Why I'm an Atheist (Part 2 of 3)

We next need to ask, where is it that the religious founders got their information from? Since nothing about reality implies god, how did he manage such a prominent role in these books?

There's two possibilities here:

A: The events told in the religious texts are true and actually occurred as described.

B: The events in these texts that define a religion are made up and untrue.

I'll point out ahead of time the most obvious, that "A" cannot be true for every single religion, so some of the religions would have to fall under "B". As well, if it's your religion in question, you would likely claim it belongs under "A" and others belong under "B". I'll digress on this point now as it's implications should be obvious.

Now, which of the two scenarios described above is more likely? If you claim A is more likely, then you must accept the fact that "magical" things are possible on this planet, however, they just haven't occurred in the past 2000 years. Or, more specifically, they haven't occurred for as long as science has been keeping track. This is quite an assumption, especially considering nothing "magical" has ever been scientifically been documented. Was it merely a coincidence that as science became better documented and more accurate that these miracles ceased to exist? I certainly wouldn't think so, especially considering these miracles were poorly documented and never scientifically tested themselves.

What about point B? Is it more likely to be true? I guess you have to first find a reason as to why people would make up a religion or at the very least add religious aspects to their history. To start, you must consider what these texts were meant to be. Outside of creating a religion, these texts were meant to explain everything about reality. However, as mentioned above, when these books were written there was little to no scientific process, and no scientific history that we have today. Thus when crops grow, children are born, rain falls, rivers overflow and flood towns, seasons change, etc... it is nothing short of a miracle! Since they can't explain these occurrences scientifically, they explain them as best they can! This includes adding a super-powered being who does these miracles and more then strives to be worshiped by the people who he did this for (why else would someone do all this?). Thus definitions of how he did this, and why he did this, and how you should act to appease this god, etc. were created and passed down from generation to generation (most likely changing along the way to stay modern and give power where needed) and finally being written down when possible.

Not only is this a perfectly plausible reason for why B should be assumed for all religions (especially the ones that make origin claims), but it also explains perfectly the reason for such variance in religions throughout history! If there really was a god, and he really did all the things claimed in one of the religions, and he really had the ability to communicate directly to humans, wouldn't you expect there to be only one religion around the world throughout time? Or at the very least, wouldn't there be similarities of the gods worshiped regardless of distance and time of origin? Yes, you absolutely would expect this! If god were real, he would spread his message regardless of time and distance. Instead what you find is a modern day where there's over 20 completely separate religions being worshiped today.

More shockingly, go back and compare the ancient religions for further proof. Founded completely separately, ancient Egyptian, Chinese, Mayan, Greek/roman and Old Testament religions show god's complete inability to spread his message. However, these religions manage to explain their own reality in a way that makes sense to it's people without their creators sharing anything in common. Lastly, one thing just about all religions share in common is astronomy and changing of the seasons. Rather than explain the importance of that, I'll let you mull that over yourself while looking at some of my earlier points.

So, here we are today in a time when we have answers to all the questions that were unknown when these books were written, so how does a religion possibly compete with real genuine knowledge? This is part three, the most dangerous one of all: Faith. People do some crazy evil things in the name of faith, and on a much larger scale, people are holding back the human race with this proponent of false logic and reason. I will digress on this point as well as it's besides the one I'm trying to get to.

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Why I'm an Atheist (Part 1 of 3)

The first reason, and probably the most obvious of the three is this: There is nothing about the universe we live in that suggests god exists. This includes the planets, stars, and even the life on the planets. Nothing about them implies a god exists. Everything you see and know about reality either has some scientific explanation or at least is scientifically plausible. Take for instance the human race. We already know how such a complex being came to be. They were evolved over the course of 4.5 billion years from a single celled organism. Where did this single celled organism come from? Scientists don't know for a fact, but they certainly have plenty of plausible theories that account for this occurrence without resorting to the "it was magic" conclusion.

