Answering Theists

"What is an atheist?"

Basically an atheist is someone who has no belief in a god or gods. This is often expanded to include anything supernatural: souls, ESP, an afterlife, angels, etc. It should be that simple, but it sometimes becomes quite a complicated topic. For a more in depth discussion of defining atheism please see Define "Atheist".

"There are no atheists in foxholes."

This erroneous and hurtful statement is repeated so often I have lost count. There are atheists in foxholes and some of them have died there. I personally have a friend that served in Vietnam who is, and was, an atheist. To say something like this to a Vietnam vet is truly hateful. If you need evidence for yourself I encourage you to review the life of Pat Tillman, an ex-NFL star and a courageous man who lost his life while serving in Afghanistan. For more information you can visit an article by Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle, "True hero athlete".

"Do atheists allow that there might be a god?"

Some do, some don't. In my humble opinion atheists are open to anything for which there is evidence. If evidence of a god were found, I'm sure most atheists would consider it.

"If you allow that God may exist, you are an agnostic."

No. Agnostics believe that it is not possible to know whether there is a god or not. Atheists think that it is possible but see no evidence for one.

"What is an agnostic?"

For a comprehensive answer please see Define "Agnostic".

"Don't atheists worship Satan?"

No. Atheists do not see evidence of anything supernatural. That includes Satan. Satan is a Christian deity.

"Where do atheists think they go when they die?"

Go? Corpses don't move much. Most atheists do not believe in souls or an afterlife. When we die, we rot. Nothing survives.

"Atheism is a religion or belief. Atheists believe that there is no God."

Atheism is a belief like bald is a hair color. Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy? If not, is that a belief or a religion? Right. The same can be said of atheism. It is a lack of belief.

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

True. No one can prove that something doesn't exist. I also can't prove there are no leprechauns. It is not possible to prove a negative. If someone claims that leprechauns exists, the burden of proof lies on them. The same with a god. If someone is claiming that a god exists, it is up to them to prove it. Otherwise, the default position is that there is not one.

"I have seen (or felt, or spoken with) God, that's how I know he is real."

Well, people have seen aliens, the Loch Ness Monster, Big Foot, and Elvis. That doesn't make them true. Human senses are easily deluded. Though eyewitness testimony can be accepted, other more objective evidence is usually needed to be certain of something. Please see Evidence for a more complete discussion of what constitutes evidence for an atheist. Though your experience may be real to you, you can't expect other people to accept it just because you say so. Nor can we know something is true based on what someone else has experienced.

"How does one become an atheist?"

Usually alone. Most atheists in the west are raised Christians. Upon examining their faith or their religion they find it faulty. Upon deeper examination they find that the entire supernatural belief system is without merit. Most atheists become atheists strictly on their own, often without ever meeting another atheist. It is often after they are certain there are no gods that they look for others who see things the same way.

Please see How I Became an Atheist for a deeper examination of this subject.

"Did something bad happen to you to make you become an atheist? Did God fail you in some way?"

No. Nothing really bad has ever happened to me. In fact, that is one of the reasons I began to question God. I have had a fairly happy life. I see other people who are good people who have very hard lives. I had to ask why there was such a difference? Why did God give me such an easy life while others' lives were so hard? I also had to ask why other people had such hard lives that they were driven to suicide. It hardly seemed fair.

"You're just an atheist to shock your parents. You're an atheist because you are mad at your parents."

I'm in my 40's. Way too old to be "shocking" my parents. Nor am I mad at my parents. My religious beliefs began to fall apart when I was 10 years old. I did not fully accept atheism until I was in my late 20's. Many believers seem to think atheism is a stage of teenage rebellion. It rarely is. I have seen a few young people who caledl themselves atheists who were full of anger and seemingly wanted to shock people. If you will question these folks about how they came to be an atheist you often get no answer, or they say they are mad at "God". Obviously someone who is mad at God is not an atheist. An atheist doesn't believe in a god or gods. I have to laugh when I talk to these young people.

"Why be an atheist?"

Atheists are usually atheists because they seek the truth and dare to follow wherever it may lead. Losing one's religious beliefs can be difficult. They provide a sense of comfort, though a false one. But knowing the truth is more important to an atheist than being comfortable. So they dig and they search until they find what lies behind the myth.

