1. Intro (Who's Really Mr./Mrs. Know-It-All?)
It seems I've spent a good chunk of my life thinking I knew so much about the cosmos, the plan for all humanity, why I'm alive in the first place, what I need to do with my body and how I should live my life entirely. As I've aged and smartened up a bit it's become crystal clear to me that I don't know jack shit. The human race doesn't know jack shit when we look at the scale of the cosmos. The older I get the more I discover how little I know of anything at all. How arrogant I once was to think I could know these things. Of course I didn't know the Answers to life. My family didn't, my friends didn't, my pastor didn't either. They may have thought they did, but they didn't. Theists will live their lives thinking they understand the plan of this world and universe, but I'm interested only in the actual truth of reality, not what I "feel" is the truth of reality. Of course the theists that criticize us atheists for being so arrogant must be confronted with this cold hard fact: THEY are the arrogant ones; making claims on knowing something they can't possibly know. And they aren't just keeping this "knowledge" to themselves. Oh no. They are saying YOU must believe these things too.
These things we can't possibly know since there is zero evidence for any of them. That is arrogant. Atheists are humble and modest in their position. Theists have not met the burden of proof to prove to us atheists that there is a God. Even if that was possible (to find the "First Cause" of the Universe) that would get us to deism at best, not theism. One could use Occam's Razor here. When we get to the very pinpoint beginning of the universe (The Big Bang) what is the simplest answer? A.) A Universe came from nothing (*See Lawrence Krauss lecture on Youtube to get a better understanding of what nothing is) or B.) that a complex Designer (God) created it all? Obviously the answer is A. You've heard it before: Who created the creator. Thus, I don't believe in a god.
I heard this argument presented by Jeff Dee (of The Atheist Experience) and feel it applies here: When Creationists argue against evolution by using the irreducible complexity argument (things are just so complex that they MUST be designed; they couldn't have just came about by chance.), we can use that same point they are making against them. *And of course if you understand evolution you realize living things didn't just come about by chance. Natural Selection is the exact opposite of chance. All us atheists have to do is merely point out that by that rationale there must be a Designer to the Designer. Something bigger than god had to create god because the Intelligent Designer is the most complex thing we "know of" in this universe. Just as the beautiful workings of the human eye or the master handiwork of the flagellum motor scream a designer, a "first cause" complex God that loves and listens to apes pray requires a designer too. Right? no? Well, that's a logical fallacy called "special pleading" then.
2. Hell? No.
I remember this scene from Bill Maher's "Religulous" when Maher is talking to the actor playing Jesus in that Holy Land theme park. After a few minutes of going nowhere in a discussion between the two, the Jesus character gets very emotional for Bill's soul and asks him all teary eyed.. "But what if you're wrong, Bill?" Christians like to "care for your soul". But of course only care enough to sort of discuss it briefly until they can't defend their side anymore; then they run away with feelings hurt and apparently don't care about your soul anymore. Of course if hell was real as the Bible describes it then every Christian I know should be doing everything they possibly can to convert me at all costs. I know I would be doing that to my family and friends and even strangers if I thought these people would be burning for all of eternity. So of course when the rubber meets the road: they don't actually believe in it. They have just let this cognitive dissonance grow on them unnoticed. It's easy to get used to things that really don't make sense. You just stop questioning or thinking things through. You stop being skeptical.
So why not reverse the question? What if YOU are wrong? Think of someone like Ray Comfort or Billy Graham. What about Joyce Meyer, Charles Stanley, John Hagee, or Joel Osteen? What if THEY are wrong? It's simple, ... they would probably respond. It's simple if I'm wrong, no harm no foul. I just die and there's nothing but blackness and I'm none the wiser. But what of all the people they mislead? What of all these people that changed their lives, packed up and moved, and gave their hard earned money to something that was completely false? Maybe they even had good intentions, but that's irrelevant. What they have done is mislead people down a pointless path. The most important thing we can do as a sentient living human being is to leave this world a better place than how we found it when we were born. These people have mislead and have made money misleading. They are telling people these things are true when there is no way of knowing that they are true or to go a step further.. seeing no evidence and finding evidence left and right that these things are false. So I say what if you are wrong? If I'm wrong then I will be flipping off god as I burn forever, because I'd still rather burn than become a slave to the Celestial Dictator. If a God doesn't allow freethought and skepticism to be used on his existence then I say fuck him. I want nothing to do with him and if hell is what it is described to be by many Christians .. a place of separation from God.. then sign me up. I want to be as far away as possible from that kind of God.
3. Religion Is Childish and It's Time to Grow Up (Thoughts for the Christian Reader)
What happens when you grow up? Look at the animal kingdom. When their young are able to fend for themselves they are released into their environment. They move out, they move on. If you are a theist your heavenly father never leaves your side. He's always there to watch over you to judge you to convict you of thought crimes. This is a terrible father. A father that won't let you grow up. If a friend or family member that once used to be a believer becomes an agnostic or atheist, what do you feel for them? You feel fear. You are afraid they have strayed too far. They are denying God and thus eternal punishment. You know they no longer have the comfort you get when you pray to God "Lord, help me get rid of this migraine" or "Lord, help me find my keys" or "Lord, help me pass this test" or "Lord... (fill in the blank)" As an atheist they don't get that anymore. The comfort is gone and you are afraid for them. You are afraid because to the atheist there is no purpose. We are all just highly evolved apes. The universe itself is completely indifferent to the human plight. There is no one to pray to on the atheist's death bed and as a Christian that makes you sad.
