Concerning Atheists...

[Kazz]

This was brought up to me by a friend of mine... and I thought it would be worth sharing and talking about.

Before I begin, let me say that I myself am an atheist. My heart is solely devoted to the human race, and the here and now. The subject I bring up however, comes from a frightening trait I'm noticing among many fellow atheists... so I'll go ahead and share.

Whether it's here in totse, or in groups of friends in the real world... more and more I'm noticing atheists coming together for no reason other than the label, "atheist." What many of us are failing to remember... is that atheism is nothing more than a simple lacking. For whatever reason, we atheists lack a god. But unlike any faith system or religion... that's it! There are no doctrines to follow, no laws to live by. This label does not make us more rational or true than anyone else. And I really don't think that a simple lacking, should be what is bringing us together. (They don't have Non-Star-Trek Fan Conventions). It's not an idea... it's exactly the opposite. It's just a word to define the lack of a god.

We shouldn't be uniting under the label of atheism... but rather under the values or civic principles we commonly share. Most atheists would agree that there should be a separation between church and state. Most atheists believe that the bible holds no place in the classroom. Most atheists believe that churches should NOT be tax exempt, and that taxes/government money should NOT be spent on religious structures, etc. Most atheists believe that God not appear in our systems of laws. Most atheists put their faith in things like science and reason... and believe that these tools will somehow, someday, reveal the truth of our existence. Most atheists believe this is the life humans should focus on, not some unguaranteed "life eternal."

But out of all of these things... it is not "atheism" that brings us together. Atheism is no more than a simple "lacking". Sure... we're a bunch of atheists... and we're brought together here at totse, or at high school, real life... whatever. But this is not because of a lacking. We're united because we hold a strong belief in the above values. The above principles, are areas that we feel very passionately for. We shouldn't find comfort in being brought together because we're atheists.... that should be the last thing on our minds. What we should be brought together by, is the fact that we hold high and truly believe in the above principles.

With that said, there is another flaw that this friend of mine projected and brought into my eyes... and that is the fact that many atheists are blind to the fact that they're "stealing" rationality from the theists... and saying it's on our side. It is a common misconception, among atheists, that WE are more rational than the theists.

Now I imagine right now a lot of you, friends of mine even, are getting a little bit frustrated hearing this... but let me try to explain.

Only the craziest of Christians, or any theists... would say that their God can be proved through empirical evidence... numbers or science. The theists that do try to do this are fools, and usually do so out of their respect for science, but lack of an ability to let go of their god. But if you ask the common theist why they believe in God... they're not going to say it's because of the math. Their faith is based (usually) off of something else... something more aesthetic than epistemological or empirical. They say things like "life's too perfect" or "nature is too beautiful to happen by chance," whatever.

Saying these things are not irrational statements. In fact, they are actually very rational statements. Saying god is not proven through empirical methods, is a very rational statement.

We atheists... we put a lot of faith into rationality, or reason, or science... because we see it as more of a tool or instrument. Most of us realize that "we don't know" where we came from, how the universe came to exist... or anything like that. But most atheists do have a great deal of faith (very grounded in my eyes) that trusts that the tools of science and reason, will one day ultimately lead to the understanding of how everything came to be.

However just because we have faith in rationality, just because we're strong USERS of rationality... does not make us more rational beings. What many atheists fail to realize... is that we have already made one HUGE irrational movement, in denying a "First Cause". Now please, don't get me wrong... being an atheist myself this is something I have learned to become okay with. I do see it as a good thing... but rationality isn't exactly "on our side." All of science and reason is based on causality or necessity. Its all a series of cause and effect. Using these tools, tracing back to start... there is no way through rational means we can explain an effect, without their being a cause. For us to say that there is no creator, is an irrational choice. That's based on something else... something that is not rationality. These things we try to hold so highly on our side... rationality and what not... are the things we have ultimately rejected! (Once again, I see this in a very positive light, as negative as it sounds.) I do believe that God is more rational than atheism... yet this is not a bad thing for us. I am an atheist... but I cannot believe that I am more rational than a theist. I actually believe that I, and all atheists or deniers of theism, are less rational than most theists.

Hopefully the length of this will drive out the retarded responses. All serious minds, atheist or not, are free to elaborate on this and tell me what you think. Also... I think I should note that although my argument will ultimately rationally support a god (that I don't believe in)... I find this god very very very far from any Christian or Islamic God. The god that is rationally supported (and not believed in by myself) in my argument is nothing more than a higher being, and a creator of the universe. He is by no means the protagonist of a series of fairy tales.

Whatchya think?