Thursday, July 06, 2006

The stupidity of Atheism

Hard line atheists generally state that "there is no God" as though they absolutely know it to be so. In fact, I've debated many who claim that they positively know there is no God. But this assertion is based upon what verifiable knowledge? None whatsoever. And to this they willingly admit.

They pretend there is simply no evidence for the existence of God.

Of course, that statement alone is pure bull since, unless one has been to the uttmost parts of the universe, has found all knowledge of all things and obtained absolute knowledge of existence itself, no one can presume such a thing. Even if we limited that knowledge to erath and our own solar system it would still be impossible.

Therefore it is impossible to know there is no God.

What evidence is there to infer that there cannot be a supreme and eternal being? None whatsoever. Indeed, nothing can be used to prove there is no god. Everything that exists can be used as a starting place to infer or imply the existence of a Supreme beeing.

They constantly use the phrase "can't prove a negative" (ex. prove there are no extra-terrestrial life forms) to excuse themselves from having no logical foundations upon which to support their beliefs. But if it is true that one cannot prove a negative, then why are there so very many books and web sites dedicated to supporting atheistic views and claims of there being no God!? Does all this exist because they are in fact trying to comfort themselves by attempting to prove that very thing?! Obviously yes.

Atheists have no claims worth defending - the atheist, in fact, defends nothingness.

There are whole web forums with lots of atheists who are (by their own admission), without any hope of ever proving anything at all of what they claim is objectively true, blatantly and perpetually arguing for a non-intelligent universe with no origin, no purpose, no direction and then they have the blindness to call theists guilty of blind faith!!

It is foolish to believe in something that one claims he can have no evidence for and then even claim that there can therefore be no evidence to the contrary !

Such is the perilous predicament of atheism – nothing more than blind denial. Atheism, on the whole, is a system of denials of reality. Denial of this pesky God being whom they wish did not exist – for obvious and quite often suspicious reasons, i.e. sinful lifestyles, fear of judgment if there really is a God like the one portrayed in the bible.

This is atheism - nothing from nothing, through nothing, for nothing, going nowhere for no reason and so ending up exactly there in the end - nowhere!

It is a completely fruitless and nonsensical belief based upon a mere subjective preference.
seeing that atheists claim it is impossible to prove that God does not exist, it is utter foolishness to try to prove that very thing.

I would encourage readers to sirf on over to http://www.carm.org/atheism.htm where some excellent articles have been written on atheism and how to demonstrate it's fallacies.

I especially like the arguments based on the existence of logical absolutes.

CS Lewis, a former atheist and prolific writer, said this,
"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust? If the whole show was bad and senseless from A to Z, so to speak, why did I, who was supposed to be part of the show, find myself in such violent reaction against it? A man feels wet when he falls into water, because man is not a water animal: a fish would not feel wet. Of course, I could have given up my idea of justice by saying that it was nothing but a private idea of my own. But if I did that, then my argument against God collapsed too--for the argument depended on saying that the world was really unjust, not simply that it did not happen to please my private fancies. Thus in the very act of trying to prove that God did not exist--in other words, that the whole of reality was senseless--I found I was forced to assume that one part of reality--namely my idea of justice--was full of sense. Consequently atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning"

A lucid observation by someone who was at least honest with himself.

Saying that "we cannot absolutely prove God's existence" is ample rationale for atheism is ridiculous. Kant argued that we had to postulate the existence of God because, otherwise, it wasn't possible to make any sense out of science or morality.

In summary, atheism hasn't "got a leg to stand on", and therefore is useless system of denials and a waste of the human heart and mind.

Here I quote some people who've made comments on atheism:

I hope for the day when everyone can speak again of God without embarrassment. --Paul Tillich

If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshiped. --Evelyn Underhill

God is not discoverable or demonstrable by purely scientific means, unfortunately for the scientifically minded. But that really proves nothing. It simply means that the wrong instruments are being used for the job. - J.B. Phillips

A god who let us prove his existence would be an idol. -- Deitrich Bonhoeffer

A god who would stoop so low as to prove his existence to satisfy a human's disbelief would not be God at all - Me.

