My answers to these 10 questions 1. How Did You Become an Atheist? When I was a teenager I rejected the bible and Biblical christianity on a moral standing. I found the ethics of Iehova and many of the good morals in the bible to be just horrible. the Judea-Christian god does a lot of horrible things in the bible, and orders his followers to do other horrible things. Also, there was the problem of Pain and suffering, if there is a loving caring god, why would he let such horrible things happen all over the world, and why would he let horrible bigots do things in his name. When I left Christianity and looked around for other ways of understanding the world, I found that I didnt believe in any of the underlying superstitions of religion, and could find no reason to assume the existence of any god or gods, let alone those of any particular religion. There is simply no evidence to establish the truth of religious claims. 2. What happens when we die? The Answer I can give with the most Confidence? I dont know. Everything I know about the universe leads me to believe that when we die, we die, we cease to exist as conscious beings, and are no more. 3. What if you’re wrong? And there is a Heaven? And there is a HELL! Pascals Wager. One, I dont think Im wrong, and the chance that Im wrong does not shake my convictions any more than the chance that YOU are wrong shakes yours, if there is One true religion, it could just as easily be Islam or Judaism or Hinduism, or any one of a number of others, the odds of just guessing right are astronomical, and if there IS a god, and he IS just, he will not care how devout a worshipper I have been, but in what way I lived my life, and by my deeds. 4. Without God, where do you get your morality from? My upbringing. My culture. My sense of Empathy for other creatures. my instinctive compulsion to protect myself and those people and things I consider important, or precious, or necessary. The notion that because I wish others to treat me with respect, mercy, and generosity I strive to treat others in that way myself. 5. If there is no God, can we do what we want? Are we free to murder and rape? While good deeds are unrewarded? If a man needs the threat of Eternal Punishment for him to be good, then I would not call that man a good person. Morality and Ethics come from what is Beneficial to our society, Most higher mammals realize that its not a good idea to kill members of your pack or herd or family group without good cause. My sense of Morality and Justice comes from myself, those around me and my culture, the existence of god is in my eyes irrelevant to how we treat wrongdoers. 6. If there is no god, how does your life have any meaning? My life has the meaning that I give it. Doesnt life mean MORE when we are free to choose for ourselves what it means? What is the point if the meaning of our lives are handed down from on high? 7. Where did the universe come from? I dont know. Science doesnt have all the answers yet, and maybe it never will, but science is less wrong all the time, science at least is making progress, trying to find out the real answers. Without science we would all still believe that the starts in the sky are just lanterns hanging, or pinholes through which we can glimpse heaven, or fireflies that got stuck up there in the big blueish-black thing or some other such balderdash. 8. What about miracles? What all the people who claim to have a connection with Jesus? What about those who claim to have seen saints or angels? I dont doubt the sincerity of these people, I believe that they feel they have a connection with jesus or believe that they have seen miracles or saints or angels, and I think those people are no different than the people who claim to have seen ghosts or imps or gremlins. 9. What’s your view of Dawkins, Hitchens and Harris? I admit that I havent read much of their work, but I respect them for what I have read, and for their reputations, None of them are perfect. 10. If there is no God, then why does every society have a religion? Mankind is naturally curious, we seek knowledge we wish to know why the rain falls, why the sun rises, why the fire is warm, and why we dream at night, primitive human tribes did not have access to the means to find the real answers to these questions, and so in that way that humans are so good at, we filled the gaps with conjecture and imagination. The sun must rise because a powerful being makes it so, Water falls from the sky because the gods wish it to be. My question is if there IS a god, why did every primitive culture have a different religion?
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 14:25:23 +0000
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