Take it one god further

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”

This chart (reposted from somewhere) beautifully puts into perspective the above posted quote.

god Loves Me!

Choosing the right university was very important to me personally. Out of my options, I figured, the one with the best science department surely would have a limited religious population as compared to those with a more, liberal-arts type students. Well, with a full semester done and a few weeks into the second semester, it seems, I was dead wrong. The amount of religious students in this school is beyond disappointing. Ever so often however, the religious provide for some entertainment. A few days ago, a  campus group, B.A.S.I.C or Brothers and Sisters in Christ (don’t ask) had a table in the lobby of the Student Union building at my school. Personally I despise this group in specific, as I have proven they have been tearing my SBU Freethinkers posters around campus and placing their posters right in the exact same spot. They had a banner which read, “GODISNOWHERE.” I suppose to the religious, this means “God is Now Here,” but due to the lack of spaces, it also reads “God is Nowhere.” I suppose I can agree with that. The other interesting thing they had at their table was a little handout which, pictured above stated, “SMILE, God Loves YOU!” I guess that’s nice enough, though I felt this was a bit misleading. A few minutes later, I checked the back and well, this handout had something on the back.

I suppose this kind of bigotry shouldn’t surprise me, but as said earlier, the religious never cease to provide entertainment.

Hitler, Stalin and Faith

When everything else fails for the religious in a debate, instead of trying to assert their particular religions’ truth, they try to bring atheism, non-belief, and skepticism down to the same level as religion. To do this, they bring up the “unholy trinity,” two people (Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin) and one concept, Faith. They argue that, even though religious people have done some bad things, atheists are equally as guilty. Sometimes they go one step further and say that Hitler and Stalin killed far more people than the Inquisition ever did, therefore, simply due to the numbers, Hitler and Stalin were worse. They also bring up faith, and how atheism is just another faith. The faith/religion argument is more or less the same concept as the Hitler/Stalin, basically trying to assert that atheism is not superior to their organized religion, and they are intellectually equal. While the arguments are not very good, and normally I would not really waste my time with them, they seem to come up every time the religion/atheism argument comes up, and I might as well respond to them now, so I can save time in the future.

Adolf Hitler

This is by the weakest link of their argument. Adolf Hitler’s religious views were certainly not Atheistic. There are probably only two important aspects of Hitler’s religious views that matter anyway, and those are his public policies based on religion, and his personal views. Out of those two, his public policies are the most important. Hitler created strong pact with the Catholic church. This pact was not broken until his death, as every Catholic church in Germany celebrated his birthday based upon a direct order from the Pope himself. The Catholic church was also instrumental in smuggling large numbers of Nazi war criminals (who happened to be confirmed Catholics) to South America, instead of facing trial for their war crimes. It is true the church has apologized for these actions, though, really, actions speak louder than words, and their actions indicate nothing more than a “mistake” rather than a deliberate support of a mass murderer, and genocidal maniac. Hitler’s personal views on religion are technically impossible to really know. It is however, possible to look up Hitler’s record of mentioning Christianity and Christ. While, one could easily make the argument that, he used Christianity as a tool, and wasn’t a true Christian himself, well, even if that is the case, it does not rewrite history. In fact, it only furthers my original point, that, it is not the Atheist who must constantly defend the source of their ethics and morals, but rather, it is when one believes god is on their side that anything is possible (and usually recommended). Hitler’s hatred of Jews could also stem a fellow German (though a few centuries before), Martin Luther. Luther is often praised as the father of the Protestant Reformation, and I know quite a few people who label themselves as Lutheran to this day. That of course, is usually without knowledge of his infamous, “On the Jews and their Lies” (warning that link contains quite a lot of antisemitism and bigotry). It is without much effort that one can easily draw parallels between Hitler’s antisemitism, and the pre-existing antisemitism that existed in Germany especially due to its history as a Christian region. It simply cannot be argued that Christianity played anything but a large role in Hitler’s Germany, even if it was simply a means to a non-Christian ends, though, even that could be refuted easily.

