evidence we see, and I’m quite moral, thank you very much.

Category: Evolution, Hate mail | Tags: | 3 Comments »

Change occurs for a reason?

“I don’t see any evidence that change occurs for a reason. Do you have examples?”

*cough*Evolution*cough*

Evolutionary change does not occur for a reason, at least not when we use “reason” in the sense of a motive, which is what I (and, I believe, the person I was responding to) was doing. Evolutionary change has a cause, but cannot have a motive because it is not caused by any thinking thing.

Category: Evolution | Tags: | Be the First to Comment »

Why not be against Satan?

That is exactly what many people ‘forget’. I am almost positive that ever atheist will change their mind if any formidable proof can be conceived of (a) God(s) existing.

I certainly would like to believe that this is true, but the fact is that there are quite a few atheists who are just as dogmatic as the most dogmatic religious person. These are atheists who do not believe in God for reasons other than lack of proof — because they have emotional issues, are morally lazy, etc.

Personally, I dislike these atheists just as much as I dislike unthinking religious people. I’d much rather have a conversation with an intelligent religious person than an unthinking atheist any day.

Category: About atheism | Tags: | Be the First to Comment »

Why not be against Satan?

okay, i’ll bite. so you know my name and so when you say “I” who are you? for whatever the reason i thought i would just look up a site about atheist and you popped up so i started reading what you wrote. i have to tell you you are very sarcastic which i am sure you enjoy me telling you that. but i have to tell you something. whether you believe in God, or you are an atheist or Agnostic yes you are headed to the same place. only through Jesus is eternal life there i said that terrible word that offends every man. so i realize that you have heard all the arguments and so forth so nothing i can say to you will change your mind. i just had to say that there are many people taken back that you don’t believe in god ,when they don’t believe in Jesus and so therefore one day you will share each others company and no it will not be a deluxe suite overlooking the ocean. So why not be against satan? i mean why not t-shirts against satan? Is there anyone out there that is not a christian that is against satan and has started their own web site. everyone blames God for everything even christians. Noone ever says devil damn just g-damn and Jesus Christ! Nothing ever against satan. by the way i do think he said not to take His name in vain and yet we do. HIS name GOD-JESUS. he didn’t say not to take the devils name in vain. how could HE know that man would not do this? i mean this was written thousands of years ago and you know i have never heard someone take satans name in vain. so sorry to say that if the pope or mother teresea with all her good works will never make it to…. okay i am going to say His name…. Jesus if they don’t believe in Him. So why the web site and t-shirts? so you don’t believe in God. why do you feel the need to tell everyone, i mean to start this website and sell things?

Answering your questions and addressing your points…

Who am I? I’m just an atheist with a Web site and blog. Nobody special. I don’t give out my name, however, because I think that giving out personal details tends to color these conversations.

I’m really not particularly sarcastic. The non-blog part of this site may come across as sarcastic, but it’s really meant as a joke for the enjoyment of atheists. In my blog, where I discuss these issues seriously, I’m not sarcastic unless the person writing to me seems to deserve such treatment.

I agree that whether one is atheist or agnostic, we are all headed for the same place. You and I just disagree about what that place is.

I don’t find references to Jesus or the worship of Jesus offensive. We can talk about Jesus all you like. I’ll even say good things about him.

I haven’t necessarily heard all the arguments, and I have changed my mind about many things. If you have a compelling argument for the belief in Christianity, I’d love to hear it and I promise to seriously consider it.

Why not be against Satan? I’m not against Satan for the same reason I’m not for God. I am not convinced that either exists. For the same reason, I don’t blame God or Satan for anything. But although I am not against Satan, I am certainly against immorality and irresponsibility.

You end up by asking why I started this site. At first, the idea was just to put something funny on the Web for atheists to get a laugh out of. But then people started writing to me, and we began having interesting conversations about religion, atheism, and morality. I haven’t set out to change anyone’s mind about religious truth, but I certainly hope that I can change some people’s minds about atheism, atheists, and moral responsibility.

Thanks for writing.

Category: About atheism, Personal question | Tags: | 2 Comments »

Prevalent belief, no surprise

I just recently heard something on a podcast that made me think, it really is no surprise that belief is so prevalent. The person said that when he was young he tried believing “like everyone around him did”. I must say that even I as a 2nd generation atheist in a country that is really not that religious also at some point in my life tried belief thing, not much and it certainly didn’t stick but my mind was open to it. Now any company would love the chance to get 100% of the population to try their product, by chance alone a significant portion of the population will buy (into) it, add peer pressure/power/influence/indoctrination/reward/fear and imho it’s no wonder that the majority believe in god.

Just a thought.

I’d say that one of the biggest problems is that not only are most people never trained to think in a logical manner, they are (as you imply) actively encouraged not to. There are many groups that have something to gain from people not looking too closely at facts or asking tough-to-answer questions.

Parents lie to their children and expect to be believed or react negatively when something they say is questioned. Schools spend a great deal of time giving information and very little time telling students what to do with that information, and certainly do not react well to those who ask questions, do not automatically accept the word of an authority, or reach conclusions other than the “right” conclusion. Even the news presents subjects with bias far more often than journalistic ethics should allow and expects to be simply believed. I won’t even get into advertisers.

Lack of knowledge of how to have an intelligent conversation is epidemic.

In my own experience, my questioning of religion was met by responses that did more to ask why I “hated” the church or “rejected” my parents than answer my questions. I was told that there were certain kinds of questions one shouldn’t ask, and that there were specific “correct” ways one should read religious books. I was told that the answers to my questions were within my heart, but when my heart gave me the “wrong” answers I either wasn’t trying hard enough or I was being deceived by Satan. I was warned that I shouldn’t read books that disagreed with accepted belief because “whenever [anyone] reads a book, they end up believing that what it says is true.”

It’s all very frustrating, and it makes life that much harder for those of us who encourage critical thinking. I’ve had people tell me that it won’t matter to them if their beliefs are logical or not unless I can show where the Bible says that people must be logical. I’ve seen people completely unphased when their beliefs are self contradictory. I’ve — on far too many occasions — been confronted by people who insist that their argument is correct because it reaches the conclusion they want to reach, even though they admit that the argument is fatally flawed. The average person doesn’t even draw a strong line between truth and opinion.

Depressing, isn’t it?

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