This idea goes much beyond life, point at anything in this universe that you may think must have a magical explanation (or at least suggests a god must exist), and I'll point you to a scientist who either already has a purely scientific explanation, or has some theories and ideas that are much more plausible and need not involve god at all!

Now, you may choose to take a step back from this and say, "Well, what about the universe itself, no scientist has come up with a satisfying explanation for where the universe came from without invoking some sort of creator/god." You may have half a point there. Scientists may think their explanations are satisfying, but I sure don't think so. I'd much rather think that the universe just "poofed" into existence one day.

However, you're wrong to imply that invoking a creator of the universe IS a satisfying explanation. You're simply pawning off this "origin" question onto another level and calling it a day. But now you have to answer where did this "god" come from? Did he simply "poof" into existence first? If so, then I have to ask the Occam's Razor question: Which is more likely to have occurred, a universe somehow coming into existence, or a god? Well, what is this god? Is it the all knowing, all powerful, and all good god the Christians and most other religions refer to? If so, then it is definitely more likely that a universe came into existence from nothing than a being of infinite complexity capable of creating and managing this universe. If you're talking about a being less complex than our own universe, then you might as well be talking about a student in a chemistry class who mixed the wrong chemicals and came up with a universe in a beaker. Or at the very least a "god" who created the universe, but without the powers to micromanage it as religions attribute to it.

Either way, nothing in the universe implies god's existence, and nothing about the universe itself implied the being organized religions talk about. So, the next question you should ask, if nothing about reality implies god, where did the founders of religions get their information? This leads me to the second point...

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An Atheist Heaven

One of the reasons behind the name "An Atheist Heaven" is that I believe there is a severe issue with most religious people's morality in the concept and unquestioned acceptance of heaven or an afterlife.

When having a theological debate with any given Christian, the first issue they will bring up is that of death. As morbidly illogical as this may seem, it is not obvious to Christians why this is. Continuing with their line of reasoning, death is a scary concept. Isn't it only natural to hope that when you die, you will move on to another place? I think most people will agree with this assessment by Christians. Death is a scary concept, but for most people, an afterlife doesn't actually lead to them resolving their fear, rather, they just procrastinate in dealing with their fear.

This is why most religious people, despite believing in a "better" place, are always sad when they lose someone early in life. Taking this further, it actually to them not living up to the quality of life that they should, which can even lead to damage being done to others as well. It is for this reason that I believe a more atheistic approach to "heaven" should be taken to not only settle the fears of death but aslo enhance the quality of existence for humanity as a whole. I will start by asking the question of why death is so scary.

Now, outside of the the physical act of dying (cause, we all agree painful/suffering deaths are scary, but no one attaches religious sentiment there), the abstract concept of death is scary. Why is this? I will have to personalize this, but I think it's pretty similar to the fears of others, and even if it's different, the conclusion will most likely be the same (comments are available for disagreements :) ). Throughout the course of my life, I have amassed two things that are important to me: relationships and memories. The concept of dying represents losing both in an instant. Obviously, once I'm dead, I will have no concept of this, but the concept of living feels empty and pointless if someday, everything I gain that is important to me will eventually be taken away without exception.

Throughout college, I had a fear of public speaking which made any encounter giving a speech a terrifying experience. In the weeks leading up to the speech, I would often try to think of ways to wiggle around giving the speech rather than simply facing my fears. I would even consider going as far as dropping the course just to avoid having to face my fears. This line of thinking was inevitably destructive. In the time leading up to my speech, I should have spent my time preparing for the speech! Instead, I made believe that the speech wasn't going to happen, and when it came time to give the speech, it was terrible! Just as bad as I feared.

I give this example, because it is the equivalent to the religious person's concept of an afterlife. Rather than face their fears of death, and figure out a way to cope and make the experience of life better, they will pretend the effects of death aren't going to happen. This is a destructive conclusion that leads to lessening the quality of life not only for them, but for those that they share relationships with. Less effort is required to die and get in to heaven than their is to take care of those that you love in life, and ensure your legacy will be remembered among the living.

