There is no God

The Goodness of God

"Somewhere in the world a man has abducted a little girl. Soon he will rape, torture, and kill her. If an atrocity of this kind is not occurring at precisely this moment, it will happen in a few hours, or days at most. Such is the confidence we can draw from the statistical laws that govern the lives of six billion human beings. The same statistics also suggest that this girl's parents believe - as you believe - that an all-powerful and all-loving God is watching over them and their family. Are they right to believe this? Is it good that they believe this?

"No.

"The entirety of atheism is contained in this response. Atheism is not a philosophy; it is not even a view of the world; it is simply an admission of the obvious. In fact, 'atheism' is a term that should not even exist. No one ever needs to identify himself as a 'non-astrologer' or a 'non-alchemist.' We do not have words for people who doubt that Elvis is still alive or that aliens have traversed the galaxy only to molest ranchers and their cattle. Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make in the presence of unjustified religious beliefs that the 260 million Americans (87 percent of the population) claiming to 'never doubt the existence of God' should be obliged to present evidence for his existence - and, indeed, for his benevolence, given the relentless destruction of innocent human beings we witness in the world each day. An atheist is a person who believes that the murder of a single little girl - even once in a million years - casts doubt upon the idea of a benevolent God."

- Sam Harris
Letter to a Christian Nation, pp. 51-52

"CNN: You maintain that science is corrosive to religion and that religion undermines science. In what practical ways do you see the influence of religion today affecting what science can accomplish?"

"Dawkins: Since we are talking about practical ways, the obvious example is stem cell research. But there is a more pernicious and pervasive influence, which is an active shutting down of the critical faculties. Religion teaches us to be satisfied with non-explanations, and this is viciously corrosive of science and of the life of the mind generally."

"I believe that there is no God. I'm beyond Atheism. Atheism is not believing in God. Not believing in God is easy -- you can't prove a negative, so there's no work to do. You can't prove that there isn't an elephant inside the trunk of my car. You sure? How about now? Maybe he was just hiding before. Check again.

"So, anyone with a love for truth outside of herself has to start with no belief in God and then look for evidence of God. She needs to search for some objective evidence of a supernatural power.

"Having taken that step, it informs every moment of my life. I'm not greedy. I have love, blue skies, rainbows and Hallmark cards, and that has to be enough. It has to be enough, but it's everything in the world and everything in the world is plenty for me. It seems just rude to beg the invisible for more. Just the love of my family that raised me and the family I'm raising now is enough that I don't need heaven. I won the huge genetic lottery and I get joy every day.

"Believing there is no God means the suffering I've seen in my family, and indeed all the suffering in the world, isn't caused by an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent force that isn't bothered to help or is just testing us, but rather something we all may be able to help others with in the future. No God means the possibility of less suffering in the future.

"Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have."

- Penn Jillette

from his November 21, 2005 NPR essay, This I Believe. Penn is a research fellow at the Cato Institute and has lectured at Oxford and MIT in addition to co-authoring three best-selling books. He is also one half the magic and comedy act Penn and Teller.                    (NOTE: This is NOT his entire essay!)

God bless atheism

by Pat Condell, August 03, 2007 0:18 - 3:28 transcribed from YouTube by me!

Now people often ask me about being an atheist and certain questions crop up all the time. For example, "How can you know good from evil without religion to guide you?" Well, that's just the point isn't it religion does guide me. Most of the things I see religion do I think are evil. And I find that's a pretty useful benchmark. If religion is involved I know evil won't be too far away.

Another question is; "Isn't atheism itself really just another religion?" Well, I suppose atheism is a religion in the same way that creationism is a science, or Islam is a religion of peace - in other words, when language no longer really means anything.

"How can atheism be a religion?" "Who do we worship, and, who's going to kill us if we don't?" Atheism doesn't demand absolute unquestioning obedience or make threats about eternal damnation, nor does it take childish offense over trifles. It doesn't protect sex offenders from justice nor does it treat women like livestock. In a way it's a shame it's not a religion because we might be able to get a few tax breaks out of it. But, no, atheism doesn't get any special privileges, there are no schools teaching atheism to children as a belief system, paid for with public money. Nor does atheism require anyone to tithe part of their income to keep a few cynical conmen in luxury.

So you see, it doesn't even begin to qualify as a religion worthy of the name.

No, to me, atheism is just another word for reality. It simply means not seeing any need to apologize for being human. And, to be quite happy to live the life I do have and not just wish it away on some celestial three-card trick that tells me Heaven is right there, waiting for you, and all you've got to do is die. That's some price to pay, isn't it, for admission to a place which is likely to be full of clergymen and born-again Christians which I recon makes it literally a fate worse than death.

"But surely people need religion to answer certain questions?" Well, yes, questions like; "How best can we stifle the human spirit," "How much can we squeeze from the poor and gullible, "and "How many palaces can we live in, at once, without blushing?" These questions religion answers very well indeed. But, unfortunately there are other questions to which it doesn't have answers so it makes them up. And this is where atheism comes in. Atheism says; "Hey, you just made that up." And religion says; "No, this is what we call theology."