Without God man has no reference point to define himself. 20th century philosophy manifests the chaos of man seeking to understand himself as a creature with dignity while having no reference point for that dignity. --R. C. Sproul

One of my personal favorites, found painted on a wall in Ireland :
"God is dead" - F. Neitzche
"Neitzche is dead" - God

A revealing confession:
I want atheism to be true and am made uneasy by the fact that some of the most intelligent and well-informed people I know are religious believers. It isn't just that I don't believe in God and, naturally, I hope that I'm right in my belief. It's that I hope there is no God! I don't want there to be a God; I don't want the universe to be like that. --Thomas Nagel

Those thinkers who cannot believe in any gods often assert that the love of humanity would be in itself sufficient for them; and so, perhaps, it would, if they had it. - Chesterton, Gilbert K.

Forth from his dark and lonely hiding-place, (Portentous sight!) the owlet Atheism, sailing on obscene wings athwart the noon, drops his blue-fringed lids, and holds them close, and hooting at the glorious sun in Heaven, cries out, Where is it? - Coleridge, Samuel Taylor

He must pull out his own eyes, and see no creature, before he can say, he sees no God; He must be no man, and quench his reasonable soul, before he can say to himself, there is no God.
Donne, John

If there is no God, everything is permitted. - Dostoevski, Fyodor

Atheism is easy in fair weather. Dunn, Ronald

Epitaph: Here lies an Atheist: All Dressed Up and No Place to Go.

I wanted to be an atheist, but I gave it up. They have no holidays.
-- Henry Youngman

"An atheist is a man who looks through a telescope and tries to explain what he can't see....."
O.A. Battista :Power to Influence People c.1959

"There are no atheists in foxholes of Bataan....."
General Douglas MacArthur - Supreme Commander of the Pacific War front WWII

"Only in Atheism does the spring rise higher than the source, the effect exist without the cause, life come from a stone, blood from a turnip, a silk purse from a sow's ear, a Beethoven Symphony or a Bach Fugue from a kitten walking across the keys....."
James M. Gillis

"Few men are so obstinate in their atheism, that a pressing danger will not compel them to acknowledgment of a divine power....." - Plato

"Atheism is a disease of the soul before it becomes an error of understanding....."
"No one ever dies an atheist....." - Plato

"The religion of the atheist has a God-shaped blank at it's heart....." H.G. Wells

"By night, an atheist half-believes in God....." - Edward Young: Night Thoughts

If there were no God, there would be no atheists. -- G.K. Chesterton

Atheism is a crutch for those who cannot bear the reality of God. -- Tom Stoppard

You think you are too intelligent to believe in God. I am not like you. -- Napoleon Bonaparte

A little philosophy inclines man's mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy brings men's minds about to religion.
There was never miracle wrought by God to convert an atheist, because the light of nature might have led him to confess a God. - Francis Bacon

An atheist is one who hopes the Lord will do nothing to disturb his disbelief. - Franklin P. Jones

The Hebrews have done more to civilize men than any other nation. If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. - John Adams

In some awful, strange, paradoxical way, atheists tend to take religion more seriously than the practitioners. -- Jonathon Miller

It amazes me to find an intelligent person who fights against something which he does not at all believe exists. -- Mohandas Gandhi

If there be a God and one has never sought him, it will be small consolation to remember that one could not get proof of his existence. - George MacDonald

Well, I tell you, if I have been wrong in my agnosticism, when I die I'll walk up to God in a manly way and say, Sir, I made an honest mistake. --H. L. Mencken

Humanism or atheism is a wonderful philosophy of life as long as you are big, strong, and between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five. But watch out if you are in a lifeboat and there are others who are younger, bigger, or smarter. --William Murray

A disbelief in God does not result in a belief in nothing; disbelief in God usually results in a belief in anything. - unknown

I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.-- Abraham Lincoln

A creature revolting against a creator is revolting against the source of his own powers--including even his power to revolt...It is like the scent of a flower trying to destroy the flower. -- C.S. Lewis

To sustain the belief that there is no God, atheism has to demonstrate infinite knowledge, which is tantamount to saying, "I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge" -- Ravi Zacharias

Still, even the most admirable of atheists is nothing more than a moral parasite, living his life based on borrowed ethics. This is why, when pressed, the atheist will often attempt to hide his lack of conviction in his own beliefs behind some poorly formulated utilitarianism, or argue that he acts out of altruistic self-interest. But this is only post-facto rationalization, not reason or rational behavior. - Vox Day

Enjoy.