We're here, we're back just as G-d said we would be thousands of years ago.
Posted on 02/11/2010 7:34:10 PM PST by SeekAndFind
SEVERAL POLLS indicate that the term “atheism” has acquired such an extraordinary stigma in the United States that being an atheist is now a perfect impediment to a career in politics (in a way that being black, Muslim or homosexual is not). According to a recent Newsweek poll, only 37% of Americans would vote for an otherwise qualified atheist for president.
Atheists are often imagined to be intolerant, immoral, depressed, blind to the beauty of nature and dogmatically closed to evidence of the supernatural.
Even John Locke, one of the great patriarchs of the Enlightenment, believed that atheism was “not at all to be tolerated” because, he said, “promises, covenants and oaths, which are the bonds of human societies, can have no hold upon an atheist.”
That was more than 300 years ago. But in the United States today, little seems to have changed. A remarkable 87% of the population claims “never to doubt” the existence of God; fewer than 10% identify themselves as atheists — and their reputation appears to be deteriorating.
Given that we know that atheists are often among the most intelligent and scientifically literate people in any society, it seems important to deflate the myths that prevent them from playing a larger role in our national discourse.
1) Atheists believe that life is meaningless.
On the contrary, religious people often worry that life is meaningless and imagine that it can only be redeemed by the promise of eternal happiness beyond the grave. Atheists tend to be quite sure that life is precious. Life is imbued with meaning by being really and fully lived. Our relationships with those we love are meaningful now; they need not last forever to be made so. Atheists tend to find this fear of meaninglessness … well … meaningless.
2) Atheism is responsible for the greatest crimes in human history.
People of faith often claim that the crimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were the inevitable product of unbelief. The problem with fascism and communism, however, is not that they are too critical of religion; the problem is that they are too much like religions. Such regimes are dogmatic to the core and generally give rise to personality cults that are indistinguishable from cults of religious hero worship. Auschwitz, the gulag and the killing fields were not examples of what happens when human beings reject religious dogma; they are examples of political, racial and nationalistic dogma run amok. There is no society in human history that ever suffered because its people became too reasonable.
3) Atheism is dogmatic.
Jews, Christians and Muslims claim that their scriptures are so prescient of humanity’s needs that they could only have been written under the direction of an omniscient deity. An atheist is simply a person who has considered this claim, read the books and found the claim to be ridiculous. One doesn’t have to take anything on faith, or be otherwise dogmatic, to reject unjustified religious beliefs. As the historian Stephen Henry Roberts (1901-71) once said: “I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.”
4) Atheists think everything in the universe arose by chance.
No one knows why the universe came into being. In fact, it is not entirely clear that we can coherently speak about the “beginning” or “creation” of the universe at all, as these ideas invoke the concept of time, and here we are talking about the origin of space-time itself.
The notion that atheists believe that everything was created by chance is also regularly thrown up as a criticism of Darwinian evolution. As Richard Dawkins explains in his marvelous book, “The God Delusion,” this represents an utter misunderstanding of evolutionary theory. Although we don’t know precisely how the Earth’s early chemistry begat biology, we know that the diversity and complexity we see in the living world is not a product of mere chance. Evolution is a combination of chance mutation and natural selection. Darwin arrived at the phrase “natural selection” by analogy to the “artificial selection” performed by breeders of livestock. In both cases, selection exerts a highly non-random effect on the development of any species.
5) Atheism has no connection to science.
Although it is possible to be a scientist and still believe in God — as some scientists seem to manage it — there is no question that an engagement with scientific thinking tends to erode, rather than support, religious faith. Taking the U.S. population as an example: Most polls show that about 90% of the general public believes in a personal God; yet 93% of the members of the National Academy of Sciences do not. This suggests that there are few modes of thinking less congenial to religious faith than science is.
6) Atheists are arrogant.
When scientists don’t know something — like why the universe came into being or how the first self-replicating molecules formed — they admit it. Pretending to know things one doesn’t know is a profound liability in science. And yet it is the life-blood of faith-based religion. One of the monumental ironies of religious discourse can be found in the frequency with which people of faith praise themselves for their humility, while claiming to know facts about cosmology, chemistry and biology that no scientist knows. When considering questions about the nature of the cosmos and our place within it, atheists tend to draw their opinions from science. This isn’t arrogance; it is intellectual honesty.
