Entry 543, on 2007-05-29 at 21:11:41 (Rating 3, Comments)
I recently read these assertions attributed to atheists on an apologetics blog. The blogger didn't have comments enabled (I wonder why) so I thought I should respond to them here. The numbered items are the assertions (all of which are at least partly untrue) and the comments after each one are mine.
1. There is no God.
There is no good evidence to indicate there is a god, but we are prepared to consider anything which might affect this interim conclusion. Just show us the evidence.
2. There is no supernatural: no God, no miracles, no soul, no afterlife.
All the above seems reasonable given current evidence. If you can think of a way to test to see whether there is a supernatural we would be very happy to reconsider the issue.
3. The overwhelming majority of the entire planet's population, regardless of chronology, geography, or theology, have been absolutely wrong about that which mattered to them the most: their belief in God and their relationship with Him.
That's partly true. Atheists of various types are the third biggest group in the world, and many people who include themselves in a religious group don't take that belief very seriously, so the majority might not be so overwhelming. In the past a belief in the supernatural was probably necessary to provide understanding of the world but now that we have better methods there is no reason to resort to superstition.
4. Anyone claiming to have an experience with God, regardless of chronology, geography, or theology, was hallucinating, insane or deceptive.
If its really possible to experience god then there should be a way to test the reality of the experience. Until some objective reality can be demonstrated in the experience we must assume that it is false in some way.
5. Anyone claiming to have experienced a miracle, regardless of chronology, geography, or theology, was hallucinating, insane, deceptive or ignorant.
Again, there is no objective evidence. When investigated closely miracles turn out to be natural phenomena, hoaxes, or delusions. Show us a miracle which stands up to scrutiny and we'll reconsider that hypothesis.
6. All of the world's "Holy Books" are the result of deceptions or delusions.
Not necessarily. They are myths which might have seemed reasonable when they were written but are now obviously false. There is probably a significant aspect of deception and delusion involved as well.
7. All religious rituals are man made and futile, except, perhaps, in however useful they may be in making a person good.
They might not be totally futile if they make the person involved feel better, but scientific investigation of behaviour such as prayer indicates they have no real effect.
8. Since there is no supernatural, everything in the universe (including the origins of the universe) can be explained by naturalistic means and if the evidence does not fit the naturalistic theory then there is something wrong with the evidence and not with the naturalistic theory.
We don't necessarily believe that everything can be explained, either naturally or supernaturally. The idea that evidence which contradicts theories is rejected is ridiculous. Science constantly fine tunes its theories to fit new evidence. But the evidence has to be real.
9. Since there is no supernatural revelation of future events all Biblical prophecies were written after the event occurred and made to seem as if it had been written beforehand (no evidence, manuscript or otherwise, needs be shown in order to prove such an assertion).
Most skeptics find prophecies rather unconvincing. Having a story in one part of a book support an event in another part of the same book isn't too difficult. Also, prophecies are often written in language which can be interpreted in whatever way is most convenient.
10. No one caused nothing to explode for no reason and made everything for no purpose. All life on Earth can be traced back to rain falling on rocks and mixing together in swampy pools that where struck by lightning. The universe and absolutely everything in it exists due to random chance, a mere accident, and we humans are nothing but glorified animals that are the result of an unintelligent, purposeless, un-designed mix of chemicals.
These childish explanations of the Big Bang and evolution don't do the theories justice. Also, if the evidence indicates that something happened then we should believe it, even if it doesn't fit with what we want to be true.
11. Whatever evidence there is to back up the reliability of the Bible or creation science/intelligent design is faulty. This is not so on its own merits but because it is to be rejected a priori since it would conflict with a materialistic worldview.
Science never rejects anything a priori. So called "creation science" and ID (neither of which are science) have clearly shown to be untrue through observation, Christians just can't accept that fact.
12. Regardless of what they believed and how they lived, every person who has ever lived will be annihilated at death.
Its true. Get over it.
13. There are no absolutes, except the absolute truth that there is no absolute truth, no God, no supernatural, etc., etc.
There are no absolutes except in logic and mathematics. There are no absolutes relating to the real world, and that conclusion comes from logic.
14. Atheism is the only belief system that holds the truth, everyone else is wrong.
Nothing could be more wrong. Many religious people have that attitude, but almost all atheists base their ideas on evidence and understand that evidence can always change.
15. Morals are relative or situational, except that which the individual atheist has concocted as a moral standard (since atheism is amoral they must borrow moral concepts from theistic worldviews).
Morality is often subjective but there are many moral ideas which relate back to the fact that humans are a social species. Religion tries to claim they "own" many morals but they usually originate earlier than the religion itself, so its often the religion which has done the borrowing.
16. Since life has no ultimate God given meaning it consists of whatever temporary pleasure may be found therein.
The word pleasure is probably not quite the right one here, but atheists generally believe we should do the right thing during our real life. Pretending that there is a greater meaning when none really exists is just self-delusion.
17. There is no authority higher than the individual; the individual is qualified to judge all things by his own wit.
Humans live in social groups: companies and organisations, cities, countries, and the world as a whole. The greater group generally applies rules to its members.
18. There is no ultimate justice; there are only the rulings of temporal courts.
Again, the beliefs of the greater society can create "ultimate justice". Having a church create them and pretend they came from god is just dishonest.
19. Proof for the non-existence of God is not to be offered and yet we may believe that God does not exist.
Its difficult to prove a negative and unnecessary. Before something can be accepted it should be proved. Just show us the evidence and then we'll believe in god. All we want to do is apply the same standard of proof to religion as we do to everything else.
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