Mission Statement
It is demonstrably the case that atheism or agnosticism
is the default starting point for any rational inquirer when it comes to the
question whether or not god exists.
My goal is to advocate for atheism and agnosticism
because simply put, there are no good reasons to believe in a god. This is especially true for the Christian god,
Yahweh.
This blog is dedicated to showing how and why there are
no good reasons to believe in any deity by countering mainly Christian
apologetics arguments.
Why Christian Apologetics?
Christianity is the dominant religion in my country, and
it is the religion that I was indoctrinated with as a child.
Some of my posts will refute the existence of any
monotheistic omniscient, omnipotent, and omni-benevolent god, which will address
the claims of other religions. That
said, I am not familiar enough with Islamic or other religious apologetics to
offer a strong refutation of their specific arguments.
Why am I doing this?
To put it bluntly, I think the morality and worldview
that Christianity imposes are demonstrably harmful to society and individuals*. I want to free as many other people from the
oppression of religion as possible.
I am a former evangelical/fundamentalist Christian. I’ve
worshiped in Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, and Evangelical Presbyterian
churches for most of my life. I went
through a painful “deconversion” three years ago, and I tried to convince
myself to go back to religion due to familial and social pressures.
Fortunately, I was able to eventually free myself from
religion. More importantly, I was able
to bring my wife with me through this journey and we left Christianity
together.
However, in trying to go back to religion over a 2 year
period, I found Christian apologetics.
In every case I found, apologetics fails to offer a good reason to
believe in god. On the plus side, this engagement
in apologetics ignited an interest in philosophy that I hadn’t had before.
Through this I believe I can help others leave religion
and to find a better, more meaningful life.
*Note: I don’t think that religion is exclusively
evil/harmful, it has a number of demonstrable positive effects. I do think that those effects are related to
ancillary factors that one can get from many other sources besides
religion.
I also don’t think that all religious people are bad or
stupid. I think it’s demonstrably the case that the majority of religious
people are better than their religion, they just don’t realize how bad their
religion is.
What I am
What I am depends on the question you’re asking. The debate over the existence of a god has
raged for centuries, and there are a myriad of positions. Terms like “atheist” and “agnostic” are
misunderstood or misrepresented in the modern debate.
If you ask me if I know
whether or not there is a god – then I’m an agnostic. I don’t know if there is a god or not.
If you ask me if I believe
in a god – then I’m an atheist. I do not believe in any god or gods. I don’t think it’s very likely that a god
exists, and this is especially the case for the Christian god Yahweh.
A good analogy for this would be leprechauns. Technically, you don’t know leprechauns don’t exist and you can’t prove that they
definitely do not exit. You merely don’t
believe they exist, probably because
you don’t have any evidence that they do exist.
Who I am
For now, I am anonymous.
Quite frankly, I’ve seen how atheists are treated in
online discussions, and I don’t want any of the threats that normally come to
someone who runs an atheist blog/vblog to even be able to spill over into my
real life or affect my family.
I will give some details about myself for readers to
better understand where I’m coming from.
I am a straight white male and am in my 30’s. And yes, it is very nice to be in the prime
target demographic for almost everyone in marketing.
I am happily married, and have a (as of this writing)
newborn daughter.
I am an engineer.
My background is largely in computer and electrical engineering, but I
am trained enough in math and physics to address some technical arguments in
cosmology. Biology was never my strong
suit, so I am not as well equipped to address detailed technical arguments on
evolution.
I’m also a gamer, there may be a few posts sprinkled
about with references to gaming and/or geek stuff.
Interesting blog, but surely atheism is the default position with agnosticism being a specific counter to the so-called gnositicism of early Christianity?
ReplyDelete:D
I think it's demonstrable that the actual default position is either non-believe or claiming ignorance.
ReplyDeleteI think it's arguable between which of those two positions should be the default, but it's definitely one of those two. Hoping to do a post on that at some point.
I'll look forward to that. :D
DeleteYou like the word demonstrable. Could we not miss God entirly with H0: God does not exist and H1: God does exist. We look everywhere in the local physical space and find no God. Decide that this search is exhustive. Conclude we don't have enough evidence to refute the null hypothesis. So, we except the null hypothesis.
DeleteI'm not sure your reply makes much sense. I'm not claiming absolute knowledge god doesn't exist. What I'm claiming is that non-belief or ignorance is the default position. We do that with pretty much everything non-trivial, but especially things that are supernatural in nature (ie. Leprechauns, Unicorns, etc).
DeleteSo, to be consistent then, your default position must be that you (other than a bag of chemicals reacting to stimuli solely by deterministic and stochastic processes) do not exist. There is no you – A Counter Apologist – inside the bag. Your name suggests a goal and therefor an intelligent agent but your default position must be that this is an illusion and none exists. Is that correct?
DeleteJust answered your best default position on God here http://foxat.blogspot.com/
DeleteYour response here and on your blog is so astonishingly wrong I can't decide whether or not I should ignore or eviscerate it.