What's the difference between a doctor of medicine and a doctor of theology?" One prescribes drugs and the other might as well be on drugs.

A theologian is somebody who's an expert in the unknowable and has all of the qualifications to prove it. Yea, a real specialist.

And this is why I think that the question we should be asking is not whether atheism is a religion but why is theology regarded as a branch of philosophy and not as a creative art? Because it is very creative you can dress your god up in whatever set of the king's new clothes you like. And it must be great fun for all concerned. But, personally, I don't see any more reason to teach it in university than there is to teach astrology.

"I don't want to belabor the point, but before I leave you, I ask you to consider the fact that we live in a web of mystery, and have simply gotten so used to the fact that we have crossed out the word and replaced it with one we like better, that one being reality. Where do we come from? Where were we before we were here? Don't know. Where are we going? Don't know. A lot of churches have what they assure us are the answers, but most of us have a sneaking suspicion all that might be a con-job laid down to fill the collection plates. In the meantime, we're in a kind of compulsory dodgeball game as we free-fall from Wherever to Ain't Got a Clue. Sometime bombs go off and sometimes the planes land okay and sometimes the blood tests come back clean and sometimes the biopsies come back positive. Most times the bad telephone call doesn't come in the middle of the night but sometimes it does, and either way we know we're going to drive pedal-to-the-metal into the mystery eventually."

- Stephen King
January 31, 2005, The Colorado Kid, p. 184.

"I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling, remembering part
of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that, and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural
traditions that assert an afterlife, I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking."

- Carl Sagan from his book, Billions & Billions:
Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium, p. 258

"I'm one of those who Pascal is actually thinking about, or was thinking about, when he wrote to the person who is so made that he can not believe. There are millions of us, there always have been. There are now, there are going to be many more of us in the future and we're just a little bit fed up being treated by freaks in American culture."

- Christopher Hitchens debating Al Sharpton on
Hitchen's book, God is not Great at the New York Public Library May 7th, 2007

"In fact, I don't believe sins can be washed away by anything, not by the Blood of the Lamb, not by Christ on or off the Cross, not by love of God or God's love, not by a billion Hail Marys or a Milky Way of candles or a thousand ages of penance or a million miles of contrition on broken glass and burning coals and leprous bodies."

"In fact, I indignantly reject, with horror and with loathing, the dark, ancient, vile and filthy lie that another man or God-Man can redeem us of sins by his own suffering, or that we can purify ourselves and start over again by his own suffering, or that we can purify ourselves and start over again by compounding our sins with more suffering, more ugliness, more filth and gibbering faith.

"What an utterly horrible doctrine! What a contemptible and nightmarish horror-story to preach to grave, thoughtful children. It's time we stood up like men and faced our responsibilities, admitted and lived with our past sins, and cleared our hearts, in so far as we can, not by atonement or by condemning someone else to die for us, but by refusing to cooperate with evil and insisting upon doing good."

- Edward Abbey
from his March 1, 1952 journal entry
while in Edinburgh, Scotland

Money:

"Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! "But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more." - George Carlin

The Ridiculous:

Blessed are the Rich?

It's no secret that the rich have always felt it was their God-given right to corner markets, horde wealth, and control others. CNN.com Reported on a 2006 Time Magazine Cover story this way; "A booming movement that began with Evangelical Christians holds to the belief that a God who loves you does not want you to be broke. In a Time poll, 17 percent of Christians surveyed said they considered themselves part of such a movement, while a full 61 percent believed that God wants people to be prosperous. The movement's renaissance has infuriated a number of prominent pastors, theologians and commentators." It amazes me that "believers" would think that one of God's concerns are that they become prosperous while children are starving to death in other parts of the World. God wants you to be rich? Ridiculous! - Roger J. Wendell

God and Government:

In America we have a long history of mixing government and religion despite efforts to keep the two separate. If we aren't printing religious messages on our money or swearing officials into office on a Bible, then we're giving huge tax exemptions to local churches and forcing children to acknowledge God in the national pledge...

Critics Say Atheist N.C. City Councilman Unworthy of Seat
FoxNews.com (AP) December 13, 2009

"Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell's detractors are threatening to take the city to court for swearing him in, even though the state's antiquated requirement that officeholders believe in God is unenforceable because it violates the U.S. Consititution. "

"RALEIGH, N.C. -- Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell believes in ending the death penalty, conserving water and reforming government -- but he doesn't believe in God. His political opponents say that's a sin that makes him unworthy of serving in office, and they've got the North Carolina Constitution on their side.

"Bothwell's detractors are threatening to take the city to court for swearing him in, even though the state's antiquated requirement that officeholders believe in God is unenforceable because it violates the U.S. Consititution.

