Defend your view of Atheism?

Question

For once, I would love to hear an atheist defend his/her view. I am tired of only hearing atheists critic the views of others. WHY do you believe what you do?

Is there some grand scientific evidence that shows there is no God?

Is there some philosophical insight pointing to a "no God" universe?

What is the foundation of your view?

What do you have? If nothing, would you kindly admit to being an agnostic instead? Just say, "I don't know if there is a God."

(Let me guess... you are about to critic Christians again?)

Answer 1

Though I have had often thought about this question and have had the opportunity to ponder many impressive points of view (pro and con).

I will admit I have nothing. I don't know if there is a God or not.
And yes, I will kindly admit to being an agnostic. I would like to say that I'm proud of it. It takes courage to tolerate the ambiguity.

But I'm not proud of it. It just happens to be the way it is.
I wish I knew.

I'll never stop wondering. But right now I'm going to take my dog to have her nails clipped and then give her a run on the beach.

Answer 2

There are many many things that has been proven to show that such a being as god does not exist. Evolution has been proven (though christians will deny it). That's why it has become a Theory. The bible is not considered a theory.

If you want some modern-day evolution discoveries, then search yahoo for chimpanzees that are starting to make tools and hunt with them.

Another reason is because some passages in the bible do not make sense.

Let's take a look at a common example. Homosexuality. In the bible, it clearly states that homosexuality is forbidden and un-natural. However, it has been proven that other species have had homosexual relations. Higher order apes, and even birds are examples. If it is un-natural, then other species would not be performing these acts. This has been proven also, scientists have it on videotape.

Ok, I'll stop right there because I don't want to give you an essay. However, if you would like to know more just research.
Now truly, the reason I do not believe in the bible god is because : Many stories of the bible do not make sense, and because there has been no proof of such a being, however there is proof of evolution. I'm not an athiest or agnostic, I'm a deist. I believe that something supernatural did create us to evolve. I'm not an athiest because I know we didn't just pop out of the blue. So you can say I'm a mix between beliefs. However, I do not believe in the bible god, nor any other religion that has been revealed.
I'm not going to criticize christians, but I think the reason why christianity is so strong is because people are afraid to die and don't want to believe that there is no life after death.

I hope people don't get angry at me. It's just what I believe, please be respectful. I have done many years of research on different religions to come to my decision.

Answer 3

Ok, here goes:

First of all, let's agree on a few things from the start. I am going to assume that the questioner is a monotheist. (If this is wrong, please let me know). If that's the case, then we already agree on quite a lot-- that is to say, there's quite a number of gods we both don't believe in. For example, neither of us believes in Zeus, Thor, Isis or Vishnu. Right?

So, an obvious question would be-- on what grounds do you reject belief in these gods? Is there some grand scientific evidence, or philosophical insight pointing to a "no Zeus" universe?

If the god in question is alleged to be omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent, we're faced with the problem of evil. Clearly this world is not perfect, and I personally have a hard time buying any argument that this is the best of all possible worlds. If it is *not* the best of all possible worlds, there clearly can't be an omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent god. (Based on the the quality of the universe, I'd hazard a guess that if there is a god, he's 100% evil and about 80% powerful.)

So: I believe in no god, because if I take a look at the universe around me and try to match it with the competing hypotheses of "there is a god" and "there is no god", I get a better fit with the latter. I don't see any evidence to suppose that there is a god, and no particular reason to believe in one. It would be silly to claim to be agnostic, for reasons made clear by "Russell's Teapot".

Good enough? Or do you want more?

Answer 4

I am in between being an atheist or agnostic.

This is how I see it:

- Some arguments for the existence of God state that since you can not DISPROVE it, it has to exist. I completely disagree with this. This defies all logic, if you can't disprove it, it can still be impossible.
- Who created God?
- If we create something that is considered to be of sin, we are marked as sinners. God created us and we are full of sin, so is God not also a sinner?

This part really, really bugs me. I'll do my best to explain my logic (or lackthereof, haha):

1) God is an all powerful entity (this is the given premise), everything God creates is natural and good.
2) God created the Earth, Man and Animals.
3) Man became corrupt, stepping out of God's graces. However man can still be saved.
4) Man created machine, robots, cars, etc...
5) Machines and other mechnical things are not "natural" or "unnatural".
6) If Man created something that is out of God's own creation, then Man is just as powerful as God.
7) If God and Man have the same level of power, then God is not an all powerful entity.

Now, the aforementioned mess of logic can be made null and void by the simple declaration that ALL things on this earth, including things that are "man mabde" are natural and of God, I will accept this logic.