7) Atheists are closed to spiritual experience.
There is nothing that prevents an atheist from experiencing love, ecstasy, rapture and awe; atheists can value these experiences and seek them regularly. What atheists don’t tend to do is make unjustified (and unjustifiable) claims about the nature of reality on the basis of such experiences. There is no question that some Christians have transformed their lives for the better by reading the Bible and praying to Jesus. What does this prove? It proves that certain disciplines of attention and codes of conduct can have a profound effect upon the human mind. Do the positive experiences of Christians suggest that Jesus is the sole savior of humanity? Not even remotely — because Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and even atheists regularly have similar experiences.
There is, in fact, not a Christian on this Earth who can be certain that Jesus even wore a beard, much less that he was born of a virgin or rose from the dead. These are just not the sort of claims that spiritual experience can authenticate.
8) Atheists believe that there is nothing beyond human life and human understanding.
Atheists are free to admit the limits of human understanding in a way that religious people are not. It is obvious that we do not fully understand the universe; but it is even more obvious that neither the Bible nor the Koran reflects our best understanding of it. We do not know whether there is complex life elsewhere in the cosmos, but there might be. If there is, such beings could have developed an understanding of nature’s laws that vastly exceeds our own. Atheists can freely entertain such possibilities. They also can admit that if brilliant extraterrestrials exist, the contents of the Bible and the Koran will be even less impressive to them than they are to human atheists.
From the atheist point of view, the world’s religions utterly trivialize the real beauty and immensity of the universe. One doesn’t have to accept anything on insufficient evidence to make such an observation.
9) Atheists ignore the fact that religion is extremely beneficial to society.
Those who emphasize the good effects of religion never seem to realize that such effects fail to demonstrate the truth of any religious doctrine. This is why we have terms such as “wishful thinking” and “self-deception.” There is a profound distinction between a consoling delusion and the truth.
In any case, the good effects of religion can surely be disputed. In most cases, it seems that religion gives people bad reasons to behave well, when good reasons are actually available. Ask yourself, which is more moral, helping the poor out of concern for their suffering, or doing so because you think the creator of the universe wants you to do it, will reward you for doing it or will punish you for not doing it?
10) Atheism provides no basis for morality.
If a person doesn’t already understand that cruelty is wrong, he won’t discover this by reading the Bible or the Koran — as these books are bursting with celebrations of cruelty, both human and divine. We do not get our morality from religion. We decide what is good in our good books by recourse to moral intuitions that are (at some level) hard-wired in us and that have been refined by thousands of years of thinking about the causes and possibilities of human happiness.
We have made considerable moral progress over the years, and we didn’t make this progress by reading the Bible or the Koran more closely. Both books condone the practice of slavery — and yet every civilized human being now recognizes that slavery is an abomination. Whatever is good in scripture — like the golden rule — can be valued for its ethical wisdom without our believing that it was handed down to us by the creator of the universe.
Atheists (as shown in the above sentence) are "legends in their OWN mind".
...it seems important to deflate the myths that prevent them from playing a larger role in our national discourse.
Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. The religion of atheism (moral relativism) has done enough already to ruin a great country that was founded on Christian principles (not "religous principles" as in Muslim, Buddhist or secular humanist, but CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES).
Atheism has given us abortion, homosexuality, pornography, prostitution, as well as drug and alcohol abuse. Really, we appreciate your gracious offer to do "more" for our society, but really, you've done enough already.
(Myth 2) Atheism is responsible for the greatest crimes in human history. People of faith often claim that the crimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were the inevitable product of unbelief. The problem with fascism and communism, however, is not that they are too critical of religion; the problem is that they are too much like religions..
Hitler (who DESPISED Christianity), Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were "religous people". Their religion was a totalitarian government that wanted nothing to do with God. Because the almighty state was their "god", they hated anything or anyone that opposed their tyranny. In other words: when it came to being worshipped, they didn't want any "competition" from God.
100-200 million murdered under communist regimes since 1917. I wonder if they had believed in one of the most basic dogmas of Judaism and Christianity: "Thou Shalt Not Murder", if those innocent lives would have been spared.
But wait, there's more!
