Title: Why I am an Atheist
Post by: johnnyrobbo on September 05, 2010, 12:17:35 PM
Post by: johnnyrobbo on September 05, 2010, 12:17:35 PM
The reason I am an atheist is because the overwhelming weight of evidence supports an atheistic world view (ie a universe
without a sentient creator/manager). There simply is no evidence to support the hypothesis that the universe was created by,
or is part of, any kind of god-head. Sure, science doesn't know everything... yet. Perhaps it never will provide every answer
to every question, as it seems the more we discover, the more questions are raised. This quest for answers enriches our
species in a way that no supernatural explanation can. As an example, if you could travel back in time to the 1800s, most
people believed that the atom was indivisble (the word "atom" actually means "no cut"), so the Victorians had no idea that an
entire new branch of physics (quantum theory) would be opened up when the atom was split. Likewise we today are only just on
the cusp of understanding what happened at/around the time of the Big Bang, so who knows what new branches of science will
emerge as we gain a greater knowledge of the subject. The fact that we do not have the answers yet, is NOT proof of any kind
of supernatural involvement. We cannot just fill any gaps in our understanding of the cosmos with the phrase "Oh... God must
have done it." Look at the track record of that particular argument through out history:
Thunder & Lightning: Once it was assumed that because we didn't know what caused lightning bolts, then it must be that "God
did it". We now know that it's nothing more than clouds rubbing together & acting like a big Van der Graaf generator.
Shooting stars: Again, our ancestors didn't know the cause of this celestial phenomanon, and so took a bright light hurtling
across the sky as a divine message, or at least proof of some kind of divinity. We now know that it's simply a chunk of rock
or ice falling through space.
Life itself: It's easy to see how such a complex piece of engineering as a human being (or even a single celled bacteria) can
be thought to have been the product of a divine designer working to a plan. We now know that this is not the case. Evolution
may be referred to as a "theory", but it is supported by so much mutually corroborative evidence that it has to be regarded
as a fact. To deny this is no different in principle from believing the Earth to be flat. If you don't believe in evolution,
then you are either mis-informed (and there is a ton of mis-information out there with this specific aim in mind), or you are
a dogmatic fool. If I come across as dogmatic in my lack of belief, then let me say right now that if a
creationist/religionist could show hard evidence for denying evolution (or any other scientific fact) - a phenomanon of some
description that simply COULD NOT be explained other than by a supernatural involvement of some kind - I would thank them for
enlightening me, and my world view would change. How many religionists take the same attitude to their beliefs when some
religious article of faith is shown to be in direct conflict with the evidence?
As for how life began, then it's simply a numbers game. We are on a planet orbiting one of around three hundred billion stars
in our galaxy. There are hundreds of billions of similar sized galaxies in the (known) universe. We just happen to be on the
lottery winning planet where the right bunch of elements coincided into a compound that accidentally began making near-exact
copies of itself from the elements present in the soupy environment around it. From there onwards, it's all natural selection
- those mutations that help reproduction get passed on to the next generation. There are probably hundreds of billions of
other planets where it almost happened like this, but didn't quite work, for whatever reason; like getting 5 numbers out of 6
on the lottery. Consciousness, and by extension intelligence, are simply the labels we put on the ability of an organism to
interpret & react to the stimuli in it's surrounding environment. There is no evidence to suggest that conscious thought is
the product of a "soul" or "spirit" which is somehow independent to the physical body.
I don't have a problem with religion existing in the modern world, but I DO have SERIOUS problem with religionists who expect
& demand a free ride: No stem cell research because their holy book says that the soul enters the zygote at the moment of
conception. Proof? They don't need it - They know that's what God thinks and that's enough. No gay marriage because their
holy book says it's morally wrong. Why? Because it just IS, OK? God said so! Children being indoctrinated with disproven
Bronze-age myths in science class? Perfectly legitimate - it's the word of God and to challenge this is rude and
disrespectful.