I think it is a bit silly to think that we created everything on our own, but I also think it is odd to just accept any explanation.

I guess I just need some proof. More proof than "God's Love".

Answer 5

I don't disbelieve there is a god but now science has come such a long way it can give more answers than the Bible.Now scientists can tell us how the world and life started.Science make more sense than Adam and Eve and one of his ribs turning into a snake(that's just insane).The bible has been re-wrote for the people who want to believe.look at the difference between the old and the new testament.I believe there is a god but cannot believe the bible.sorry.

Answer 6

I'm not an atheist, but I'll take a crack at it anyway.

Where's god?

Where is he? She? It? See? We don't even know whether god is a he, she, or an it. What does god look like? How big is god? Is god a nice guy or is he grumpy? Well, I suppose it all depends on who you ask. Did they ever meet god? Did he have a booming voice? Where did they meet god? And why should you believe them?

You see, an atheist doesn't not believe in god because they hate god, like so many religious people want to believe. It's because there is no real evidence that shows there IS a god.

You're asking an atheist for evidence that god doesn't exist. Maybe you need a course in simple logic. Of course there is no evidence to prove that, just like you can never prove those types of negative arguments.

Oh but you want to say that by virtue of the fact that the Universe exists and all of us in it - that's proof of god.

That's not proof of god. It's proof that SOMETHING HAPPENED. That's all. We exist. Maybe god created everything, but unless that god wants to show up and be heard, there is absolutely NO REASON to speculate on who/what/where god is or what god thinks/feels/wants.

If god wants to show up someday and take credit for creating everything, god is certainly welcome to do so. And when he/she/it does, I'm sure you'll see plenty of atheists change their view.

But until that day comes... I think you're all pretty foolish to tell others what god thinks and what god wants when the FACT of the matter is, IF god exists, he hasn't made a very good effort to make his identity known. I mean, if god really wanted to be known, don't you think god could do that? But god hasn't done that, has he? Some people will talk about Jehovah and some will talk about Buddha and some will talk about Allah and some with talk about Zeus or Ra or whatever.

Unless all those gods I just named (and oh so many more) are actually the SAME god, then how can any one of them claim to be the ONLY god? If there is only one god, that one god would make itself known to EVERYBODY, don't you think? So why hasn't god done that? The sun is in the sky & it appears every day to everybody in our solar system. Everybody knows what it is. So if there is a master god like you would have people believe, WHERE IS IT? What's its name? I'd be happy to have a chat with him and ask him myself what he wants from me. And I promise, I'll do whatever he says. After all, he's god, right?

Answer 7

there was a program about this on channel 4 back along which came down 'hard' on atheists. The program was made in response to an earlier channel4 program called 'religion the root of all evil'. The presenter of this documantary was very anti-religion and as a matter of fact fanatical about his hate of religious people and their views.

The second documentary hosted by another person pointed out the many of the most evil people in the world were in fact atheists, eg hitler, stalin etc.

Basically the 2nd program concluded that neither parties know for sure wether god exists or not and that people on both sides should stop being fanatical about it and learn to respect each others views accordingly.

Answer 8

Atheists are just as religious as Theists. They have tenants of belief, authorities who claim to have the 'answers', and participants/members that adhere to these tenants.
The idea that there is a real difference between a person who believes in a universe with a God and a person who believes in a universe without a God is ridiculous. Both have 'belief'.

I reject both systems and any system of belief. All belief is created by thinking. Thought cannot capture what is here. It can only re-use existing knowledge to define what the senses give it.

Both ideas of Atheism and Theism cannot exist without a structured system of belief that comes from mankind's existing knowledge. Neither are available to you outside of thought. You add any 'value' based on your conditioning. If you do not get what you want from either belief you will drop it and try another.

The human organism does not need either to function and live.

Answer 9

I will defend my view of Atheism as soon as you defend yours! Do you believe in Zeus? No, really? Socrates was put to death for being an atheist who taught "different" gods than the city. They considered him an atheist who did not believe in a literal Zeus. He thought many gods where an unlikely complication. Do you believe in Odin, or Thor? No, really? Have you searched the universe and discovered that these entities do not exist? You, my friend are an atheist. Welcome to the club. Good luck.

Answer 10

Such nonsense -- gods. We all know that the Pink Pixie of Mars controls the universe. You are here because the Pink Pixie flew into your mother's vagina and cast Pixie dust on the ovaries -- and viola, you were then conceived. One day there was total nothingness, then boom, a Pink Pixie came into existence. Then out of all the entire universe, the Pink Pixie decided on the Earth as being large petrie dish to play out genetic roulette.

I do mean to make fun of you -- religion is for fools.