45 million innocent unborn babies murdered in the name of "choice" in the past 37 years (I highly doubt that the butchers at Planned Parenthood hold Christian worship services at the end of the day).
500,000 plus dead from the "gay disease" (if you asked homosexual's what their "religion" is, they'll laugh in your face if you talk to them about being "saved" by Jesus).
Yes, atheists are a "intelligent" bunch; so intelligent that they don't even realize that it is because of Christianity that they have the freedom to act like the fools that they are in public.
yes. i have to agree with your assessment.
"When scientists don’t know something — .........they admit it. Pretending to know things one doesn’t know is a profound liability in science."
......well not in the case of Climate Change, where faking evidence is a very lucrative affair, and as a bonus, you can count on the majority of scientists to cover your butt when you lie.
1. Atheists believe that life is meaningless.
Deny the eternal, and you bump into Solomon’s conclusions in Ecclesiastes.
Well the angry ones are not agnostics, they are atheists, and they are so proud of have proved a negative....at least to themselves.
Very interesting article, SeekAndFind. Thanks for posting it. I’m a Christian who has had conversations with athiests and agnostics. Much of what this article is saying rings true, in my opinion.
I learned a valuable lesson from a preacher’s wife many years ago. She basically said, “I don’t argue religion, because religion is based on faith” and “I don’t argue against other religions (our conversation was about Mormons) because we are all taught our beliefs and hold on to them regardless of whether we are right or wrong”.
I trust in God and if I was wrong in not becoming a Mormon, or Jew, or Catholic, or ‘name your religion’, then I pray He will forgive me.
"There is, in fact, not a Christian on this Earth who can be certain that Jesus even wore a beard, much less that he was born of a virgin or rose from the dead. These are just not the sort of claims that spiritual experience can authenticate."
These are precisely the kinds of things that spiritual experience can authenticate, if that is the proper term. I would say 'reveal'. Jesus said "The Kingdom of God is within you." On what basis does a materialist pronounce judgment on the 'authenticity' of inner visions? (which are actually quite common occurances). Even some religious people have trouble with visions, prophetic dreams, and other Divine revelations.
My brother left the church, partly because he was visited by Jesus one night in his bedroom. When he asked the junior minister about it, he was told to get out of his office and not talk about such things. Sadly, he remains an atheist to this day.
Not everyone requires an answer for the unknown.
This is well said. I think religion can be, and mostly is, a beautiful thing. But call me a “Doubting Thomas” or whatever. I have absolutely lost all trust in mankind to secure and deliver religious truth. And if there is a God, he/she should have known better than to put his “truth” in the hands of man. Just look what they’ve done in his name. :(
The Psalmist always said it best for me:
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”
(Why no respect, you ask? What respect do they show theists?)
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Eternity Road
“There’s no possibility of proving or disproving either the theist”
Just because one human can’t prove it to another doesn’t mean that God doesn’t prove it to whomever He decides.
“My brother left the church, partly because he was visited by Jesus one night in his bedroom. When he asked the junior minister about it, he was told to get out of his office and not talk about such things. Sadly, he remains an atheist to this day.”
I don’t uinderstand why those two events would push him into atheism.
We decide what is good in our good books by recourse to moral intuitions that are (at some level) hard-wired in us and that have been refined by thousands of years of thinking about the causes and possibilities of human happiness.
Anyone thinking of voting for an atheist in high office will do well to reflect on these words, coming from an Atheist in his own defense.
The good that we do is, according to him, done SOLELY because of concern for suffering; that concern is a product of intuition strengthened by centuries of thought.
That would explain Stalin and Hitler. It is therefore entirely possible that whatever theory we invent in our own mind about the ways to help the suffering, is good enough to act upon. As easy as the atheist had discarded religion he will discard the "thousands of years of thinking about the causes and possibilities of human happiness" and substitute his own cogitations.
Don't trust them, folks.
Actually, both fascism and communism are only made possible by atheistic philosophic assumptions.
Locke also was right, not only can the promises of an atheist not be trusted--but neither can ethics in general. If one really believes he is unaccountable to anyone--he is more likely live amorally--without fear of penalty for doing wrong to others--having one's only "ethic" as what he can get away with... As a matter of fact, atheism has no basis of understanding right or wrong in the first place. One cannot know ought from is, or morals from behavior....ultimately, without a law giver, there is no law.
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