Ask an Atheist – 5 Questions
1. What in your opinion is the biggest misconception about atheism?
Atheism is probably the most useless word – it says absolutely nothing. Understand that, and you just might grasp your neighbourhood atheist.
Atheism is a negation of theism. It tells you absolutely nothing about what I believe. Yet time and time again, theists lump atheists together under one umbrella of “the belief in non belief.” It’s absurd.
There is no belief in the non-belief of something. You make a case for an invisible god in the room, and somehow think that me not going along with the idea is a whole new belief system? Then you’re misusing the word belief. You’re rendering it useless to the point where it does not help identify any group in a meaningful way. You’re doing what religion does best – mudding the water. Making everything so blurry, no one knows the facts, and each is left to proclaim their own “truth.”
2. Do you think there is extra-terrestrial or extra-universal intelligence?
Yes. Has it visited us on earth? No, probably not. Basis? Drake Equation. I suggest you look into it when you get a chance.
3. What in your opinion is the poorest argument for religion and why?
Religion has no good arguments, not a single one. But if I could rid the planet of just one, I’d like for everyone to recognise that religions do not make us moral beings. When you read Deutronomy 22 and are told to stone the woman who’s not a virgin on her wedding night, you find no other direct counter verse. You are deciding which verses follow. The moral compass is inside you, but religion is trying to convince you that it was it that gave you this gift. Like hell it did. Pun intended.
4. What would would be your perfect society? Secular? non religious? Anarchic? Why?
Just as there probably is no god, there is nothing that is perfect. For some people the idea of mortality and secularism is hell, and I don’t think I’d find myself enjoying life in a secular society full of stressed out fellow men. I mean you can get the best job position in the world, but if everyone around you is going to pieces, you’re not likely to enjoy your work.
Forget one encompassing solution for everyone. Each to their own, without fear of persecution and imposed creeds. I’d personally be one miserable creature if evidence for god began surfacing. What I enjoy of my life I enjoy because it will end, “and nothing shall be left of me or my ego.” Nothing that is limitless has ever found any value in the hearts of men.
5. If when you die you find god, how would you justify yourself to him?
I will adopt Rick Moen’s Strategy: “In the unlikely event of losing Pascal’s Wager, I intend to saunter into Judgement Day with a bookshelf full of grievances, a flaming sword of my own devising, and a serious attitude problem.”
If despite being blessed with a brain I am told by god that I was to ignore everything it tells me, he is no king of mine. “To his credit, man has for thousands of years worked to fix the botched job god has done.” I don’t know who said that, but I have a feeling we’d see eye to eye.
If there is a god, the only sensible thing to do is to picket his gates – have him give some credit where it is due. No more free-riding. Give us a pat on the back and some perks for putting up with shit like cancer, violence, suffering, and the god damned Conservative, right wing politics.
Amen.
“Just as there probably is no god”. You claim to profess a lack of belief in a god yet here you seem uncertain. Just a typo? Or do you think there could actually be some sort of god or goddess out there?
I am fairly confident (and comfortable) simply stating that there is no god. However, such a direct statement is often seen as arrogant, and I try to stop such accusation in its tracks by adding a “probably” in there as a caution.
It seems ridiculous to me to have to say “leprechauns _probably_ don’t exist”, or “pink unicorns _probably_ don’t exist.” For all intents and purposes, we can simply reduce it to “unicorns, leprechauns and god do not exist.” With the first two, very few people take issue when such a direct statement is made – with regards to god, such direct statement often ends in accusations of arrogance.
From my experience, those who defend their god by saying “you cannot disprove him” have no issue in making a very “arrogant” statement of their own, and claim that the gods of other faiths are rather silly, and of course, _they_ do not exist.
Perhaps I can start skipping the “probably” when saying “god does not exist”, and simply start referring this page. :)