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The Double Standard: Outspoken Atheists verses Outspoken Religious

01/22/2010 in Atheism And Religion | No comments

Quoted from Alternet.org:

“Debates over faith often leave non-believers holding the bag: look like a jerk or leave the debate unfinished and apparently concede defeat.

The only thing that would make atheism a true article of faith would be if atheists said, “Nothing you could possibly say, nothing I could possibly see or experience, no evidence you could possibly provide me, could ever convince me that my atheism was wrong. My belief in the non-existence of God is an a priori assumption; it is unshakable, as constant as the Northern Star.” And I have yet to encounter an atheist who says that.

Finally—and maybe most crucially of all:

When we speak out in any way about our atheism—and when we continue to organize, and to make ourselves and our ideas more visible and vocal, and to generally turn ourselves into a serious movement for social change—we are accused of being hostile, fanatical, rude, evangelical, bigoted and extremist.

But if we don’t speak out, if we don’t organize, if we don’t forge ourselves into a powerful and visible movement…then the bigotry and misinformation and discrimination against us will continue unabated.

Why this is untrue and unfair: We really can’t win on this one. Even the most mild forms of atheist activism and visibility result in believers accusing us of disrespect, intolerance and forcing our beliefs on others. If we do something as mild and unthreatening as putting up bus ads saying “You can be good without God” or “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone,” you can bet good money that plenty of believers will get worked up about how those terrible atheists are insulting Christians and other believers. The purest act of visibility—the simple act of standing up and saying out loud, “Atheists exist and are good people”—is treated as another example of the offensive, dogmatic, in-your-face extremism of the atheist movement.”

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Haiti’s misfortune brings the problem of ‘good and evil’ to the forefront.

01/18/2010 in Atheism And Religion | No comments

Since Haiti was hit by the earthquake I have been patiently waiting for any religious person I know to excuse god for the disaster and blame “mother nature”.  I didn’t have to wait very long.  Haiti’s misfortune brings up the blaring inconsistency in religion, especially the monotheistic religions: the problem of good and evil.

Pat Robertson, Christian TV evangelist was so disabled by this conundrum that he publicly claimed the reason Haiti suffered such great misfortune was because they had “made a pact with the devil”. For Pat, this was a sufficient explanation for the recent Tsunami, Hurricane and now Earthquake that has brought this country to its most desperate hour.

Haiti serves as a prime example of the problem of “good and evil”.

Naturalists point out that if a god who is claimed to be omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing) controls the universe, by definition such a god must take credit for EVERYTHING that happens, not just the good stuff.  Such a god would know that an earthquake was about to happen and have the power to prevent it from happening. With this information about the omnipotent, omniscient god, we must conclude at least one of the following:
1. Such a god is intrinsically evil by allowing the disaster to hit
2. Such a god does not exist (omnipotent, omniscient)

A theist will disagree here and say that god does not control the evils in the world because Adam and Eve sinned and the rest of humanity must suffer because of their sin. This leads us to conclude that the omnipotent, omniscient god has no sense of what constitutes a “just” punishment for the “sin” of two humans. We must also consider that if the theist’s argument that “evils like Tsunami’s are not god’s fault” rests on the existence of two storybook characters in Genesis the argument falls apart.  We begin to doubt the historical accuracy of the Adam and Eve  story because it is embedded in a creation myth that sets the earth at 10,000 years old, having been fashioned in 7 days by a sky-god.

But most importantly, the counter argument to those who say “evil is the devil’s doing, not god’s” places the omni-god in a position of NOT being omnipotent.   If the omni-god is not in control of nature, this by definition deems him not omnipotent.  This leaves us to conclude that the omni-god is either:
1. Not actually omnipotent or
2.  Unjust in dealing out his punishments and hence, if he be doing the punishing for Adam’s sin, he IS responsible for earthquakes and natural disasters (omnipotent)

This past weekend I listened to a Catholic homily by a deacon who was trying to help his congregation understand how to reconcile god with the Haiti earthquake. His best shot was to tell a little story about a mother in Haiti who dug her children out of the rubble of her home and saved their lives. All three of her children lived (after extensive medical surgury and the science of medicine).  She told reporters that “now she knew that god loved her”. The deacon pointed out that good can come of such atrocities like this women who finally knew that god loved her. He failed to bring up all the other thousands who perished or the other mothers whose children were crushed and killed. Did ‘god’ love them? It was perhaps the weakest argument of the century. What a fickle god Christians daily defend.

Don’t pray or wish that Haiti be helped, do something to help.  Donate to a non-theistic charity organization dedicated to helping Haiti.

Angry Atheists (in the eyes of religious)

01/13/2010 in Atheist Humor | No comments

From the Angry Atheist:

If you are stupid, religious, fat and poor, a word of caution:

12/16/2009 in Atheist Humor | No comments

What happens when you are stupid, religious, fat and poor?

From PZ Myer’s blog:

What a horrible, sad waste of a life: Tillmon Webb injured his knee, couldn’t afford to get it treated, and sat in a recliner for 8 months, praying for healing. His saintly (and I don’t mean that in a complimentary sense) wife tended to him as he rotted to death in the chair.

