When I am asked why I am an atheist, I simply respond that it is because there is no god in which to believe. It’s really that simple. Many fellow atheists have some relatively elaborate stories about how they came to their disbelief and also some justifications for why they maintain their position, but what more is needed after you’ve realized that there is no higher power on which to rely? This question has prompted me to look into the arguments and support for atheism that many give. I wanted to critique how others are defending the position, to make sure that it does not become another fad that people accept for superficial reasons.
Here are the most popular superficial arguments that I’ve heard atheists give for their lack of belief:
1. God is terrible.
The most common reason that newly-announced atheists give for their deconversion is the realization that their god is an asshole. Okay, that’s true, but it doesn’t do anything to disprove god’s existence. If this is the sole basis for your disbelief, my suggestion would be to instantly separate yourself from theological discussions entirely. The material that you should be digesting right now should be scientific in nature, preferably from the fields of either physics or psychology. Learn how to the world and individual brains work. Understand the mechanics behind belief and answer some of the questions you once thought only god could answer.
I’ve had too many born-again Christians tell me how they used to be in my shoes, but then they saw the light. From my perspective, I would need to suffer some severe mental incapacity in order to end up like them. The reason why I think the way I do is because my position is backed up by logic and moderate knowledge of many different areas of science, sociology and philosophical theory. I assume that these so-called former atheists did not really have the same background that I do. Instead, I heavily suspect that their previous disbelief had more emotion behind it. After all, most argue that I must hate god, which is probably what they went through before they were born-again.
2. Disbelief makes you happier than faith.
I can’t argue against the claim that most religions are mentally unhealthy. I’ll even throw my hat into the ring if someone wants a good explanation for why rationality could lead to a happier existence. But if you’re trying to sway believers away from their faith by using your relative happiness as a lure, I have a bone to pick. We are surrounded by trendy spirituality and pseudo-sciences shrouded by the optimism they portend. The last thing the rationalist movement needs is to be hijacked by this desire to simply feel good.
In truth, there is no guarantee that leaving faith behind will make someone happier. Faith provides a huge amount of comfort that many people simply are not mentally agile enough to deal without. That doesn’t mean that atheism is only for smart people, though. If we are going to evangelize disbelief, let’s at least be completely honest that all we’re saying is that god doesn’t exist. We’re not trying to sell happiness or enlightenment; that comes through a different avenue and should be a different pursuit all together.
3. The world would be a better place if there was no religion.
Aside from the obvious logical fallacy that a positive result does not infer a true belief, this kind of reasoning is also fairly naive. The world is a nasty place even when you discount the harm that religion has done to it. Religion, at times, is just a scapegoat and motivational factor for a greater motive. Case in point: An FBI interrogator described the structure of Al Qaeda by citing that the high-level officers he interrogated were politically motivated while the low-level grunts justified their actions with religion. This illustrates a grim truth about the world we live in: ideology is a tool, not a goal.
Get rid of religion and it will merely be replaced with another motivation. It is no more effective than attacking a symptom instead of the source. Most times, the evil is just a case of one entity acting in its own self-interest. Corporations are the finest example of this. As human animals, we are capable of terrible things and religion is just fodder for our desires and aspirations. I think the only way to make the world a better place is to personally empower everyone with education and self-confidence, but that’s just as plausible as getting rid of religion.
Aw, c'mon... the world would be a better place without religion. Not because of the bad perpetrated in the name of religion(s), but because people might actually attempt to experience their world, live their lives and stop hoping there's something good after death. I think that WOULD make the world a better place. Religion makes people lazy. "Oh, I don't need to know that... the answer is always 'gawd did it'."
ReplyDeletegodlessBryson: My argument is that religion is just another ideology that can be impressed on people to induce the same behavior. Without religion, we would still have to contend with the same bullshit, but just perpetrated by another ideology.
ReplyDeleteReligion and god are not the same thing - God(s) can exist without religion(s), and vice versa. I find the interchanging of these two terms a huge problem for theists and atheists.
ReplyDeletePros and cons my good Bryson. You're spot on about more people enjoying life for what it is, hopefully. Enough others would perhaps act out rashly as the afterlife repercussions would suddenly be void, and our lazy "gawd did it" folks would continue as our "some kinda techno babble thang caused iyt".
ReplyDeleteWon't contend that the world wouldn't be better overall, the honesty of a Godless world would be a major improvement. Andrew maintains that more ideologies (religions?) may/will rise to take the place. We're a species of believers, systems of values hold us together.
Where to draw the line between belief systems and religions (god-free or otherwise) is a semantic debate. Separating the arguments of religions and god-belief is probably a good compartmentalization.
