Hi K. I generally don't post on these threads, mostly because I'm respectful of boundaries, and if atheists want an atheist forum I respect that.
I saw the topic heading and when I read the premise I sort of felt this was an open letter to non-atheists.
If you don't mind, I'll respectfully make a few comments, but not with any intention to be argumentative.
The writer who wrote the article may have claimed to be an atheist, but once he stated his opinions of not discounting a higher being could exist, he slipped into agnosticism. So, technically, he's a closet agnostic. Pure atheism is rather emphatic on the declaration. "I've come to the conclusion that God cannot exist...because" And as the argument spins to, "Well, I know that if God does exist...it isn't your God..." it really isn't a pure atheistic argument anymore and actually a statement of atheistic unbelief.
As an atheist (former), I had my reasons for believing and not believing, but that doesn't mean I never had doubts. Genetics made me doubt- how complex the entire genetic computer chip was and the processes by which permanent changes could occur in the actual code without destroying or harming the organism. The intricacies of microbiology- the complexity of the cell structure and the sub-atomic universe, made me doubt. The immune systems redundancy back-up systems, which is brilliant. And a series of what were basically accepted as highly fortunate complex accidents, made me doubt. Then some might say I was a weak atheist who missed the bigger picture. But it was very much a religious process, in that there wasn't just this one-sided argument where everything was spotlessly clear. I had to reinforce my believe (in atheism) whenever something happened that made me question it. And so I realized I was making a mental case all the time. What about injustice? What about unfairness? In a sense, I had a list of everything I saw wrong with the world as my hot list of reasons to why I had a right to stick to my atheistic convictions.
I'd like to comment further. On many points I agree, because when I was an atheist I had morals and love and values and a variety of worldviews that seem rather fiting into the clasification called "virtues". Perhaps the Good Samaratin was an atheist. All we know was that he had a different worldview, but did the right thing. So, I don't discount atheists exhibiting virtue. Perhaps in some moral sense, many atheists are more moral than religious counterparts.
I don't think of atheists as particularly immoral and certainly not stupid. In fact, perhaps if you did a pole, more atheists would come up on the higher end of the IQ curve. And I've heard this argument, "We are smarter- therefore righter" as if any of us have an IQ high enough to find or disprove God, which isn't really possible. If God wishes to hide or reveal himself, our ability to catch him or avoid him would be rather unsuccessful. But from a scientific standpoint, I believed that one could look for evidences. And in a scientific way, look at religious claims and experiences, just like any so-called psychic phenominom. "Do people experience something or anything that exists outside of the explanable Universe?" If so, what triggers it, can it be validated in any possible way?
The question which is perhaps difficult for a scientific mind- which some people have- is that it likes everything to follow a neat order that we can grasp. It does not like to fiddle around with the idea of "Revelation", a God who can meddle with nature or show himself to people. But still, a scientist can't rule that out, and doing so shows a bias towards a conclusion. So, I went on a search to try as best as I could to learn if anyone was having any sort of experiences, and what they were, and if they were in any way predictable and not simply delusions and hallucinations or wishful thoughts. To write them off because I didn't have them was simply too easy and suggested to me, that I didn't want to know the answer- that really bothered me to consider as an atheist that I really had my own bent- I wanted to believe I was correct and anything outside that would test my beliefs as an atheist, distrubed my atheist faith. Still to be intellectually honest, I had to face that crossroads and admit I could be wrong.
I didn't assume any group was incapable of having experiences that I didn't understand or some kind of affirmation that I didn't see. In other words, things could exist outside of my own reference, just like trees could grow in some parts of the world but not others. I questioned, 'Is it possible if you live in some space or even mindset, could you be more open to seeing/hearing what I never saw from where I was metaphorically standing?'
The approach to the question of God, is really, are we opened or closed to the idea? And if so, why? And if so, will that bent effect the outcome of the experiment, if indeed we are looking to see if there is any validity to anyone's faith, be if of any stripe?
Perhaps those who are born into Christian families never question faith. But this doesn't mean all who have a belief are without reason and haven't worked it in what could be called a scientific way.
Yes, some people judge atheists; and when I was an atheist back in the seventies, it was akin to outing yourself. It wasn't popular and people looked at you like a space alien. Atheists have come quite a long ways in terms of societal shifts. At least I came out of the closet and admitted I was an atheist to the amusement and chagrin of relatives and friends. I believed in intellectual honesty- and still do.
There are scientific principles that actually cause one to ponder the existence of a higher intelligence and a hand guiding the Universe. It is not without logic or reason. That is far from saying one sees RNA and believes in a religious creed; but it does bring others to a precipice of wondering if indeed God could exist. Science impacted my views when I became an atheist, and science also caused me to question atheism. I know scientists who are atheist and equally brilliant scientists that believe in God- through science- which some believe is an impossibility.
At any rate, I agree with some of the article's points, while not agreeing with some of its arguments and conclusions. Again, this is not an argument, but only a statement of my own reasoning processes and views on this person's views as I read them.
Nate
