Is atheism rational?

Question

Do you atheists make sense? or are they pple who are short term thinkers and do not think of the whole picture. Why are our bodies organs have the right functions? Why is there day and night? There sure has to be a creator behind it.

seems like after reading atheistic answers, they really answer the question that their minds see the small picture, not the big one. A pity.

Answer 1

"There sure has to be a creator behind it" is simply not true.

Why must there be a creator? I'm not saying that there is or isn't
one - I am challenging your reasoning. WHY are you sure?

Indeed, if you want to use simple logic - if God is defined as
an entity that can do anything, can he create a task that he
cannot do?

You might view the question as symantic trash, or you might
view it as a fundamental problem with Godliness. Personally,
I think there MUST be a limit to ultimate power because no
limit creates paradoxen galore - so God must not be
truly omnipotent, if he exists.

There are lots of questions that might make one believe
in divinity, but the above have perfectly rational non
divine explainations. That doesn't exclude the existance
of God - merely makes his existance optional.

Clarke's law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic.

That is, just 'cause we don't understand it doesn't mean
that God did it.

More over, most atheists base their lives on scientific
rationalism - that is, they decide what is and what isn't
true on the basis of evidence that can withstand scientific
rigor (testing hypotheses, etc). NO religion can withstand
such tests.

None of this ultimately states whether or not there isn't
a more powerful mind out there - its just a comment on
whether that mind is "divine" or just really really smart.

--A confirmed agnostic.

Answer 2

You are falling into an intellectual trap that many theists fall into. Many theists try to use the argument that the conditions on earth are perfectly suited to support human life. This is a fallacious argument.

Humans evolved to suit the conditions that already existed on earth. If the conditions on earth had been different, life would have evolved differently, and perhaps humans wouldn't have evolved at all. Another species may have evolved in our place, or life may not have been able to survive on earth at all.

Our organs function because they evolved over time to do so. In fact, there are organs like the appendix that have no useful purpose at all. They are vestigial organs, left over from a time in our evolution when they were necessary. It seems a poor design to include useless organs, ones that frequently become infected and require removal.

There doesn't have to be a creator behind it, and humans have already found explinations for many things that used to be attributed to a creator. If faced with a question that you don't know the answer to, it seems a much bigger stretch of the imagination to assume that a strange supreme being was the cause, rather than a natural cause that usually can be found through scientific research.

Atheism is just the lack of belief in the supernatural, usually due to a lack of evidence. I think it is more irrational to create stories to explain the unknown, rather than to just admit that you don't know.

Answer 3

Child, just because something mystifies you doesn't mean it was the product of some skydaddy or skymommy.
Back when we were still running around nekkid, poking at dead antelopes with sticks and dying of "old age" at the age of 34 ("Eden" for you Christers), pretty much everything was strange and scary, so people invented gods and goddesses to explain them. Bad weather? Weather god angry. Bad hunt? Hunt spirit displeased. Family die of dystentery? Must have failed to pay the god bill this month.
Rationality tells us that there are reasons for most things, and if we try hard, and study, and use our brains, we can figure them out. Bad weather? Maybe there's an El Nino warm current in mid-Pacific pushing the Jet Stream further south than usual. Bad hunt? Should probably forego the cologne next time. Family die of dystentery? Probaby shouldn't feed them week-old antelope I stole from jackals.
This is what makes humanity great, and what has elevated us above that pack of naked plains apes hooting around a fire and tossing tidbits of flesh into the coals to buy the favor of the gods.
Look at it this way, pudding. if there WAS a creator who crafted you, he did a pretty poor job on the job, didn't he? No protection, weak, slow, virtually blind, deaf, unable to smell (well, pretty stinky, but you know ...), with no real assets but that brain. Your organs (which you seem so fascinated by) are designed for a horizontal torso, and all fall out with the least belly wound. Gravity makes the circulatory system iffy. The dentition is faulty and wears out after just a few decades. This is a critter either "designed" by an idiot, or the product of random evolution.
Take your pick - stupid god or no god.
Me, I'll take my chances, thanks.

Answer 4

Yes, I think atheism is the epitome of rationalism. People don't become atheist by accepting Jesus, they apply a critical mind to the concept of "god". That's where religion falls apart.
If you think that we are so complicated that it would take "divine intervention" to create us; you really overstate the human condition. I don't think you see the whole picture. We are merely forms of the universe and we are the universe.(Reletive and Absolute) I would say that's the big picture.
Oh, and there's day and night because the world spins on an axis. Nobody's turning off the light.

Answer 5

The person that posted this question may well be surprised at my answer.

I would argue that both Agnostics and Atheists and those who believe in scientific fundamentalism are religious.

I have taken newcomers to my town to local churches and mosques. My agnostic and atheist friends condemn me for this as hypocrisy. It is not!

Logical positivism as it has a dogma could itself be considered a religion!

I am areligious. I believe that the Jury is still out and perhaps in a million years or so we may approach an answer to the God problem. In the meantime I find Christian, Jewish and Muslim friends who try to convince me that I am arrogant to deny the reality of God. God created Man (and Women) and will (after a while on Earth where they're supposed to be "good") go up to Heaven or Paradise.

I have two quite different responses responses to that proposition.

Alright if God created man did he not also create dogs and dolphins. Isn't it arrogant of man to believe that only he/she of "God's creatures get a "ticket" to heaven.

I think that I'm a good guy because I'm a good guy. I know a lot of good guys who are "bribed" my the anticipation of an after life to be good. I also know a lot of really bad people who claim to be holy in their faith.

I have an open mind about all things but until some theory comes along that replaces the logic of evolution I'll accept that's why our bodies work. But as to ultimate knowledge, black holes, string theory, dark matter I admit my ignorance.

Answer 6

I'm not an atheist, but I'm also not an ultra-fervent, charismatic "born-again."

I don't know if rationality enters into atheism any more than it enters into belief or love.

Matters of the spirit (which itself is a euphimistic word) are like matters of the heart (another euphemism).

Regardless of an atheist's claim that he/she is being "rational" or "logical," people believe the things they do for any number of reasons, and some don't feel compelled to explain the "why" and "wherefor" to anyone.

I happen to believe that there is an intelligent creator, but doubt my ability to convince another of that.

Belief or non-belief isn't necessarily logical.

Answer 7

You think that the whole Universe turns around your existence (meaning human existence), but thats a mistake.
An Atheist see that the human existence is just a little part of what we call space and time.
Do you really think that you have such a perfect body?
Ask a third world person (who hard live more than 50 years) is he/she has a "perfect" body.
As Mark Twain said:
"If the Eiffel Tower were now representing the world's age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man's share of that age; and anybody would perceive that that skin was what the tower was built for. "

Answer 8

No Dr Kornflake. You are incorrect.

By your logic there'd also need to be a creator of your creator... and then a creator for that creator... and so on ad infinitum.

Existence just is, the universe just is, and life just happened, and we are just a result of what just is.

It would be irrational to accept every purposed theology to come from my fellow humans. Until a deity tells me directly that they exist it is rational for me to tell you I don't believe you when you tell me you know about the existence of some god. You're only a human and humans are not very reliable when it comes to third party information.

Answer 9

"Why are our bodies organs have the right functions"

Because otherwise you would not be around to make such inane statements.

"Why is there day and night"

It's called the earth revolving around its own axis and a star, namely the sun.

"There sure has to be a creator behind it"

that is a non-rational statement/assumption if I ever saw one.

Answer 10

Atheism is not reasonable in any way. Come to think of it; Can anything be in existence without a Creator?. Absolutely No.!