Joseph Stalin

This one is probably the strongest claim the religious have out of this weak bunch of three, but nonetheless, it can be argued against as well. Unlike Hitler, it is pretty clear that Stalin was indeed an atheist. Obviously it is impossible to know, however, the evidence could not point more in one direction. Not only was he personally an Atheist, but he adopted a philosophy, a perverted form of Marxism which was also, explicitly atheistic. However, one could not in their right mind call the murders of Stalin as directly influenced by his atheism. There is no evidence that suggests, Stalin ever had the mindset of, “All believers in god, round up, you’re going to die.” In fact, many of the people that Stalin killed, especially the political rivals and intellectuals were also atheists. While I know full well that during the immediate Soviet rule, the church officials were rounded up and many devout worshipers were sent off to labor camps. Most of the theological seminaries were shut down, and patriarchal elections were halted. We should also not forget that after the Nazi invasion on the western front, the church was revived, and those same theological seminaries were opened. It seems that as a young man, Joseph Stalin actually studied at one of those theological seminaries and was training for the priesthood. While Stalin is a bit more tricky, and really, one cannot dismiss him very easily, I would instead like to argue why atheism on its own, is impossible to murder for. Which brings me into the faith conversation…

Faith

Here is the most frustrating and by far the most common. Here is more or less what the religious say: “Yes, there are flaws in (insert religion here), but, Atheism, too has flaws, and is no better than any other faith.” I deal with this nonsense all the time, and it seems most believers are oblivious to the refutations to this argument. First, there are no flaws with atheism. I define Atheism as, the lack of belief in gods. This, is not an affirmative stance, it makes no positive claim. When a child is born, unless you tell them about the specific religious dogma, more than likely, their first words won’t be, “the holy trinity” or “immaculate conception.” Atheism is the default position. We do not call “not-playing-chess” a hobby, and thus, “not-believing-in-god” is not a belief either. What is faith anyway? Faith is active belief without evidence. Faith involves one making a positive claim, without having evidence to substantiate their claim. So when someone says, “I don’t have enough faith to believe there is no god,” they miss the point entirely. There is no faith involved in the lack-of-belief, as, by definition, faith requires a positive claim, and the lack-of-belief is a negative claim. This is why atheism cannot be responsible for Stalin’s actions. Atheism cannot influence anyone to do anything just like not-playing-chess cannot influence someone to murder. Sure Stalin was probably not a believer in god, but attributing his actions to his atheism is not very logical.

A slight variation on this is, “I don’t have enough faith to believe that the natural and physical constants are the way they are without an intelligence” or, “I don’t have enough to believe in the big bang.” I’ll take the two in reverse order. The big bang requires no faith. There is evidence involved, and a great deal of it. This situation is slightly different, because in this case, technically, believing the big bang happened is indeed a positive claim. However, it is not a faith-based claim, and that is an important aspect to realize. One simply cannot compare the Big Bang Theory to any god hypothesis, as the former is supported with a great deal of evidence, while the latter does not have a shred of evidence. Now to the fine-tuning argument. Of course the natural constants are the way they are such that they provide for life. If they were shifted ever so slightly, perhaps life wouldn’t exist as we know it, but so what? Who is to say that life wouldn’t have adapted to those natural constants? And some design by the way. This “fine-tuner” is playing quite the sick joke on us, why not create a little comfort zone for the natural constants. It is always interesting to me how quickly the religious go from a fine-tuning argument (a deistic argument) to a theistic argument within seconds. It always goes something like this, “The fine-tuning of the natural constants is so accurate that, Jesus was born of a virgin and he is the only way to salvation.” Sure the natural constants may be incredible and we are quite lucky to have them exactly how they are. But they do nothing to further any sort of theistic argument.

