Answering Believers

"You can't prove there is no God."

True. And what is the point of this argument? Are you suggesting that anything that cannot be disproven is therefore a fact? Surely not. If this were so then then we would have to accept as fact: The Wizard of Oz, leprechauns, la chupacabra, Zeus, and the Loch Ness Monster. Must we accept that Elvis is alive unless someone can prove that he is not? No. Not believing is the default position. If someone makes a claim of the positive, i.e. "Aliens are abducting me every night", then the burden of proof lies on them to provide evidence of this event. Otherwise their statement will not be taken as factual.
The same is true for gods. If you claim that your God is real the burden of proof lies on you to provide evidence for your claim. There are thousands and thousands of cultures on this planet and they all claim their God is the real god. Why should anyone believe in your god and deny all the others? No god has been proven. And no god can be disproven. So what makes yours more real than all the others?

"Where do you think you came from? We were created by God."

Humans are not created, they are reproduced, hence the term "human reproduction". All life that is currently on this planet was reproduced from a previously life form. No creation was involved.

"The universe is evidence of God."

Really? How? There are many theories about the origins of the universe. However, I am unaware of any evidence of supernatural intervention.

"You can't see the wind."

Theists often say, "Do you only believe what you actually see yourself? You can't see the wind. How do you know it exists?" Atheists do not say that they only believe what they can see themselves. We only accept things as fact for which there is evidence. There is evidence of the wind. I can feel it pushing on my body, I can see it ruffle leaves and bend grass, I can hear it roar. Where is the evidence of the existence of a god?

"Everyone has faith in something."

Really? Like what?
It seems important at this point to clarify what is meant by faith. Merriam-Webster OnLine defines faith, in regard to religion as:

Faith a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) : complete trust

I also think it is important to differentiate between faith and belief.

Belief a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing

Merriam-Webster differentiates between the two:

Belief may or may not imply certitude in the believer . Faith almost always implies certitude even where there is no evidence or proof .

Therefore, I would agree that everyone may believe in something. But I disagree that everyone has faith in something. In fact, I have to ponder what would require faith except God? Should we use faith to determine guilt or innocence in a court of law? Should a doctor use faith to diagnose illness? In what instances is faith called upon except for God and psychics?

"If there is no god..."

First of all I find it amusing that peThis is formerly known as "Pascal's Wager" and have been proven to be false. It makes the mistake of assuming there are only two possible outcomes: the Christian God or no god. This is incorrect. If there is no god, then that decisively answers the question. But if there is a god, which is it? Or is it a goddess? The Hindus, for instance, believe in multiple gods. Could "God" be all of them? Many gods punish you for believing in gods other than themselves. What if you choose the wrong one? What if Allah is the One True God and you choose Jesus? Or vice versa? This is the major fallacy of Pascal's Wager.

"You'll find out when you die"

What will I find out with? Do souls have brains? Where will the information be stored without a brain? Do souls have eyes to see or ears to hear? If not, how will the knowledge of my whereabouts be obtained? If you're suggesting that I will experience torment (and I have to marvel at how many "good" believers take delight in thinking atheists will suffer) how will this torment be detected? Do souls burn? How do souls feel pain with no heat/pain receptors? How do they know they are on fire?

"If there is no God, life has no meaning."

Why is that? Only God can assign meaning? Humans can, and do, assign meaning to their own lives quite frequently.

And if God is assigning a meaning, what is it? Life is a test and if we pass it we go to heaven, if we don't, we go to hell? Look around you. I see 3 month old children with terminal cancer. I see people which schizophrenia fighting to find reality. I see people born in poverty and war. How is it that we are all taking the same test? A lot of people on this planet seem to be taking a much harder test than I am. How is this fair? This is life's meaning???

What if there is no meaning? Many people, myself included, do not think that life has a meaning. It simply is. Does the life of an ant have meaning? What makes you think humans are better than ants? What if life itself is just a fluke? Does this change simply because you don't like the idea? I think not.

"If there is no God, there is no meaning and life has no value."

When I first became an atheist I thought that life would now have less meaning, less value. But I was wrong. Religion teaches that this is only a passageway and that we live on in the next world. So life lost here isn't really lost, and our existence here is only temporal. It trivializes our existence and experiences here. If you were to take someone's life, religion teaches that they are still alive in spirit, they are just somewhere else, like "heaven". Therefore, taking a life has limited consequences. You have only taken their physical body, not their "spirit" or "soul". You have only taken a part of them, a part that was to be discarded anyway. And since religion often denounces the human body as dirty and full of sin anyway, what has been killed is not that much of a loss.

By contrast, atheism teaches that life is all there is. This makes life much infinitely more precious. If life is all a person has, and you take it, you have taken all that they have, all that they are. It can not be replaced or made right. It is the most egregious crime of all. Atheism makes life the most precious thing of all.

"If you don't believe in God what keeps you from doing anything you want? (killing, stealing, etc.)"

This is an interesting question. Theists seem to assume that morality comes from religion. Yet I do not see herds of atheists raping and pillaging every night on the news. In fact, I am unable to see any difference in the behavior of atheists compared to theists. They are basically honest, hard-working poeple who live and work and raise families right next door to your local theist. Every group has their good and their bad, theists and atheists alike.

I also do not notice any moral differences between religious groups. Christians do not behave more morally than Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, or Pagans. If you believe that your religion is teaching a better kind of morality than other religions, I see no evidence of that.

Research on the matter is often conducted by believers in an effort to prpove their point of view. But nothing conclusive has been produced. Some studies have shown that religious belief may correlate with later sexual activity and lower rates of drinking and drugs in teens. Other studies find no differences. I'm not aware of any studies that show that religious beliefs produce better behavior in adults. Studies have also shown that atheists are under-represented in prison populations compared to their percentages in the population. What does all this mean? There is simply no conclusive evidence that religious beliefs correlate with higher moral behavior.

"Adolf Hitler, Stalin, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc. were atheists."

Nonsense. Someone needs to read their history book a bit more closely. Adolf Hitler was raised Christian. He eventually became something of an occultist. He was never an atheist. Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer both claimed to be Christian. Stalin was an atheist.

So what does this prove? Christians and atheists don't behave any differently. Many believers think that religion improves morality, but that has not been proven.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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