Common Sense Atheism — Atheism is just the beginning. …



I am a freethinker, and I have rejected my Christian upbringing. Please allow me to explain myself:

Basics

What is a freethinker?

A freethinker is one who acquires belief by rational and open-minded thought. It is the opposite of dogmatism: unshakeable belief derived from authorities (parents, the pope, Mohammed, Paul of Tarsus, or Carl Sagan).

What is an atheist or agnostic?

Theism is a belief in god or gods. Atheism is a lack of belief in gods. Atheists say “There is no god” like they say “There is no Santa Claus,” though neither can be disproven.

Except when provoked by proselytizers or religious terrorism, most atheists are not actively anti-religious. They simply never believed in “unintelligible, superstitious nonsense,” just as you simply never believed in Thor or fairies and aren’t actively opposed to such belief.

Agnosticism claims that absolute knowledge of gods is inaccessible. Therefore, one may be agnostic (“we can’t confidently know such things”) and an atheist (“there is no evidence that compels me to think there is a god”).

Is freethought atheistic?

Usually, but not necessarily. There are Christian freethinkers (like Alister McGrath). There are also atheistic dogmatists (like Richard Dawkins).

Atheists and freethinkers have no particular culture or organization or creed or tradition or scripture, but they comprise 1/6th of the world’s population

Is atheism anti-religious?

Usually, but not necessarily. Some religions (like Theravada Buddhism) lack belief in gods, and some atheistic Christian theologians (like Don Cupitt) wish to maintain the practice and metaphorical content of religion but not the supernatural beliefs.

Theistic arguments

I experience God every day!

People also see UFOs and ghosts or hear voices or have convincing dreams that they are flying. Furthermore, millions of people have supernatural experiences that contradict yours; are you so arrogant to say you are right about your fuzzy feelings and they are all deluded? Freethinkers prefer reason and evidence to ambiguous feelings that happen only inside your own mind. By the way, the movie Contact, with Jodie Foster, is a fantastic discussion of this issue.

You just haven’t opened your heart to God.

I was a Christian for years. When I first became an atheist I was scared and lonely, and cried out to God. I’m still open to changing my mind. Are you?

I would like there to be immortality, I would like there to be a cosmic force that prospers the virtuous and limits the wicked, I would like a benevolent creator to personally talk to me and love me. But there are no such things, and wishful thinking is no argument.

You just have to take it on faith.

If faith is valid, anything goes. Muslims are right about Allah by faith, polytheists are right about Zeus by faith, people who claim to have been healed by Elvis are right by faith, etc. Faith refuses to distinguish between true and false ideas, and doesn’t care about knowledge or reason. Faith is a deliberate disconnect from the real world.

The “faith” of freethinkers (that a rock will fall if I drop it) is not faith, but rational prediction based on logic and evidence. Don’t confuse the two.

What if you’re wrong?

Pascal’s Wager is not an argument for God, but an argument for belief via intimidation. You are saying I have everything to gain and nothing to lose by believing in God. But with religion, I do lose quite a bit of time, energy, and money. With atheism, I gain open-mindedness, freedom, and liberty from guilt, intolerance, and fear.

Furthermore, belief in Yahweh is not a safe bet, since the true god could be any one of a thousand other deities, or indeed could be a god who rewards only those who have the guts not to believe. Atheists would end up in heaven, very surprised.

He answers my prayers!

No doubt, some things you pray actually happen. No doubt, many more do not. We remember coincidences that affirm our prayers, and forget the far more common occurrence of unanswered prayer. Every time someone does a controlled prayer experiment, results come up negative, which is of course excused by the faithful as God’s “mystery.”

Many prayers are so vague they can’t help but occur, and many prayers are self-fulfilling: “God give me peace. I believe you are in control and you love me. Give me peace, God.”

You can’t prove God doesn’t exist.

Of course not; you can’t prove a universal negative. That’s why the burden of proof rests on the one making a claim: theists.

Science is about the natural world, and therefore has no access to the supernatural.

But theists claim that God interacts with the natural world, and that the world would be different without his interaction. Therefore, our contemplation of the natural world can have something to say about the likeliness of supernatural interaction.

The Bible tells us that God is real and Jesus is God.

The Bible also says insects have four legs. It was written by people who thought the earth was the center of the universe. Other ancient writings proclaim the existence of other gods or Cyclops or god-feeding cows.

Yes, much of the Bible is historical. Much of it is also not, and is disputed by other historical writings, strong science, and common sense. Freethinkers aren’t convinced by the ahistorical, supernatural content just like you aren’t convinced by the ahistorical, supernatural content in ancient polytheistic writings that also contain historical sections.

Everything in the universe needs a cause. Therefore God exists.