Great Quotes for Atheists/Non-Believers (Part 3)

So I recently purchased a copy of the Atheists Bible, and well, its full of some great stuff. Just to make this clear before going any further, not all of these quotes are by Atheists or even by non-believers, but all however discuss relevant topics to Atheism and Non-Belief.

To Read Part 1 of “Great Quotes for Atheists/Non-Believers” Click Here
To Read Part 2 of “Great Quotes for Atheists/Non-Believers” Click Here

“Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the creator of human intelligence.”
– Anonymous

“Give a man fish, and you’ll feed him for a day; give him a religion, and he’ll starve to death while praying for a fish.”
– Anonymous

“If Jesus was Jewish, how come he has a Mexican name?”
– Anonymous

“Two hands working can do more than a thousand hands clasped in prayer.”
- Anonymous

“Religion is about turning untested belief into unshakable truth through the power of institutions and the passage of time.”
- Richard Dawkins

“A dream is a scripture, and many scriptures are nothing but dreams.”
– Umberto Eco

“An actually existant fly is more important than a possibly existent angel.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“As men’s prayers are a disease of the will, so are their creeds a disease of the intellect.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If I should go out of church whenever I hear a false sentiment, I could never stay there five minutes.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If god listened to the prayers of men, all men would quickly have perished; for they are for ever praying for evil against one another.”
- Epicurus

“Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do.”
- Epicurus

“There was a time when religion ruled the world. It was known as the Dark Ages.”
-Ruth Hurmence Green

“Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.”
- Graham Greene

“Atheism in its negation of gods is at the same time the strongest affirmation of man, and through man, the eternal yea to life, purpose, and beauty.”
- Emma Goldman

“Certainty about the next life is simply incompatible with tolerance in this one.”
- Sam Harris

“Gullibility and credulity are considered undesirable qualities in every department of human life-except religion… Why are we praised by godly men for surrendering our “godly gift” of reason when we cross their mental thresholds?”
- Christopher Hitchens

“Since it is obviously inconceivable that all religions can be right, the most reasonable conclusion is that they are all wrong.”
-Christopher Hitchens

“My imagination is a monastery and I am its Monk.”
- John Keats

“All religions are equally sublime to the ignorant, useful to the politician, and ridiculous to the philosopher.”
- Lucretius

“In church, sacred music would make believers of us all, but preachers can be counted on to restore the balance.”
-Mignon McLaughlin

“Most sermons sound to me like commercials-but I can’t make out whether god is the sponser or the product.”
-Mignon McLaughlin

“I find it necessary to wash my hands after I have come into contact with religious people.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

“I’ll think for you.”
- Massimo Pigliucci (Responding to “I’ll pray for you”)

“Ask yourself whether the dream of heaven and greatness should be left waiting for us in our graves or whether it should be ours here and now and on this earth.
- Ayn Rand

“If devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler more heroic form of devotion than the act of a man who assumes the responsibility of thinking… The alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind.”
- Ayn Rand

“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”
-William Shakespeare

“But no public man…ever believes that the Bible means what it says: he is always convinced that it says what he means.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“If ignorance of nature gave birth to gods, knowledge of nature is made for their destruction.”
- Percy Bysshe Shelley

“I did not see why the schoolmaster should be taxed to support the priest, and not the priest the schoolmaster.”
- Henry David Thoreau

“Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.”
- Voltaire

“It’s hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.”
- Bill Watterson

“There is no god any more divine than Yourself.”
- Walt Whitman

Why I Can’t Believe

The question “Why Don’t You Believe?” is often posed to me by most religious people whenever I discuss my rejection of god and religion. They bring up the same tired arguments each time, not realizing that I have (and others) answered them countless times before. But, after battling this question so many times, I have come to the realization that “Why Don’t You Believe” is not the proper question. The better question is, “Why Can’t You Believe?” Now this is a question that deserves more than just a laugh, but an entire article.