"'The question of whether or not God exists is not particularly interesting to me and it's certainly not relevant to public office,' the recently elected 59-year-old said.

"Raised a Presbyterian, Bothwell began questioning Christian beliefs at a young age and considered himself an atheist by the time he was 20. He's an active member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville and he still celebrates Christmas, often hanging ornaments on his Fishhook cactus.

"Bothwell ran this fall on a platform that also included limiting the height of downtown buildings and saving trees in the city's core, views that appealed to voters in the liberal-leaning community at the foot of the Appalachian Mountains. When Bothwell was sworn into office on Monday, he used an alternative oath that doesn't require officials to swear on a Bible or reference 'Almighty God.'

"That has riled conservative activists, who cite a little-noticed quirk in North Carolina's Constitution that disqualifies officeholders 'who shall deny the being of Almighty God.' The provision was included when the document was drafted in 1868 and wasn't revised when North Carolina amended its constitution in 1971. One foe, H.K. Edgerton, is threatening to file a lawsuit in state court against the city to challenge Bothwell's appointment.

"'My father was a Baptist minister. I'm a Christian man. I have problems with people who don't believe in God,' said Edgerton, a former local NAACP president and founder of Southern Heritage 411, an organization that promotes the interests of black southerners.

"The head of a conservative weekly newspaper says city officials shirked their duty to uphold the state's laws by swearing in Bothwell. David Morgan, editor of the Asheville Tribune, said he's tired of seeing his state Constitution 'trashed.'

"Bothwell can't be forced out of office over his atheist views because the North Carolina provision is unenforceable, according to the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution. Six other states, Arkansas, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, have similar provisions barring atheist officeholders.

"In 1961, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that federal law prohibits states from requiring any kind of religious test to serve in office when it ruled in favor of a Maryland atheist seeking appointment as a notary public.

"But the federal protections don't necessarily spare atheist public officials from spending years defending themselves in court. Avowed atheist Herb Silverman won an eight-year court battle in 1997 when South Carolina's highest court granted him the right to be appointed as a notary despite the state's law.

"Bothwell said a legal challenge to his appointment would be 'fun,' but believes his opponents' efforts have more to do with politics than religious beliefs.

"'It's local political opponents seeking to change the outcome of an election they lost,' Bothwell said.

"Bothwell, who's lived in Asheville nearly three decades and wrote the city's best-selling guide book, said his spiritual views don't matter to most of his constituents. Bothwell is a registered Democrat but didn't run on a party ticket in the nonpartisan Council election.

"Even if he can't force Bothwell out of office, Edgerton said he hopes a legal battle would ultimately force North Carolina's Legislature to determine the legality of the article of the Constitution.

"'If the law is wrong, it is the obligation of the Legislature to say it's wrong,' he said. Provisions like North Carolina's tend to stay on the books because lawmakers would rather not spend time weeding out outdated laws, said Duke University Law School Professor Joseph Blocher.

"'I mean there are state laws against spitting in the street,' he said. 'Why spend the time?'

"But the battle is important to Silverman, who says there are scores of other atheist politicians afraid to "come out of the closet." He cited U.S. Rep. Pete Stark of California, the first and only congressman to publicly acknowledge he doesn't believe in God.

"'We're trying to change our culture to the point where it's not political suicide,' Silverman said."

George H.W. Bush was pretty weak with the atheiest community:

When George Bush was campaigning for the presidency, as incumbent vice-president, one of his stops was in Chicago on August 27, 1987. At O'Hare Airport he held a formal outdoor news conference. There Robert I. Sherman, a reporter for the American Atheist new journal, fully accredited by the state of Illinois and by invitation a participating member of the press corps covering the national had the following exchange with then-Vice-President Bush.

Sherman: What will you do to win the votes of the Americans who are atheists?

Bush: I guess I'm pretty weak in the atheist community. Faith in God is important to me.

Sherman: Surely you recognize the equal citizenship and patriotism of Americans who are atheists?

Bush: No, I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God.

Sherman (somewhat taken aback): Do you support as a sound constitutional principle the separation of state and church?

Bush: Yes, I support the separation of church and state. I'm just not very high on atheists.

America's Religious Problem

"...the biblical God is a fiction, like Zeus and the other dead gods whom most sane human beings now ignore. Can you prove that Zeus does not exist? Of course not. And yet, just imagine if we lived in a society where people spent tens of billions of dollars of their personal income each year propitiating the gods of Mount Olympus, where the government spent billions more in tax dollars to support institutions devoted to these gods, where untold billions more in tax subsidies were given to pagan temples, where elected officials did their best to impede medical research out of deference to The Iliand and The Odyssey, and where every debate about public policy was subverted to the whims of ancient authors who wrote well, but who didn't know enough about the nature of reality to keep their excrement out of their food. This would be a horrific misappropriation of our material, moral, and intellectual resources. And yet that is exactly the society we are living in. This is the woefully irrational world that you and your fellow Christians are working so tirelessly to create."

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