This issue came up recently with a sibling of mine. She told me she suffered from periods of depression and loneliness, and whenever she would go to our parents about the issue, their response to her was just to pray to god, and everything would work itself out. The problem is, a portion of the issues in her life probably dealt with her relationship with my parents both now, and growing up, and rather than getting to the bottom of her issues, my parents simply pawned her off to someone else. My parents firmly believe that when they die, they will get into heaven, and all the problems spread across our family will resolve themselves. However, that will certainly not be the case here on earth after they pass on.

Do Atheists have a concept of heaven? Not in the sense that when you die, all will be better. The Atheist's Heaven is a self imposed mindset that you live your life with and die fearless with. We all are afraid that when we die our relationships and memories will die with our body, however, here on earth you have the potential to keep them alive for eternity. In astronomy, the gravitational pull of a body of mass is felt throughout the universe, no matter how little the mass, and how far the distance (however small the pull might be). Your life in this universe can be regarded in the same way. When you die, your impact in this world will continue to be felt. It is what you do in your life, who you affect, and how you affect them that determines what this impact will be, and how much of your relationships and memories will live on.

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Evolution is a fact... in theory.

So, I was reading a political story, that discussed the scientific beliefs of the political candidates. On the topic of evolution, I was directed to this article. The purpose of the article was to discuss the common creationist myth that evolution is just a theory, the same way creationism is another theory. The key here, is that neither is known fact, and can be disproved just as easily.

The discussion attempted to clarify this misinformation being spread by creationists. The concept of evolution is both a theory, and a fact. More specifically, evolution can be split into two parts, the event and the mechanism (the "what" and the "why").

The event portion of evolution is a fact. Scientists know for certain that evolution did occur. It is not a theory whether or not evolution occurred. The fossil records and DNA evidence is there to show that it did occur, and modern tests have confirmed it. The mechanism for evolution, however, is a theory. It is not known for a fact exactly why this has happened, or how a species evolves, but it doesn't change the fact that evolution has occurred on this planet.

The common comparison is that of gravity. We know for certain that gravity exists. If you drop an apple from 5 feet above ground, it will not fall "in theory." It will just fall. That is a fact. Why does it fall? Newton claimed it was the masses of the objects attracting each other, Einstein claimed masses bend the space-time continuum, and Christians believe on the 8th day god said, "Let there be gravity," and then there was. They are all theories to explain why gravity exists. If one is disproved, it doesn't change the effect of gravity, just our understanding of it.

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The innevitable first post!

I'll start off with my story of being an atheist:

The theme of my life leading up to my acceptance of atheism has been one of confusion. Religion confused me, my hatred of having to go to church confused me (at least with school, I hated it, but understood why I was there) and most of all, the fact that there were people that disagreed with my religion confused me. For somebody who was as philosophical, and inwardly thinking as myself, having this much confusion was bound to lead to an epiphany.

For now, I'll start at the beginning: As an elementary aged child, I hated nothing more than having to go to church. Just about every Sunday, my family would get us out of bed early, and haul us to either Sunday school, or worse, the dreadfully boring main service. This was something we did for years, on a scattered basis. The majority of Sundays we would go to church, but every 5th Sunday or so, my parents would wake up and just not feel like going. These days to me were the rarest, most wonderful treat, and I never knew ahead of time when it would happen.

This event led me to lay in bed just about every Sunday wishing beyond belief that this was a Sunday we'd stay home. As a child, this was confusing. I was told over and over again that if you question Christianity and the church, you will be kept out of heaven. I hated going to church, but if I said so, or suggested (even to myself) that I didn't want to go to church, I would feel as though I'd sinned! As I was laying in bed, I would wish that my parents didn't want to go to church, and I'd get to stay home. I wouldn't even let myself think that I didn't want to go to church.