First, I would like to state my goal clearly and what exactly I am arguing against. If you read this blog at all, you will know that when I refer to god, I specifically mean the Abarahamic god. It is this god that I rejected, and so that is what I will argue against. I am also not attempting to argue against the existence of god, but rather I am arguing for the improbability of a Abrahamic god. My purpose here is give why I believe an intellectual person cannot be a theist, and more specifically, one who follows an Abrahamic god.

The Scientific Incompatibility

The Scientific Incompatibility is the main reason why I could never again believe in a theistic god. Biology has advanced to the point where, Evolution by natural selection is a fact of the history of the Earth just like the American Revolution. Its quite obvious that Evolution or something awfully similar took place, and is currently taking place as we speak (perhaps at a faster rate than ever before). The fossil record is very good evidence, but the Human Genome Project is overwhelmingly indicates some sort of common ancestry between species. We know that humans, like every other living species, evolved from common ancestors (either one or multiple), that the process was slow and gradual and given the amount of time, the improbable became possible. However, Evolution by natural selection only gets rid of a literal reading of the “holy” books. By Biblical literalist, I mean anyone who honestly believes that the Earth is less than 10,000 years old or that the world was created in 7 days (technically 6, as god rested on the 7th). So what about the more common, though also wrong, metaphorical reading?

The problem with the metaphorical is slightly different, and I believe it to be an even worse position. The first issue arises when one considers, which parts are metaphorical and which aren’t? There aren’t any doctrine based or well founded theological reasons to label one passage metaphorical and the next literal. People pick and choose which part they like based on modern sensitivity and common sense, but they do it on very tenuous grounds. The second issue is, if evolution is indeed true there are many complications that arise. Such as, 99.8% of the species that ever existed are already extinct, why such brutal wastefulness? Couldn’t god just cut to the chase and just start humans from the beginning? Why even create the dinosaurs if they were just going to be extinct a few million years later? Why create humans with organs that have no function (appendix)? Why watch the species that are the ancestors to humans die slow painful deaths for hundreds of thousands of years? Why wait 4 billion years to even consider sending down messages to illiterate, delusional fools in the Middle East? I challenge my religious readers who believe in a metaphorical reading of their Holy Book to think of answers for these questions, and when they can’t, think why you can’t, for it is part of the reason I can’t believe.

Those are, of course are just some of the issues with regards to biology and evolution, but there are many more associated with the other sciences. For when someone accepts some sort of theism, you are essentially rejecting the rest of modern science as well. Why create planets that cannot and will most likely never be suitable for life? Why create physical constants that if shifted ever so slightly can cause the only planet suitable for life to go extinct within seconds? That seems like an ever so cruel way to create the universe. Most good engineers often design products and structures with some flexibility… why couldn’t god do the same? Why create a planet that large portions of it aren’t even able to be lived on naturally, limiting humans even further (the so called prized possessions of god). Why create moons for planets that don’t allow for life? Why create a galaxy that’s heading in our direction and will cause our extinction if it doesn’t happen prior to it? So it seems to any reasonable  and rational person that it is not god which created the universe and life, but rather humans which created god. Again, these are just a few unanswerable questions that religious folk must face, yet don’t (and so they remain religious).

Praying

If there were ever a “eureka” moment with regards to my change from a Muslim to an Atheist it was while I was in prayer. As a Muslim it is considered mandatory after the age of 16 that a male begin reading the daily five prayers. These prayers consist of constantly reminding god how good, merciful and awesome in general he is. Technically, at the end, you get the chance to ask for something you want, so it is not entirely about god. To me, this kind of activity is fit for a slave or a serf. Anyone who would willingly restrict their schedule by adding these five daily annoyances simply is a servile fool. The desire to be a slave is something unique about religion. It compels otherwise reasonable people to be a slave. With 1.4 billion Muslims, I don’t see how these people actually think “Allah” cares about each and every one of their insignificant wishes. Also, why does god need praise five times a day? Is god a bit hard on hearing and the repetition allows him to know for sure which ones are his followers? I will go one step further, god is deaf. For there is surely no god listening to the prayers of the faithful, yet servile flock.