Then what caused God? If God doesn’t need a cause, why does the universe? We only know of causes in time and space, and the universe is all time and space. It’s useless to speculate about a cause “before” or “outside” time and space.

Besides, your argument is non sequitur. “The universe needs a cause, therefore the Hebrew God exists” is like saying, “The universe needs a cause, therefore the Uncaused Flying Spaghetti Monster exists” or “The universe needs a cause, therefore a math student from a higher dimension created it as a holographic simulation.”

Complex, fine-tuned order requires a designer. Therefore Yahweh exists.

Then what designed god’s complex mind? If god’s complexity doesn’t need a designer, why does nature’s complexity? And again, you argument is non sequitur.

Biblical prophecies came true!

This is the same trick played on us by astrology and psychics. If the prophecy is vague enough, of course it will “come true.” Revelation predicts that the “End Times” will be preceded by earthquakes and hate, so of course large numbers of all every geeration thought they were living in the End Times! Also, there are lots of prophecies in the Bible that didn’t come true; but you ignore those and notice the ones that seem fulfilled. Make a thousand prophecies and some of them are bound to happen.

Just one example. Matthew 1:22-23 claims that Isaiah 7:14 is a prophecy about Jesus: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.” But Isaiah 7:14 actually says “young woman”, not “virgin”, and the prophecy goes on to say that the land will become briers and thorns and lose both kings, which didn’t happen it Isaiah’s time or Matthew’s time. Furthermore, Jesus was never called Emmanuel (except by Matthew in this one verse where he tries to squeeze him into an ancient prophecy).

Absolute right and wrong can only come from god.

I can’t see any reason to think there are absolute moral values, just as there don’t seem to be absolute aesthetic values. And if absolute morality exists, we don’t seem to have any access to it: Christians today would be appalled at the sexist and racist practices of Christianity’s founders, whole civilizations trusted the morality of child sacrifice, Yahweh’s chosen people believed in the morality of ethnic cleansing, etc. Morality is always changing.

In any case, consider this: If God is “good”, you’re judging him against a higher morality which is not God. If God is the definition of good, then morality is relative to whatever God does, including child slaughter and rape. Would you rape someone if God told you to? Thousands of ancient Hebrews did.

Atheists like Stalin killed millions.

And Christians killed millions through the Crusades and Spanish Inquisition. Russian atheists also built scores of humanitarian hospitals. One’s actions do not argue for the truth of one’s metaphysical claims.

What about the miracles in the Bible, or the miracles of today?

If I told you that a donkey talked to me in perfect French yesterday, would you believe me? Do you believe the multiple Roman accounts that Caesar Augustus rose into the sky after dying?

History, at best, deals with probable pasts. History depends on natural law being consistent to determine what probably happened and what probably did not happen. If a violation of natural law is written by someone, it is much more probable that the author was mistaken or lying than that a man rose from the dead and flew off into the sky. Impossible events discredit historical accounts.

But life without God is meaningless!

Why should human life require something “above” itself for meaning? If only God can give human life meaning, what thing “above” God gives God meaning? The meaning and value of human life comes from… the value of human life.

Freethought Perspectives

Are there reasons to think God does not exist?

Not only do I think theists lack good reasons to think God exists, I also think there are very powerful reasons to think God does not exist.

Consider the problem of suffering. If God is all-good (doesn’t want suffering) and all-powerful (able to prevent suffering), why doesn’t he prevent it? One answer is that he created us with free will. (But knowing the horrendous consequences, would a good God do this?)

But lots of suffering is not caused by free will: disease, earthquakes, genetic problems, accidents, etc. Theists answer that God is testing us or giving us an opportunity to exercise generosity and love and compassion. But is God all-good if he wipes out an innocent village just to give the rest of us opportunity for compassion, or if he gives a newborn girl a lifetime of suffering from a genetic disease just to test others?

Consider the problem of history. Would an all-good God completely hide for most of human history, only to bring his hope to a single tribe and tell them to slaughter other tribes, and then change his mind and allow everyone his blessing 2000 years ago, but let whole civilizations suffer eternally because they missed the story of Jesus or were persuaded by rival revelations?

Consider the incompatibility of God’s qualities. If mercy is not getting what one deserves, and justice is getting what one deserves, how can God be all-merciful and all-just? There are similar impossibilities to be derived from omnipotence, omniscience, and other qualities of Yahweh.

I won’t detail the other arguments against God, but maybe you get the point.

What is freethought morality?

Freethought morality comes from the intrinsic value of human life. It is compassionate, open-minded, honest, and tolerant.

What is the purpose of a freethinking life?

To pursue happiness and beauty and authenticity and morality and the improvement of human life.

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