How much knowledge of Science is minimal for an Atheist?

Question

Should an atheist understand paleobiology?

Cosmology and Astrophysics?

Organic Chemistry?

What scientific knowledge is necessary for an atheist to justify not believing in God?

Answer 1

None. Being athiest is almost like "de-cluttering" your life. There is no longer a reason to worry about some erronious father figure from long ago telling you not to do something or he will spank you. The bible itself was not written by god, but by a bunch of people..almost like lawyers. representing god and saying things for "him". Personally, it gave me less to worry about when i becvame athiest. I have enough to worry about, the last thing i need to think about is if some crazy bearded man (jesus) doesnt like me for what i do and wont let me into his magical afterlife if i dont do what he says. Its just not for me. God, satan, jesus, allah, buddah, and that crazy scientology guy (tom cruise?) dont exist to me. Mind you this all my own opinion and if you like god thats your deal, but as i said earlier, its just not for me. Blast me all you wish for my lacking of religion, tell m im going to hell. Thats fine, because to me...its not in the center of the earth. It doesnt exist.

Answer 2

Scientific knowledge is an asset if one wishes to be taken seriously as an anti-theist. An atheist requires only the lack of belief in the many unsupported claims that are being accepted and promoted as "truth". Much of it is simple common sense. It didn't take any science to make me understand that there is no Santa Claus ;-) High school take care of the basic biology and organic chemistry for me. College (pre-law) took care of rhetoric & reasoning, psychology, sociology, English literature, and religious studies. As an adult, I seek knowledge out of personal interest, and this has taken me into paleobiology, cosmology, and quantum mechanics. There is always something new to learn, a new book to be read, a new question to answer, and that is one of my favourite things about life.

Answer 3

No one needs knowledge to believe anything. You only need knowledge to promote or defend a belief. Either Atheism or Creationism.
As for your first answerer I must respond though. He says it is the logical choice, to him maybe, to the next person no. He is then promoting his answer, without any backing. I find Evolution totally illogical. He states the first humans were atheist. Quite a claim since he claims the first humans lived millions of years ago and there would be no way to know what they believed. He did not know his facts, and there is no scientific way for him to know that. He is right the burden of proof is in making the claim, he claimed they were atheists. Prove that. The earliest writings found in the ancient cities of Ur and in Northern Iraq, all speak of a belief in a single God. Monotheism. Proof, the clay tablets found there now in possession of the University of Pennsylvania and the British museum of natural history.

Answer 4

You are right! The bar is pretty high to be an Atheist. Why? Because you have to justify your beliefs with factual, logical, re-creatable evidence. That can be studied and tested by other people who must come up with the same conclusions.

But to be a Christian you don't need any of that. You just have to suspend all logic, reason and rationality. No evidence is needed, None is provided. And interpretations of the word of God can vary from person to person, church to church...

Answer 5

They wouldn't necessarily need any scientific knowledge at all. A thorough grounding in modern Western philosophy, analytical thinking, symbolic logic, or critical thinking is probably enough to do the trick. Most atheists I have ran into arrived at their position logically and philosophically, not because science somehow "disproved" god. Science really concerns itself with positive claims most of the time (proving that something is the way it is) unless the claim it is trying to refute is outside of the provability of science or the ways we interact with the world.

Answer 6

This question is poorly veiled attempt at claiming "You have to have a good knowledge of science to be an atheist", or even worse, "You have to do a thorough investigation and have an explanation for everything before you can claim a stance on something."

The latter is like asking "How many songs do you have to listen to before you can claim a favorite"? I don't have to hear and compare every single song in existence in order to have a "true" favorite. Likewise, if I don't have the precise knowledge of meterologist to fully explain where rain comes from, that doesn't mean I have to accept the possibility of a rain god.

Answer 7

In order for atheists to argue science,they should first truly understand what they are talking about or their arguments are worthless. Most of the answers and even questions from atheists I have seen here pertaining to science have been directly quoted from a book or website,etc. They aren't really thinking for themselves but quoting from the thoughts of others,which makes them sound brainwashed and indoctrinated.
To be fair,Christians also should be well-versed in the Bible in order to answer religious questions. If one doesn't know the correct answer,one should be willing to admit as much.
Lastly, the same-old same-old arguments of the tooth fairy,unicorn,easter bunny,mythical gods,etc. doesn't prove anything. Those who continue to use them as arguments against God really need to get some new material,because that just doesn't cut it.

Answer 8

Well I'm artistic...not a science whiz. I find science topics interesting, but don't have much interest in pursuing it myself. And the really deep stuff, forget about it...with the math and stuff involved, I think my brain would melt. lol

But even with not being deeply interested...I'm still an atheist. I don't have to justify anything to anyone thank you. I am who I am and what I feel is right for me.

Answer 9

I would say grade school science is enough to work out that the christian creation story is impossible.

As for not believing in god, I don't think that is really a scientific question. That is more of a logic issue.

Once you realize that the creation story is only a story, you start to realize that the whole bible is a story. And once you realize the whole bible is just a story, why would you believe in god?

Answer 10

Atheists don't need science to not believe in God. They just don't believe in a God. That would be like asking a Christian how much evidence they needed to not believe in Zeus. The Christian God and Zeus are the same idea to an atheist. Myths.