In the interest of staying out of trouble on FR, as an atheist, I have created the following so that those who take issue with what I might reveal about my worldview in the forum can come here and find my answer (in advance!) to whatever they have to say.

EVOLUTION: I will not argue with you about evolution, and I’ll tell you why. Your standard for evidence is higher for me than it is for you. For me to convince you of the likely truth of evolution, I must personally fly you to a dig in Africa, dig at your side until we find an intact skull, and run a DNA test on the skull to prove it’s not a clever plastic fake. We’ll have to do this about 1,000 more times for you to be convinced. Your standard of evidence that I must satisfy is very high. I have to prove there are no fakes, these are not just birth defects, they were not cleverly planted there by Russians or the Devil, the DNA test isn’t “rigged,” and so forth.

Your standard of evidence to refute evolution, however, is very low. “It’s in the Bible” and “I feel it in my heart” seem to satisfy it. I cannot argue with someone who demands more from me than they demand from themselves. It’s a little like running a race with someone who says “I can prove I’m faster than you by running two blocks before you can run 10 miles.” Therefore, if you want to argue about evolution, I suggest you contact an evolutionary biologist and arrange a visit to his lab.

ASTROPHYSICS: I will not argue with you about astrophysics, and I’ll tell you why. Your standard for evidence is higher for me than it is for you. For me to convince you that a universe could come into being without a sentient supernatural being that apparently “exists” in the nothingness outside the universe, I have to put you in a rocket ship and fly you to the edge of the universe, punch a hole it it, and then take you on a tour of whatever is outside. After that, I must arrange a journey back to the beginning of time.

Your standard of evidence for Intelligent Design, however, is very low. “It must have come from someone,” and “I feel it in my heart” seem to satisfy it. I cannot argue with someone who demands more from me than they demand from themselves. It’s a little like running a race with someone who says “I can prove I’m faster than you by running two blocks before you can run 10 miles.” Therefore, if you want to argue about astrophysics, I suggest you contact an astrophysicist and arrange a visit to his lab.

PHILOSOPHY: I will not argue with you about philosophy, and I’ll tell you why. I do not give a damn what anyone has said. I don’t care what Thomas Aquinas said. I don’t care what Blaise Pascal said. I don’t care what Descartes said. I don’t care what Plato said. I don’t care what anyone educated by the Jesuits or the church said. Name-dropping does not impress me. I’m no more impressed by their thoughts than I am by anyone else’s.

BIBLICAL QUOTES: I will not argue with you about what the Bible said, and I’ll tell you why. You’ll pick the verses you like, and if I show you one that contradicts it, or is inconvenient, you’ll just say “it’s a metaphor.” This is a game theists love to play. Once they get you inside the Bible, they can run you around the land of nonsense like an IRS phone recording that will have you pressing buttons until you give up. Therefore I tell you right now that your Bible is worth exactly what a Koran is worth to me: firewood.

WORLD HISTORY: I will not argue with you about world history, and I’ll tell you why. You will tell me how many people were killed by Mao, Stalin, and Hitler as proof of the evil of atheism. I’ll argue that Hitler wasn’t an atheist, and that communism isn’t atheism anyway. You’ll insist that yes he was and yes it is and in the 20th century more people were killed by those three. You’ll want to stick to the 20th century because it’s the only time period in which mass murders NOT involving religion have ever taken place, as far as anyone can tell. I’ll want to include more centuries than just the convenient one, and I’ll demand that you remember the muslim world is on your side, not mine. Then we’ll argue for a while about who gets Hitler and the muslims, and which centuries count. This will go on until one of us gives up and leaves, or the other declares victory and leaves, and neither of us will have changed our minds a bit.

PERSONAL STATEMENT
So here is what I will tell you. I’m an atheist because that’s how I am. I’ve been an acknowledged atheist for 15 years (and an unacknowledged one for a good 10 more), and it works for me. I don’t carry around extra baggage in this life, and some convoluted set of nonsensical legends birthed in the Middle East and groomed in Rome is of no interest to me. I’m an American, and as far as I can tell, the truest conservative is the atheist conservative, because we don’t consider America just a temporary home on our way to a One World Heaven, where our sin tax was paid by someone else. There’s nothing conservative about that. If you have any issues with what I have said, PM me. I’ve found that on this forum, speaking up gets all the tattle-tales crying for Jim Rob, and being silent gets them sneering that you ran away without answering. It’s like dealing with an abusive schizophrenic that yells at you to shut up and then screams “Answer me!”

In closing, let me tell you in all honesty that if you are religious, I consider you mentally ill. Arguing with you nuts is like arguing with someone who thinks they are Napoleon. Even if you take them to Napoleon’s tomb, pull back the lid, and show them the body, their answer will be “But that’s not Napoleon, and I can prove it: it can’t be Napoleon because I am Napoleon, and I’m right here in front of you!” Now, how can I argue with that kind of crazy?