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Logical grasp on Atheism

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01/03/2009

Atheism embodies this proof:

1. The universe exists

2. Everything that happened was caused by something else (causality).

3. Therefore something caused the universe to exist.

Logic does not follow that an intelligent being caused it or that Zeus caused it or even that a tiny unicorn caused it. “Faith” is the leap that is necessary to jump from logical observations about the universe to myths and suppositions. “Faith” (or the abandonment of reason) is what excuses people from living in reality and operating through reason.

The humility of Atheists to acknowledge the puzzle of existence and to continue searching for answers through science is more commendable than abandoning reason and creating an imaginary deity to explain what is unknown. In that sense, all religion today is on par with past religions that worshiped the sun and moon because they did not understand them.

  • noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)

    //2. Everything that happened was caused by something else (causality).//

    Sort of…

    Although at a quantum level, the universe may or may not be causal. It’s been a topic of debate for a while. Also, don’t capitalize the a in atheist.

    Other than that, it was a decent blog entry. I like faith being defined as the abandonment of reason.

  • noreply@blogger.com (Dan)

    “Everything that happened was caused by something else”

    Unproven premise.

  • noreply@blogger.com (mac)

    We have yet to really verify that the universe “happened”. And it an especially tenuous premise considering that cause and effect mandates time, but without the universe, there is no time.

  • noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)

    “1. The universe exists”

    This is true.

    “2. Everything that happened was caused by something else (causality).”

    This is false: Hume smashed causality. Just as we have NO basis for saying that one billiard ball which hits another CAUSES the other billiard ball to move, nor do we have ANY basis for saying that something has CAUSED the universe.

    “3. Therefore something caused the universe to exist.”

    This is also false, because you have no basis for proposition (2), and you’ve assumped that something caused the universe to exist. The universe, BY DEFINITION, is everything that exists. It could have existed forever, and therefore was uncaused.

    “Logic does not follow that an intelligent being caused it or that Zeus caused it or even that a tiny unicorn caused it….”

    Anyone who actually believes that some God created the universe is mistaken. No one knows, nor can it be known, how the universe came to be. MAYBE an all-knowing being created it or MAYBE it has always existed; with the evidence we have at this point in time we cannot pick which. The best choice is to sit on the fence.

  • noreply@blogger.com (Douglas Carlson)

    //3. Therefore something caused the universe to exist.//
    Please provided evidence that the universe has not always existed.
    I think that assuming the universe was “created” is a baseless logical leap.

  • http://LiberatedMind.com noreply@blogger.com (Writings of a Liberated Mind)

    Thanks for all the replies! I think it is great to support fellow atheists and forward thinkers through the internet, blogs, books, etc. Dialogue is always helpful and welcome.

    Proposition 2 is what science of “big objects” tells us. The 2nd law of thermodynamics, Einstein’s general relativity law and even quantum mechanics suggest a causality in the universe as we understand it today.

    To answer Douglas Carlson’s post about #3, I am not assuming that the universe was ‘created’ by something in the sense that most religions assume. It is proven science that our universe is expanding and is finite. Knowing that it has an ‘end’ or death, it is logical to think that is had a beginning or ‘birth’. It is not entirely improbably however, that the universe is perpetual in some sense that it expands and contracts in perpetuity. We simply do not know.

    To conclude: Because we have the science to back up the expanding universe, scientists conclude that the universe must have been infinitely small at the moment before the big bang. Science has no answers for what happened prior to the moment of the big bang, however some theories out there suggest (in conjuction with the String Theory) that two bands of ‘something’ crossed paths, creating the ‘snap’ which was the big bang. That is a far fetched theory, but it is something that is in the drawing for possibilities. String Theory as it is today is very ‘messy’ mathematically. The brains of science are working on a better equation, basically the equation of everything. My favorite scientist is Michio Kaku: http://www.mkaku.com

    I do not suggest a god or any such nonesense. As an atheist, however it is my responsibility to be reasonable and say that 1) we do not know how all this came to be and 2) it is very possible that what ‘created’ the universe is just as insignificant as our blue little planet in one of the billions of solar systems in this universe. Science is even today suggesting that there may be other universes out there beyond our universe. Talk about feeling insignificant! Equipped with this level of knowledge and reason, it is very unreasonable to even speculate that there is a deity who put all this in motion just for one species on one tiny planet in one solar system (oh, and that he/she cares what you do every minute of every day). How arrogant religion can be..

  • http://LiberatedMind.com noreply@blogger.com (Writings of a Liberated Mind)

    A fellow thinker presented this cleaner proof to me and I love it: had to share…

    Everything that begins to exist has a cause.

    The universe began to exist.

    Therefore, the universe has a cause.

  • noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)

    You should make a distinction between something having a cause. And something being caused by something.

    What I mean is; yes every event must to be set in motion by one or more events that came before it. To say that an event has a cause as in a mission or a purpose is not he same thing.

    One can follow the chain of events backwards very far. In religion an all powerful being has always been just past that point. As our understanding grows; god as a creator is pushed further back in time and space.

    To your point. “the universe has a cause”. Yes the universe was caused by something. We just don’t know what that is yet. Its very arrogant for faith-heads to jump to the conclusion that the missing link just beyond our knowledge is a creator that had humans in mind. I praise those who are humble and intelligent enough to study the uncomfortable facts, and realize that there is no all-powerful safety net. We are out here all alone with only each other to lien one.