While I myself would prefer a world without religion, I agree with Andrew that it's not a good argument for atheism. Religion could be acknowledged universally as a bad thing, but that doesn't actually disprove the existence of a deity or the supernatural. The lack of evidence for the existence of gods or the supernatural is the best reason to not assume their existence, i.e., an atheist position. Everything else, while it may be true, are arguments for other propositions, like "humanism is a good idea" or things of that nature.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying it's a good reason to become an atheist, or even that it has anything really to do with atheism, I'm merely pointing out that a world without religion probably would be a more hospitable place. Why are people so vehemently anti-gay-marriage? Mostly (and you can see this with otherwise liberal people who take this stance) because their religion told them to be. I could list more examples, but it's time to go home, and you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the three arguments about which you speak are not sufficient arguments for atheism; however, If you notice, they are all repudiations of claims made by believers, so I don't think they are irrelevant to a discussion on atheism either.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find to be more damaging to the cause of rationalism is when an overzealous atheist uses false information to argue against religion. For example, I've known some atheists who have tried to argue that Jesus never existed because they were influenced by "Zeitgeist." Unfortunately, when a well informed apologist encounters this argument he is able to punch enough holes in this weak argument that the atheist is made to look discredited. This not only damages the atheists ability to promote rationalism, but it also encourages his interlocutor to go on believing and spreading his myths.
I think you're being a little naive here.
ReplyDeleteWithout religion we wouldn't have the Israeli-Palestine war, the crusades, the witch hunts, etc.
When we talk religion, most of the time we talk about Organized Religion. There are people in high ranks, telling people lies and threatening them if they ever question them.
It's not just "the belief in God"; Sure, I could be theist and believe in an omnipotent God that loved us all... but most of the time belief in a God is tied to an unquestioning obedience to the Bible and the Holy Scriptures; with labelling of non-believers as "heathens" and "the scum of the earth".
Also, the realization that "if there's a God he is terrible" is, in a way, proof, because it contradicts the unbiblical notion that God is good and loves us all.
But yes, I agree with you that atheism (or theism) doesn't make one happy. It just saves you from a doctrine that can make you very, VERY unhappy.
muraydog: I think people understand this, it's just hard to keep them in hermetically sealed containers in every single blog post.
ReplyDeletegeekatheist: This might sound paranoid, but I'm not convinced all of those things you mentioned were purely motivated by religion. Further, I'm not convinced similar things wouldn't be perpetrated in the name of other ideologies if religion was not a factor. That's my point.
Any of these arguments work for Atheism, but they should never be the sole reason for someone to reject theism. Like you said, it is the confluence of several factors that stop blind faith in its tracks. Resting on a single ideological principal to justify any belief is a shaky basis to establish an ideology. Even without god, pride is still a sin.
ReplyDelete"The Bible God is terrible." isn't an argument for atheism. It's an argument against Christianity--and the one that got me out of Christianity.
ReplyDeleteIt took me several more days to go from not-Christian to atheist. I might not have gone on that route without realizing the Bible God really is terrible.
I haven't seen Zeitgeist, but I have my doubts about Jesus having ever existed. It's got some theologians and historians behind it.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_myth_theory
Masque, from what I have read, there's as much evidence that Jesus existed as for just about any other figure from the ancient world.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, for me, this argument is a waste of time. It can't be definitively won, and proving or disproving it does nothing to further the rationalist position. Regardless of whether or not Jesus actually lived, he wasn't the son of any god, nor did he have supernatural powers of any kind. This is a much stronger argument that any rationalist should be setting forth because it is much more certain and tenable.
Plus one to Paul Vasquez.
ReplyDeleteThe first one drives me up the wall because it mostly comes from Christians, not atheists. Atheists will be making the argument that Christianity is not morally coherent, and then Christians will say "ha, I knew you believed in God, you're just angry!"
ReplyDeleteI have no doubt in my mind that the world will be better without religion. Religion offers a perfect stealth ground for totalitarian ideologies to be breed. Any idiot with a totalitarian ideology can easily sell in disguise of religion, and the deluded masses would easily buy into it. Also, religion is the commander in cheif of superstition. Get rid of it and you crack open superstition. Surely the world will be better without religion.
ReplyDeleteSkrikar: I just have to disagree with you. I think humans, in their basic form, are susceptible to ideologies of any type. Totalitarianism doesn't need religion, it works just fine with nationalism or any kind of fake values. You've got a lot of shit to strike down: aryanism, eugenics, etc. Superstition isn't a crime syndicate with a head to remove. It is part of our natural thought process.
ReplyDeleteYour claim is that, if we get rid of religion, it will be replaced by another ideology. That is not an argument for keeping religion. It is an argument for getting rid of religion, AND THEN working to get rid of the other ideologies as well. It's like saying, we need to keep nationalism, because if we got rid of nationalism, religion would replace it.
ReplyDeleteJust because we humans are susceptible to various idealogies doesn't give a reason not to get rid of religion. Also, just recollect the attrocities that religion caused in the world, against those caused by other idealogies like Eugenics or whatever. There might be other idealogies that are a flash in the pan, but religion consistenly delivered and continues to deliver pain n suffering in this world. Your argument sounds like 'lets not flush the toilet now because we are gonna shit in it again tomorrow morning'. Also ur first point of God being terrible sounds to be a perfectly valid argument for me. Atheism is lacking a belief in a diety, not lacking in a belief in the existence of a deity, although the latter presupposes the former. Losing belief in a deity upn realising the diety being terrible, is fine with me too. I have no isssues arguing with a theist that even if the god of their bible/gita/quran exists, I would still not believe because that god is wicked and terrible.
ReplyDelete