This theme of confusion continued through Junior High and High School. I didn't want to sin by questioning the religion, but I didn't understand why I had to spend my Sunday listening to a guy talk about a book. I remember once I was in 8th grade, and my dad was taking me to church without my mom---

---I guess this is the portion of the story where I should explain the relationship we had with my parents. My mom was the dictator or our family. She had mood swings that nobody could predict, and often led me to never question her, but just avoid her. To an extent, I learned this from my dad. He was notorious for never standing up for himself (or his children!), but doing what he thought would keep my mom happy. Often times, he was great to vent at for he would never tell on you for believing a certain way. At the same time, it was only venting you were doing. He never offered anything useful to the conversation (partly out of fear of saying something that would get him in trouble) ---

--- On this occasion, the conversation started out with me saying that I wish I didn't have to go to church. My dad didn't really say anything except the standard, "Well, you have to, it's all about being a good Christian." I can't remember exactly what he said, which I think is more or less the point. I went on to say that when I got older, I will never go to church. His only response was, "When you're older, you'll understand." He was more right than he'd ever realized! This was a very important part in my life, both the logical side of my brain, and the emotional side of my subconscious were telling me religion is bullshit, and I shouldn't want to go, and all my dad had to offer was to pass my thoughts off as childish and uneducated. In a way, he confirmed what I really thought of religion in my subconscious.

This confusion over my inability to question my religion led to more confusing thoughts. In Junior High, stories were going around about Marylin Manson. One story I heard that confused me was that he had a concert nearby where he burned a bible in front of the audience. I had a hard time dealing with why this confused me, so I often just let the story slide to my subconscious where I didn't have to think about it (and further, question my faith). There was a question on the tip of my tongue that I needed to ask myself, but I was afraid to put that question to words, so I buried it within my subconscious.

Often I like to tell people it was a Nine Inch Nails song that made me an atheist. I do this more because it sounds so stereotypically funny than anything. But, it's partly true. I was a loner all throughout High School. I had no friends that I'd see outside of school, and spent most of my time working, playing video games, or listening to my discman. I had a general feeling of being very lonely, which led me to be a very inward thinker. I often found myself walking around for hours, listening to Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin or Smashing Pumpkins, just thinking about the nature of existence (no drugs involved either :) ). Music was very important to me, and I was always buying new albums to try out.

As you can probably guess, I was destined for a clash of my unspoken questions, and a Nine Inch Nails ablum. The song was "Heresy" which had a chorus that went like this: "God is dead, and I don't care, and if there is a hell, I'll see you there." The first time I heard this song, in addition to loving the sound of the song, the question very quickly formulated in my head that had been bugging me ever since first hearing about Marylin Manson's antics. A question I was avoiding so often.

How can Trent Reznor question religion so harshly without fear of hell?
The answer was obvious instantly after formulating it, it was a feeling of such an epiphany about life that I couldn't believe up until then I hadn't understood yet. After formulating the question, the "if" from the lyrics jumped out at me and answered the question for me. Trent Reznor doesn't fear hell because he doesn't believe it exists. This may seem like stating the obvious to other atheists, but to someone who was brainwashed from early childhood to feel bad about questioning the church, it was much more difficult to achieve this epiphany.

Needless to say, by the time the song ended, I decided that I was an atheist. Since then, I've been questing things from a different perspective, and in an odd sense, I've been infatuated with religion. Mostly, this has just change my thought processes. For the most part, I've been very reserved about calling myself an atheist, especially around other people. Unsure of how they'd react to an atheist, I took a defensive position and didn't communicate my beliefs to anybody. Recently, however, I've been listening podcasts and reading books that have sparked some thoughts on religion. As you may have guessed by now, that is the point of this blog!

Anyway, I certainly don't intend to write posts as long as this. Mostly I will post thoughts that have come up either from listening to a podcast, reading a book, reading a news item, or anything else that sparks my religious skepticism. probably the main reason for this is to generate comments, and even discussion, as such, I appreciate all the comments left on my site, and will certainly aim to respond. Thanks again!

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