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Atheist Michael Newdow Intellectually Demolishes Arrogant Moron on Fox News

11/23/2009 in Atheism And Religion | No comments

Shroud of Turin replicated

10/08/2009 in Atheism And Religion | No comments

In the past year I can recall 3 conversations with Catholics where a debate about religion has resulted in them saying “well, how can you be an atheist when you have miracles like the Shroud of Turin?”  This happens when I succeed in asking a series of questions that blows down their reasons for believing.  It usually happens after the “well I just have Faith” excuse when logic fails them.

Previously Scientists have carbon dated the Shroud to 1260-1390 A.D.  Despite the unknown origin of the cloth and the scientific evidence dating it to the time period when it was “discovered”.

Italian scientist Garlaschelli successfully replicated the Shroud using materials that would have been available the middle ages.  Yet Garlaschelli doubts such evidence will convince Shroud advocates that the cloth is a hoax.

“If they don’t want to believe carbon dating done by some of the world’s best laboratories they certainly won’t believe me,” he said.1

Despite the Catholic Church’s stance that the Shroud of Turin is not authentic, many followers treat it as evidence of the god Jesus.

Can Something come from Nothing?

10/06/2009 in Atheism And Religion, Science | 2 comments

We’ve all heard it before.  The classic argument from a theist’s perspective on why a god must have created our universe.  I can’t tell you how many times religious people have said to me: “well, can you think of one example where something comes from nothing in the universe?”

They are correct in noting that “something cannot be created from nothing” within our known universe, as far as we have been able to demonstrate through

Hubble Deep Field: hundreds of galaxies

Hubble Deep Field: thousands of galaxies

scientific inquiry.  However, when considering the big bang and the origins of our known universe, we cannot apply the laws of physics WITHIN the known universe to that which act OUTSIDE the known universe.  Before the start of our universe, it is plausible that other laws of “physics” governed and dictated how our universe singularity began and where the energy and material originated from.

There is also a notable phenomenon observed in quantum mechanics.  Particles composed of quarks such as protons, neutrons, positrons, etc have been observed popping into existence from nowhere and leaving again just as fast.  Such particles “appear” in a vacuum where no other matter or energy exists.  At the quantum level, even empty space is not truly empty but is seething with activity;  particles are constantly popping in and out of existence everywhere.  In pair creation, a particle and its antimatter partner seem to “appear”  (see Bosons).  This is cutting edge quantum mechanics research.  The Large Hadron Collider in Switzlerand was built and is just recently up and running in the search for the Higgs-Boson particle.

We cannot apply the laws of this universe to that which acted outside of the universe.  The laws that hold true within the bubble of our universe may not govern outside the bounds of this universe.  It is plausible that there are endless numbers of other universes “floating” about and our universe is just one of them.  Within each of these multi-verses different laws and properties may govern the interactions within.  This “Multiverse theory” is the leading theory in the scientific cosmology community, though it remains untested and still a speculation.  (Though this speculation is based on other observations and evidence of how our universe operates).  It is probable that the “laws” that act outside our bubble universe commonly call into existence something from nothing.  We cannot say with certainty so  it is irresponsible to jump to a conclusion without the ability to test or prove it to be false or true.  This applies to the multi-verse theory and the theory of a god or gods.

Watch this 10 min video where Dr. Michio Kaku, a leading cosmologist explains the multiverse theory:

The Irony in debating the religious

10/01/2009 in Atheist Humor | No comments

Religious website with awful analogies

07/31/2009 in Atheism And Religion, Atheist Humor | No comments

I hesitated to share this because it was so blatently bias and unscientific that it made my stomach turn. At EveryStudent.com people can read about a proof for god that is highly prefaced with a disclaimer. The disclaimer starts by saying that the proof for god offered at their website will only be worth something if the reader has an open mind.  Fair enough.  Skeptics like myself are far from close minded, we just demand extraordinary evidence for extraordinary claims. The disclaimer continues:

If a person opposes even the possibility of there being a God, then any evidence can be rationalized or explained away. It is like if someone refuses to believe that people have walked on the moon, then no amount of information is going to change their thinking. Photographs of astronauts walking on the moon, interviews with the astronauts, moon rocks…all the evidence would be worthless, because the person has already concluded that people cannot go to the moon.

Their use of this analogy floored me.  It is almost too easy to start shredding this argument.  If someone had a photograph of god, taped interview with god, pieces of god’s skin under a microscope, I would be hard pressed not to believe that evidence.  However, when people say that god is real and is the biggest most powerful force in the natural world, they need to come up with some pretty amazing evidence to support that claim.  Only conspirator theorists and nut jobs don’t believe that the moon landing actually happened.  More recently, spacecraft flying over the moon’s surface have photographed the lunar landing site complete with footprints and spacejunk left behind.

Yeah, if someone had credible video of Santa Clause flying his reindeer through the winter’s sky, I’ll believe in him.

Interview with Richard Dawkins about religious indoctrination

07/07/2009 in Atheism And Religion | No comments

Republicans rank highest in Divorce, teen pregnancy and porn use

06/30/2009 in Politics | No comments

Republicans are notorious for having a “holier than thou” attitude.  This generally goes hand in hand with their religious zeal.  Ironically, the facts tell another story:

From the NYTimes.

Give God Some More Credit!

05/01/2009 in Atheist Humor | No comments

I am going to start throwing some Edward Current up here for fun. I hope you enjoy the satire!