"Atheists want to outlaw religion in schools."

Please see Separation of Church and State for a detailed discussion on this topic.

"Atheists want to outlaw religion in this country (the United States)."

Please show me where an atheist has tried to prevent individuals from practicing religion. Atheists are fighting to prevent institutions from forcing religion on unwilling participants. Whatever individuals wish to do is their own business, whether they are believers or atheists.

"If you would study the (Bible, Quran, Vedas, etc.) you would know my god(s) and see the way."

Many people seem to think that atheists are atheists simply because they haven't been exposed to religion. This is the farthest thing from the truth. The majority of atheists were raised in religious homes. The majority of atheists have studied at least the religion they were raised in. Many atheists have studied religion more thoroughly than the average practitioner of that religion. Many atheists also studied other religions before rejecting the possibility of a god outright.

I have studied the Bible extensively and continue to do so. I also try to read other religious texts. I think you will find that most atheists are quite well versed in the religion in which they were raised. Many atheists that were raised as Christians will tell you that they became atheists because they read their Bible.

"Why does an atheist study the Bible or other religious texts?"

Curiosity I guess. I can only speak for myself. Once I found the Christian God to be flawed, I looked in other places for God. But then I realized that the idea of a god in general was flawed. Having been duped by one religion I am curious to learn more about religions in general. I only speak for myself, many atheists have no interest in religion at all after seeing through their own.

"You study the Bible, etc. because you are searching for God."

Well, in a way people who say this are right. I was told most of my life what God was. Yet when I read the Bible for myself very little that I had been told was actually true. So in a sense I am looking for God. I'm looking for what he really is, not what I was told he was. And what I'm finding is that he is man-made.

"Why do atheists require evidence? Why not just have faith?"

Why is faith required? We do not need faith to know gravity, or electricity, or wind. Why God?

"What do atheists consider to be 'evidence'?"

The same thing most anyone else would consider evidence. Please see the Evidence page for a more detailed discussion of this topic.

"You're just an atheist so you can do whatever you want. If you are an atheist you can break laws and sin and feel no remorse."

Right. That's why there are stampeding herds of atheists looting and pillaging on the news every night. How silly. If you are seriously interested in a discussion on atheist morality, Alan Dershowitz has written an excellent article on the subject entitled, "Why Be a Good Person?" (offsite)

"You're just an atheist so you don't have to take responsibility for what you do."

Actually an atheist takes more responsibility for their lives. If we decide to do something it is our decision, not some "god's". And therefore we are responsible for the outcome and consequences of that choice. We take responsibility for determining what is right and wrong, and we take responsibility for the consequences of those choices. And unlike many believers, if an atheist does something wrong, we cannot just ask some mythical being in the sky for forgiveness. We feel the need to make it right with the person we wronged.

"If you don't believe in God or an afterlife, then life has no meaning."

Most atheists would say that life does have a meaning, that you assign it yourself. I personally think that life has no meaning. Does the life of an ant have meaning? I don't think so. We are just a fluke of nature, in my humble opinion, just another life form on this planet. You can assign meaning to your life if it makes you feel better, but it has no intrinsic meaning of its own. Now a lot of believers have told me that they think this is sad. Maybe, maybe not. But is it true? Just because you don't like something doesn't make it false.

"If you don't believe in God or an afterlife, then life has no value."

A lot of believers seem to think that if you have no belief in God, or an afterlife or a soul, then life is cheap. I used to think this when I was a believer too. As an atheist I see things a bit differently. I think that believing in a soul and an afterlife cheapens life. If someone murders another person, they still have a soul, they have another life in the afterlife. If that person has a soul, then by killing them you have only killed a part of them.

However, if all a person has is their life, and you take it, then you have taken all that they are, all that they have. If all a person has is their life on this planet, then murder becomes that much more heinous, that much more intolerable. This is the reason many atheists don't believe in abortion or the death penalty.

"Are you lacking in a father figure? Did your father abandon you in some way?"

Since theists often refer to their gods as father it would seem that they are the ones who are seeking a replacement father figure.

 

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