DeleteWell your correct. According to your logic, we must assume you can't decide as you don't exist. Unless of course you can demonstrate your existence.
DeleteLooks like I'm going with eviscerate.
DeleteI can know that I exist, because of the impossibility of the contrary - to even ask the question means that I must exist. This is basic Descartes philosophy, and is one of the few truths we CAN know with absolute certainty.
What you've done is merely assert that by having an identity or agency that this could not be the product of merely material causes in our brains. All evidence we have is to the contrary, that our subjective experience is the result of physical causes in our brains. We can't explain it all yet, but it's an ever shrinking "gap" for you to put your god in.
Finally, I can't demonstrate my existence to YOU. But it is demonstrable to ME, so in terms of knowledge I do know that I exist.
In terms of defeating solipsism, which seems to be what you're getting at, it can be demonstrated that even if only "I exist" and every other person was a figment of my imagination, that I can't seem to control what those other people or figments of my imagination do. I also know that they can do things to me that I either I like, dislike, or am indifferent to.
As such, I'm warranted in treating them like they do exist outside of myself, since doing that DOES seem to impact their actions towards me.
So even if I was a solipsist, it's in my best interests to act as if I wasn't.
That you exist is your axiom (taken without proof). Everything else is built from that premise. It is possible that you don’t exist but the cost of that is too great for you to comprehend so you take it as impossible. You can’t even demonstrate it to yourself; and no Descartes can’t help you, you are on your own. You just believe a priori. I can’t prove you don’t exist. But don’t feel bad, every system of belief must have at least one axiom.
DeleteMy axiom is that God exists. Everything I know is built from that one fact. If He does not exist, it will cost me everything. I can’t prove he exists to you and you can’t prove He does not exist.
Your whole existence is built around you. My whole existence is built around God.
No proof? My experiences are my proof. They aren't demonstrable to anyone else, but the same proof is available to others for themselves. I can comprehend my non existence - that is death. It's proof by impossibility of the contrary.
DeleteUnfortunately for you, that kind of proof doesn't work for your god.
Your experiences are your proof that you exist? My experiences of Jesus Christ are my proof that He exists. The same proof is available to others for themselves - countless will witness of them. You can comprehend your non existence? So what? I can imagine many things that may or may not be real. Everything that you take as proof of your own existance is available as proof that God exists. You simply choose to believe that you exist and choose to believe that God does not. To say that one is more rational than the other is laughable.
DeleteYou've experienced Jesus? How?
DeleteHas he spoken to you verbally? Do you hear voices in your head? Have you seen him?
Or have you just read a book and imagined things, believing them to be true? How do you tell the difference between this being existing and the imagination of it?
At least with other people we can have them actually objectively demonstrate things for us.
Just to be clear - I only hear my own voice in my head, I experience things. I've never experienced another person in there, but hey, maybe you have. Do tell us about how you experience Jesus.
You say the evidence is available to anyone - I've asked for it from this being many, many times - I got nothing.
Very good blog, quite useful. Thank you
ReplyDeleteI hope that this blog serves to solidify your position on many things. Two things immediately tell me why you probably left Christianity. First, you "discovered apologetics" during your process of trying to leave your faith! What does that say about the depth of your spiritual maturity and love for the things that support the claims of Christ? Not much!
ReplyDeleteSecondly, I think it did not benefit you to jump from denomination to denomination. This speaks more of your lack of knowing what you believe and where you could plug in. Now your stone has rolled, tossed as you are in the wind, in to the wonderful world of internet atheism! So, you not only didn't know what you believed, you didn't know why you believed what you did!
I call it the way I see it! You were a lousy ambassador for Christ and now you hope to be an ambassador for atheism! What's sad is you're a day late and a dollar short! There is a renaissance of intellectual depth and philosophy in Christianity in keeping with your interests and intelligence! There is no, repeat, no intellectual muscle among the "New Atheists"! And you have already picked up their memes like spelling God with a small "g".
Tell me to go to hell if you wish, but I care, and I suggest you start over in your commitment to Christ! I hate to see a good brain wasted!
Wow, Kevin Harris! What a nasty comment. Of course, as William Lane Craig's sidekick it must aggravate you to no end that your own son no longer buys any of this crap and is now an atheist (and I quote your own words as my source). There is so much wrong with what you said but most is unworthy of a response. You should take a break and come back when you can be a little more charitable. Sorry, can't tell you to got to hell because that doesn't exist either.
DeleteI agree with Kevin. You say you were an evangelical/fundamentalist Christian. But, this is not possible. You could have been decieved into thinking you were, but, I am curious, how did you perceive your own (non-existent) relationship with Jesus and reconcile it with the characterizations of the others around you. And now, how is it you know you are not decieved still? You can't possibly know there is no God; unless you yourself know everything.
ReplyDeleteJust what I needed, thanks a lot….
ReplyDelete