Atheist Myths

cellomould

Excerpts from http://www.hdiweb.com/atheism/html/atheist_myths.html

As I have said many times before, the purpose of this column is not to promote the “us vs. them” mentality against the theists, rather to promote understanding and tolerance.
However, we all know that many theists are so closed-minded about us that they won’t even talk to us, let alone try to understand us. This is usually not their fault, as they are told terrible things about us by people they trust, their preachers, whose whole livelihood depends on their parishioners staying in the flock.
It is this prejudice and conflict which is one of the main factors keeping atheists in the closet and theists in ignorance. With dialogue, not prejudice, both sides will benefit and the country will become a freer place. In this article I will therefore mention many of the myths about atheists that are popular among theists, as well as my usual responses. With any luck, this will prepare atheists for future confrontations and therefore make them more confident to announce themselves, as well as allow theist readers to better understand the atheist mentality.

Always couple these statements with the fact that, while atheists make up 8-10% of the population at large, we only make up 1% of the population in prison. I mean, think of it, what if 8-10% of the population (on top of all the religious criminals) decided it was OK to steal, rape, and murder? We’d have chaos! These will serve to prove that religion and ethical behavior are not even slightly related.
Expect these statements to piss off the theists, and this is where you must mention that what you said is verifiable and that their statement is openly prejudicial against 25 million people. This is the opportunity to open their eyes to the fact that just because we’re different from them doesn’t make us inherently bad.
Myth 3) “Atheists believe in evolution, but that doesn’t answer as many questions as creationism” Atheism is not a scientific theory, rather a lack of religion. We do believe in science, and that all questions will eventually be answered with science if they are not answered today. It’s gone well so far, giving theories regarding evolution, geological movement, and the Big Bang, all supported by evidence, but not necessarily endorsed by all atheists.
Creationism does not give all the answers, either. Furthermore, it goes so far as to choose which questions to answer, and discourages the asking of the rest. Believers are loath to discuss where God came from, or what he was doing before the creation. They refuse to give good answers for the many biblical inconsistencies or for the terrible injustices in the world, because they know that no such answers exist. They merely answer with “there are things which we mere humans cannot fully understand” or “the Lord works in mysterious ways”. In the end, religion doesn’t answer as many questions as it raises.

cellomould

"In other words, your God is the warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God." Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

2SYN

Yup, like I always say, as soon as you corner a Creationest, they start talking in infinitives and become impossible to reason with. Just human nature I guess.

"...the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing" - The Golden Age
[SYN], UADA - Unseen Apostate Directorate of Africa.

cellomould

Well, your point is well taken, Syn, in that no one has responded. And what a controversial thread this could have been.

Awwwwww too bad.

I have heard so many 'creationists' lately throwing rhetoric around as if it were factual.

cellomould

"In other words, your God is the warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God." Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

Iv'e tired of this debate.But I wonder if less fuel would e available to creationists if we called ourselves Nondeists rather than Atheists.In other words if we limited our position to asserting we see no scientific or philosophical necssity of a god(gods) instead of insisting there IS no god(gods)our footing be more solid.It might even make Theists less defensive.Just a thought.

Solace

Cello,
I guess we believe what we want to believe.
Some including myself, want to believe in God, want to be more spiritual, need to believe that there is more to this life that we are living now.
I would be continually depressed if I didnt at least believe that it was possible.

peacefulpete

At first I also was depressed because I felt I had lost so much.Then I realized I had not really lost anything,as my hopes were illusory.Religion while having performed a social cohesive role also created climate of apathy.What I mean is that all nobel actions were motivated by invoking GODS will.Even tho there was much talk of human love it was always contexted with reward or punishment,or at least the premise that we ought to to good because we are all Gods children.Secondly inaction was justified because God will fix everything in his good time.Now if God is removed from the picture and it then appears that self sacrifice is pointless,evenfoolish.Intelligence has its downside, anxiety,accute self awareness.It doesn't appear that animals ponder their mortality as we do.Are they happier? Can dogs make music?Do they have enjoyable conversations with friends?Do they feel satisfaction over a job well done?Happiness is the by product of living fully, lovingly and wisely.Is a spring day now so unpleasant that we must have a dream of better, to be content? People with severe hardships and the above postive outlook find life good and meaningful.

cellomould

Thanks for the comments,

It seems that often less is more in life. We can enjoy more if we don't always look for meanings.

And we have the freedom to assign meaning as we wish.

cellomould

"In other words, your God is the warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God." Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

2SYN

But Creationism is not about assigning meaning, it's probably just about assigning BLAME!

Same goes for evolution.

Who knows, we might have a better theory (stress placed on the word THEORY) come along soon. Scientists never stop theorising. Creationists, however, allow some barely literate D0od who lived millenia ago in a *particularly* scientifically un-enlightened age to perform all of their logical (well, mostly infinitive technically) thinking for them, and that is the sad thing. These people have battened down their mental hatches and are set to ride out the storm, basically. You can't unconvince a Creationist. It's a one way street.

"...the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing" - The Golden Age
[SYN], UADA - Unseen Apostate Directorate of Africa.

peacefulpete

It might seem irrelevant but to say "just a theory" is to perpetuate a misuse of terminology.Creationists say that the word theory implies uncertainty.It does not as it is used in a properly capitalised title(Evolution Theory,Particle Matter Theory,Gravitation Theory etc.) Scientists adapted the term in a way unique to science.A "Theory" is a unifying expression of observable facts.It neither implies uncertainty or certainty.It sort of becomes a subject heading.For instance if I asked all my friends to write the best bass fishing secrets they knew and I added my own,coupled it with biological facts,added some historical records,I could title the book "Theory of Bass".Certainly such a work would not be all that could be said of the matter, but what ever is later appended in later editions would still have the same title "Theory of Bass".It is unfortunate that every specialized field of learning uses words in a unique way.What is worse is when they also use the word in its common context.It is true that various opinions exist of the exact path evolution has taken or the relative importance of differant factors but noone is questioning whether evolution is a biological fact.Therefore you might say that there are many "theories" within the "Theory of Evolution.No doubt words such as hypothesis or postulate or suggestion would serve better and with less confusion.To make matters worse often the capital "T" is left off.So it requires of the reader to understand if what is meant is a "theory" or a"Theory". But Creationists have used folks ignorance of this to suggest that biological evolution is in some question among scientists.Let's set them straight.

cellomould

I still can't get over how the WT praises and condemns 'scientists' in the same sentence.

'This particular scientist notes <credibility assigned>...'
'This other scientist (e.g. an atheist), however, admits <scientific credibility shattered>...'

By clever manipulation of their words in quotations, the WT casts the atheist leaning scientists as feeble but capable of 'finding God'.

cellomould

"In other words, your God is the warden of a prison where the only prisoner is your God." Jose Saramago, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ

Atheist Myths

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