The above paragraph is of course is targeted largely at Islam but the same is true about the other religions and their prayer schedules. The Jews pick Friday and Christians pick the day of Sunday (god has a three day weekend apparently) to get together and pray. I could think of many constructive things to do on a Sunday, and none of them involve getting down on my knees at a Church, Synagogue or Mosque. Also, I am skeptical of any god which requires its followers to constantly repeat some sort of chant of praise. The desire to be praised is something some humans get over, and yet this god has not been able to do it…pathetic.

The Number of Different Religions

Most religions make incompatible claims with each other. They don’t say, you can be a part Muslim and part Christian, or sometimes believe in Jesus and sometimes believe in Odin. Rather, they say, you must believe (fill in dogma or nonsense) and that’s final. This means, your concepts of morality and the cosmos are being controlled merely by the accident of your birthplace. If I were born to Christian parents, I might be a Christian, but why does that mean Jesus is more likely than Odin? The same question can be posed to every religious person. What is so special about their religion, and their place of birth that ONLY it gets to decide which is truth and which are lies. Another reason why this is interesting is because I have noted that Muslims argue against Christianity with usually the same reasons that I argue against both. What I don’t understand is why they don’t apply this same thinking to their religions, why do they think their religion is any different just because it was the religion of their parents or community. When they understand fully why they reject other gods, they will understand why I reject theirs.

With regards to reality, it doesn’t work like this “geographical belief set” that religions have put forth. Either evolution is true or it isn’t, and it makes no difference if you’re in Canada or India. The same should be true about a creator, either it exists or it does not, there really is little middle ground on this matter. So if one of these gods actually does exist, surely it is not something that changes due to your lattitude and longitude.

Justice (or lack there of)

Every second, someone in the world is committing a crime. Every few seconds a child dies of starvation.  Murderers walk free, and mass murderers are praised and elected as leaders of nations. The poor continue to suffer and are never able to create a better life for themselves, yet the rich dominate the world and spend more in a day than most make in a year (or even a decade). The gap between the rich and poor only grows, and the pain of poverty remains strong. We have rigged elections and criminals roaming the streets, ready to rape, murder and steal at any moment. Natural disasters kill innocent people, and wars kill even more. What kind of cruel creator would allow such injustice? Surely not a just or loving one.

Suppression of Women

The religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are truly man-made. Not just in the sense that it was humans that created them, but men in specific. In Judaism, one needs to only read the Torah to see the hatred of women, as the inferior sex. For Eve is born out a “bent rib” from Adam.  She is created for the benefit and pleasure of Adam. It is she, who is more likely to be tempted and thus Satan targets her first. All of that bigotry without even leaving the book of Genesis. Leviticus also highlights the difference between male and female, for a woman who gives birth to a girl is twice as dirty as a woman who gives birth to a boy. With Christianity, why can’t Christ be born through the normal processes that a woman goes through? Why is the birth canal a one way road? Islam has an even more intense hatred of women. Women can’t even look a man in the eye who isn’t part of their family. A woman must be covered head to toe, and veiling her beauty because it can cause “temptation.” Oddly enough these religions think they are giving respect to women, when all they do is lay the groundwork for sexism and the hatred of women.

Faith

I define faith as, “belief without material evidence.” That is a concept that I will never, and never can agree with. How can one believe in anything without evidence? Why believe in the first place, why not just take a “neutral” or “undecided” stance instead? Some would counter with Pascal’s Wager, but how would one know which god to pray to? Personally, I believe in ideas or concepts, not because I would like for them to be true, or because they are comforting, but because there is good evidence to support them. If the evidence is pending or just not very good, then one should just accept that more research needs to be done and leave it at that. The rejection of faith is the fundamental core position of any free thinker, and thus it is the basis of my atheism.