Atheism & Religion

Apologists for 'moderate' religion always start by saying that they accept science, and begin with arguments for god that seem to be superficially compatible with science, but ultimately end up saying they believe in absurdities that violate almost every major scientific principle, such as virgin births or that people can actually come back from the dead.

All believers in an even minimally activist god face the challenge of explaining why there seems to be no evidence for his actions, and why the world seems to be understandable and explicable without postulating his existence. They cannot face up to the fact that the logical conclusion is that there is no god, and this is where the vague and cloudy language of theology comes in, trying to mask this fundamental problem.

As I wrote last week, quite a scuffle has broken out between the so-called 'accommodationists' (who feel that we should not offend 'liberal' religious people by pointing out that science and religion are incompatible) and the so-called 'new atheists' (who feel that this accommodationist strategy has been pursued for a long time with no success and should be abandoned).

As regular readers of this blog know, I am an atheist. I hope it is clear what I believe: I believe that the material world governed by natural laws is all that exists, and I reject all things supernatural, which includes the soul, ghosts and spirits, the afterlife, reincarnation, any form of spiritualism, and so on. In the process, I have argued strongly that there is absolutely no reason to believe that god exists and that to do so is irrational, driven either by childhood indoctrination, psychological need, or both.

In an interview with something to offend everyone, Robert Wright explains why religion has given us a fickle deity.

A scientist can be a believer. But professionally, at least, he can't act like one.

An interesting discussion has broken out between those scientists and philosophers of science (labeled 'accommodationists') who seek to form alliances with religious believers by finding common ground between science and religion, and those who think that such an exercise is a waste of time, that scientific and religious viewpoints are fundamentally incompatible, and that what the accomodationists are doing is trying to make religious beliefs intellectually respectable by covering it with a veneer of highly dubious interpretations of science.

In this video author Christopher Hitchens discusses the reasons why there is no reason to think there is a god and why we are lucky that none of the mythology is true.

Mr. Deity is upset by how he's portrayed in the Bible.

World-renowned naturalist David Attenborough discusses the concept of God with Mark Lawson.

Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that upholds reason, ethics, and justice, and specifically rejects the supernatural and the spiritual as the basis of moral reflection and decision-making. Like other types of humanism, secular humanism is a life stance that focuses on the way human beings can lead good, happy and functional lives.

Beatings and humiliation by nuns and priests were common at institutions that held up to 30,000 children, Ryan report states.

In this episode, Larry is stunned by Mr. Deity's callous response to a grave crisis.

Theists and agnostics often say that nobody can say that there is no god. This is not merely disagreement with the statement that there is no god – for example because they think the claim is reasonable or is supported by evidence. They mean that nobody can validly say that there is no god even in principle, because this would mean proving with certainty that God does not exist, and total knowledge would be needed to rule out the idea completely. This article argues against this, showing that it is semantically consistent to say that there is no god, if we consider God to be sufficiently implausible, even in the absence of an absolute proof of God’s non-existence.

Letting Go of God is a one-person-monologue by comedian Julia Sweeney, chronicling her search for God.