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"I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours."- Stephen Roberts
I am an atheist very simply because there is no evidence for gods of any kind. I am not specially disbelieving of the Christian God. It is all gods in general. I began not believing in the tooth fairy, and then Zeus. It just kind of took off from there.
I believe in naturalism. I am not an agnostic who allows for the 50-50 possibility of any gods. As a good scientist, I believe there is a possibility of one or more "gods", as we choose to define them, but it is a vanishingly small possibility. I remain to be convinced by the evidence.
I am appalled when others call atheism a religion. "Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color."- Don Hirschberg. Consider the pitch made in the YouTube video below, about whether atheism is a religion or not.
Though atheists have been around since ancient times, the utter certainty of the non-existence of gods has been known to humanity at least since the time of Charles Darwin. It will take time, and our efforts, to bring around the world-wide understanding that it is pointless to expect support from a supernatural source.
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"Religions are not revealed: they are evolved. If a religion were revealed by God, that religion would be perfect in whole and in part, and would be as perfect at the first moment of its revelation as after ten thousand years of practice. There has never been a religion that which fulfills those conditions." -Robert Blatchford, author (1851-1943) |
I encourage others to stand up proudly as atheists, as I believe I do. Learn more about this at The Out Campaign web site.
There are many web pages out there that display the ample evidence that each of the gods currently worshipped is false, in the sense of non-existent. This page, is, for the most part simply my declaration to the World (Wide Web?) about where I stand on the supernatural. It doesn't exist!
My culture taught me that Shiva, Vishnu, Thor, Baal, Zeus, and Venus were all false gods. It took the smallest bit of additional information, such as that all are mammals descended from a common ancestor, to add to my understanding that the Christian God was false as well. No big deal.
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The Out CampaignI greatly admire the work Richard Dawkins has done to educate the public about the fact of evolution. We humans descended from a common ancestor to all living things. The evidence for this is overwhelming. Further, there is no evidence that we were created in anybody's image. I also admire Mr. Dawkins' work to publicize atheism, and to encourage we atheists to speak more publicly about our understanding of naturalism. To come "out of a closet" as it were. I encourage others to stand up proudly as atheists, as I believe I do. Learn more about this at The Out Campaign web site or Dr Dawkins' web site. |
At the moment, there are just a few points where I want to draw a distinction between what I know to be true, and what is taught in some religions. Foremost on my mind is the unfair treatment handed to sexual minorities by many mainstream faiths in the United States, where I live.
I am particularly motivated to support the Mormon LGBT community. They suffer even greater losses than the average gay kid. The LDS church teaches that you cannot fully participate in their afterlife if you have a same-sex partner. If this area interests you, read my page on Mormonism
Sexual minorities are the community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender , intersex, (sometimes lumped into the acronym LGBT) and other peoples. It is an incredibly diverse group, and if you don't understand that, you probably don't understand how it is that they are also normal. You have to understand that normal is a bell curve. The middle is simply "average", and that would be heterosexual. Just average. Nothing special about that.
It is no great revelation that fear is what leads to hate and violence. I aspire to reduce the fear people have about the LGBT community. Perhaps I can do that through talking openly, appealing to your rationality. I have hope.
There are a growing number of faiths that do a decent job of acknowledging the full humanity of the LGBT community. The Unitarians are great, and the Episcopal Church has permitted LGBT clergy . There will be more. Who wants to be last?
The Catholics have a special burden in that their repression of the natural sexuality of their clergy has led to many becoming pedophiles. In my non-professional opinion, it is likely that the impermissability for healthy adult sexual relationships for the Catholic clergy has lead to the rampant improper behavior with minors that has been widely reported. With children, abusers can trust that coercion can conceal their illicit sexual behavior. Why else would the problem of child abuse be so less prevalent in, say, the Protestant faiths?
LGBT-hostile clergy influence too large a section of our community. The adjective "evangelical" is often associated with this hostility. I hope we can influence these hostile faiths to yield to the LGBT members of our community their full civil rights. This includes the right to be an elected official, Boy or Girl Scout (or their leader), marry, adopt children, and much, much more.
I know, not as a matter of faith, but of science, that same-sex attraction is a natural part of the spectrum of human behavior. This attraction is no more a choice than is hair color. Most would be surprised at the degree of human behavior that is influenced by genetic makeup (and, more rigorously, epigenetics ). The study of twins has lead to a much deeper understanding of this, for sexuality and a wide range of other behaviors.
I strongly support the full recognition of the LGBT community as fully-invested citizens of the United States. They deserve full rights, and have certainly borne their full share of responsibilties. They are not the half-citizens that blacks once were in our country. It was only in 1967 that blacks were permitted to marry whites in each of the United States of America. It was almost entirely a religiously-inspired and supported effort that held back blacks from many of the civil rights they now enjoy. It is time that we let our LGBT brothers and sisters finally enjoy this same right, to marry whom they choose.
Well, nothing could be farther from the truth. The greatest number of our forefathers were Deists, which is about as close to atheism as you could come, in the day. Thomas Jefferson is a good example.
"I do not find in Christianity one redeeming feature. It has made one half the world fools, the other half hypocrites."-- Thomas Jefferson
"I have recently been examining all the known superstitions of the world, and do not find in our particular superstition (Christianity) one redeeming feature. They are all alike, founded on fables and mythology." -Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Dr. Woods
"I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." - President George H.W. Bush - I guess we atheists have a burden of discrimination to overcome. I don't reckon we will be counting on any Bush support for some time.
"The study of theology, as it stands in Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authorities; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion."- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason. How much more direct evidence does one need to prove that the USA was not founded as a Christian nation? Any such claims are merely attempts to usurp power. We are a nation of immigrants, of a variety of cultures. A founding principle is toleration for other people's religious belief. This includes the right not to believe.
There is much to be done to unwind the involvement of religious faith in the US government. Where to start? I write elsewhere of the codification of Christian bigotry into the laws that suppress our LGBT citizens. "Sodomy" was illegal in most states into the 1970's, with the last laws struck down by the Supreme Court in 2003. These were discriminatory laws that were seldom, if ever, applied to heterosexual couples. Talk about your double standards.
I would like to see the religious point of view taken out of public policy in reprodcutive rights. Women should be able to practice whatever birth control they wish, and when it fails, a woman should have the right to choose an abortion. We should not be limiting our support to health clinics around the world who will not provide any counseling about the abortion option.
These are intended to either educate or entertain. Atheists can be a wickedly amusing bunch.
I've noticed that most of the links are humorous, from my point of view, or perhaps dismissive from another. I think this is perhaps because I have generally a sunny disposition, and didn't have to search too hard to come up with th right answer: that there are no gods. There are many places you can look for data in support of atheism as the only rational world view out there. I think the best collection of rational argument comes in the book The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I highly recommend it.
In early 2008 I made a presentation about atheism to youth at the the Vista Youth Center. I presented information based on this outline. It is a frame from which to talk, so doesn't read like a complete paper.
A beat poem, Storm, by Tim Minchin. The point of view spoken here mirrors my own.
I urge you to learn about the issues I have discussed. If you don't understand the biological basis for same-sex attraction, then learn about it. Take stand for the LGBT members of your family. They are in all our families, though too often hidden from view. Let us make their lives more livable. Take a stand in your community, speaking to your friends and neighbors about the injustice of barring gays from the military or barring gay marriage. Be heard.
This is Ivar Husa's web page. I live in Richland,Washington.
A final quote: "A coward is a hero with a wife, kids, and a mortgage." -Marvin Kitman, author and media critic (b. 1929) Are you worried about your mortgage?