This is another example of what religion does to the mind. It shelters it. Like a child that has never left the nest, religion keeps you in the dark about the real world. The real world is indifferent and there are plenty of scary things in this universe. It's full of black holes and evolution by natural selection, but it's so freeing to live in a world with your eyes open. You are no longer filtering what you see or filtering information. You are letting it all in and understanding that tho there is no purpose it's OK> And it makes life that much more precious and rare. As an atheist we can enjoy each moment for what it is: . . . fleeting. There is no reason to spend your life pleasing "Daddy". There is no reason to worship your "Celestial Father" because there is no reason to believe he exists. There is no evidence to support him. It's all in our heads. It came from the brain of an ape to help us understand the natural world. It's useless now. And when we let go of this notion of a ghost daddy in our head we can fill our minds with discoveries and imagination and inquiry. We can soak in this quick life and accept fully that someday, just like everything that has ever lived, we will die. We will end and the curtain will close. But that's fine, because we can smile with certainty that we didn't claim to know something that wasn't true.
4. The Souless Human Animal (Part 1 1/2)
"We are risen apes, not fallen angels." - Andy Thomson
You are an ape. I am an ape. I can walk into a museum of natural history and see my ancestors. I can take a trip down ancestry lane and see each link in the chain that connects me to less intelligent primates. There is nothing more central to being a human being than to understand your past: the history of the human species. This has changed my perspective on reality more than reading about quantum mechanics, dark energy, water on mars, string theory, black holes, a universe from nothing, the pale blue dot, or even the concept that the molecules in my body came from the stars that exploded over time. These things are all amazing life changing facts but the simple fact that I am an ape is jolting to the modern human psyche as anything I can think of. Especially for an ex-Christian like myself who used to think we were suspended above the animal kingdom. Those savage beasts!
I suppose it mostly has to do with my upbringing. I attended a Christian school through my childhood and teenage years. I was taught creationism in biology. I don't recall us even learning about evolution. I don't recall us learning a lot of anything sadly. But that's a whole other story. It's so hard for us human beings to step outside ourselves. But the beautiful thing is that we can. What other species can do that? There is such pride in our technologies we've built. These skyscrapers, these Mars rovers, this genetically modified food, these medical discoveries, etc etc. Our big brains and superior tool-making skills have gotten us so far and at the same time our philosophical questions loom deeper and deeper. Why? Why? Why? We need answers. We seek in religion, We follow all types of spiritual experts. Spiritual advisors in this life. But we are apes. We are pattern seeking mammals with many flaws in our anatomy and in our superstitious, irrational thinking. It is a constant battle to fight off these undesirable traits in our species. I have hope humanity is slowly but surely getting there. Getting rid of religion will help us get a better grasp on understanding the cosmos.
5. "Fair and Balanced" Run Amok
There has been a diseased meme, a mental virus that has swept the nation here in the US as of late. In the last 5-6 years or so we've seen Fox News control the debate. MSNBC and CNN don't stand a chance in the ratings compared to hyper-sensationalist Fox News. It's not even their clear Republican bias that's the ultimate problem with this propaganda news channel. They set this philosophy in motion, the philosophy of "fair and balanced". We must always show two sides to everything. Ignore the fact that all their pundits (Hannity, O'Reilly, Gretta, Cavuto, the Fox and Friends idiots, etc etc) are Republicans and that they have democrats on their programs to rail on and Republicans on to agree with them (you know .. "fair and balanced"). What I want to focus on is this very dangerous meme of "fair and balanced" is being applied to everything by their VERY devout viewers. It seeps over into more than just the news cycle and where people get their political information. I would argue that this "fair and balanced" meme has been spread to the likes of science. Or at least the way these Fox News-ers view scientific issues.
These tend to be the citizens of this country that want our public school teachers to "teach the alternative" in biology class. The alternative to evolution, and of course that alternative is Intelligent Design. I won't even call ID a theory because it's not an actual scientific theory. There has been no actual evidence to support that theory. Not one single peer-reviewed scientific paper has been published on the "theory" of Intelligent Design. What should that tell people? Well, people that are "fair and balanced" think science should be "fair and balanced" too. Science isn't a democracy. If there is no counter-argument to evolution .. well then we must make one up to keep things "fair and balanced" you see. Fox News viewers tend to be global warming deniers too. The evidence presented from the IPCC in 2007 was not enough. The fact that nearly every climate scientist agrees that humans are having a direct impact on global warming is not enough. You see, Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity say it's a joke. They say it's a vast liberal conspiracy. And Sean Hannity is clearly a climate scientist.
... So I'd like to address Fox News fans directly here:
Dear Fox and all it's friends,
I get your desire to show each side to every story but there is only one side to truth. How do we find out what truth is? We do science. We test hypothesis by following the scientific method and all it's vital steps. We do double-blind tests. We peer review. We look for trends in data analysis. We do experiments. We find evidence. Evidence leads us to theories that are more true than false. Science is never 100% certain. There is always a margin of error but in the really sound theories that margin is very very small. Almost to the point where it is barely noticeable at all. That's different than the "fair and balanced" philosophy. Fox New's poster boy Bill O'Reilly applies this incorrect philosophy when talking to Richard Dawkins on his show a few years back when Dawkins was promoting his book "The God Delusion". O'Reilly talks about his "own truth". He exclaims that that Bible and Jesus are true to him. Dawkins quickly points out the logical fallacy with this, by saying there can't be "your truth" and "my truth". Something is either true or it's not. There is no "fair and balanced" in science. There is no "fair and balanced" in truth. So please stop thinking like this. It's as bad as being "politically correct". And as Republicans I know you hate that.
Sincerely,
Magog