I could go on and on, but I'll leave the explanation of why it is, to all intents & purposes, certain that there is no god to
the wonderful Richard Dawkins in his brilliant book THE GOD DELUSION. Religionists who refuse to read this book (meaning most
of them) are demonstrating by their actions just how strong their faith actually is. They are just plain afraid of being
exposed to cold hard facts & logic in case they might accidentally being the process of independent thought.
without a sentient creator/manager). There simply is no evidence to support the hypothesis that the universe was created by,
or is part of, any kind of god-head. Sure, science doesn't know everything... yet. Perhaps it never will provide every answer
to every question, as it seems the more we discover, the more questions are raised. This quest for answers enriches our
species in a way that no supernatural explanation can. As an example, if you could travel back in time to the 1800s, most
people believed that the atom was indivisble (the word "atom" actually means "no cut"), so the Victorians had no idea that an
entire new branch of physics (quantum theory) would be opened up when the atom was split. Likewise we today are only just on
the cusp of understanding what happened at/around the time of the Big Bang, so who knows what new branches of science will
emerge as we gain a greater knowledge of the subject. The fact that we do not have the answers yet, is NOT proof of any kind
of supernatural involvement. We cannot just fill any gaps in our understanding of the cosmos with the phrase "Oh... God must
have done it." Look at the track record of that particular argument through out history:
Thunder & Lightning: Once it was assumed that because we didn't know what caused lightning bolts, then it must be that "God
did it". We now know that it's nothing more than clouds rubbing together & acting like a big Van der Graaf generator.
Shooting stars: Again, our ancestors didn't know the cause of this celestial phenomanon, and so took a bright light hurtling
across the sky as a divine message, or at least proof of some kind of divinity. We now know that it's simply a chunk of rock
or ice falling through space.
Life itself: It's easy to see how such a complex piece of engineering as a human being (or even a single celled bacteria) can
be thought to have been the product of a divine designer working to a plan. We now know that this is not the case. Evolution
may be referred to as a "theory", but it is supported by so much mutually corroborative evidence that it has to be regarded
as a fact. To deny this is no different in principle from believing the Earth to be flat. If you don't believe in evolution,
then you are either mis-informed (and there is a ton of mis-information out there with this specific aim in mind), or you are
a dogmatic fool. If I come across as dogmatic in my lack of belief, then let me say right now that if a
creationist/religionist could show hard evidence for denying evolution (or any other scientific fact) - a phenomanon of some
description that simply COULD NOT be explained other than by a supernatural involvement of some kind - I would thank them for
enlightening me, and my world view would change. How many religionists take the same attitude to their beliefs when some
religious article of faith is shown to be in direct conflict with the evidence?
As for how life began, then it's simply a numbers game. We are on a planet orbiting one of around three hundred billion stars
in our galaxy. There are hundreds of billions of similar sized galaxies in the (known) universe. We just happen to be on the
lottery winning planet where the right bunch of elements coincided into a compound that accidentally began making near-exact
copies of itself from the elements present in the soupy environment around it. From there onwards, it's all natural selection
- those mutations that help reproduction get passed on to the next generation. There are probably hundreds of billions of
other planets where it almost happened like this, but didn't quite work, for whatever reason; like getting 5 numbers out of 6
on the lottery. Consciousness, and by extension intelligence, are simply the labels we put on the ability of an organism to
interpret & react to the stimuli in it's surrounding environment. There is no evidence to suggest that conscious thought is
the product of a "soul" or "spirit" which is somehow independent to the physical body.
I don't have a problem with religion existing in the modern world, but I DO have SERIOUS problem with religionists who expect
& demand a free ride: No stem cell research because their holy book says that the soul enters the zygote at the moment of
conception. Proof? They don't need it - They know that's what God thinks and that's enough. No gay marriage because their
holy book says it's morally wrong. Why? Because it just IS, OK? God said so! Children being indoctrinated with disproven
Bronze-age myths in science class? Perfectly legitimate - it's the word of God and to challenge this is rude and
disrespectful.
I could go on and on, but I'll leave the explanation of why it is, to all intents & purposes, certain that there is no god to
the wonderful Richard Dawkins in his brilliant book THE GOD DELUSION. Religionists who refuse to read this book (meaning most
of them) are demonstrating by their actions just how strong their faith actually is. They are just plain afraid of being
exposed to cold hard facts & logic in case they might accidentally being the process of independent thought.
Title: Re: Why I am an Atheist
Post by: Cecilie on September 05, 2010, 01:07:31 PM
Post by: Cecilie on September 05, 2010, 01:07:31 PM
I like your guitar. Is that a Fender Telecaster?
Title: Re: Why I am an Atheist
Post by: Asmodean on September 05, 2010, 05:02:56 PM
Post by: Asmodean on September 05, 2010, 05:02:56 PM
A piece of advice: when copying the text, please format the line spacing. That post has too much air for easy reading, to my eyes, at least.
Title: Re: Why I am an Atheist
Post by: johnnyrobbo on September 05, 2010, 05:30:18 PM
Post by: johnnyrobbo on September 05, 2010, 05:30:18 PM
Quote from: "Cecilie"I like your guitar. Is that a Fender Telecaster?
Yup. Well spotted, mate
