Why Atheism?

Why Atheism? Well, as I argued in my previous blog, Atheism is the default position. No one believes anything unless they are given evidence. Many children are raised religious, but when children grow up many question what their parents have taught them.

It was a slow process for me, realizing that God wasn’t real. But some big questions pushed me to this conclusion. The biggest question is probably, “Why my religion?” I could have been born in India or in Saudi Arabia and then I would certainly be a Hindu or a Muslim. I could have been born 2,000 years ago and worshiped Roman Gods or I could have been born in West Africa and worshiped the Great Juju at the Bottom of the Sea.

As an Educator it is my job to be concerned about what is true. I teach students from many countries, some who are religious and some who are not. Something that might be hard for people to accept is that there is such thing as truth. Truth isn’t just something one person can decide on their own. It’s not a matter of opinion. There is real truth in this world and we have to agree on the best way to find that truth.

 Almost every science teacher (except for possibly ones in Alabama) teaches the Scientific Method. Tests should be reviewable and repeatable. If something doesn’t stand up to science (like ghosts and fairies and gods) than there is no good reason that you should believe it. The bottom line is people should care about what is true. If you believe something but have no good evidence, you should stop believing in that thing.

Many people cite the fact that they really feel deep down inside that the God they pray to is real. They have faith in their feeling. But there are two things wrong with this:

First of all, feelings can be pretty far from reality. You can’t always trust things based on feelings or even your five senses. Examples are optical illusions, like the ones where one line looks longer than the other and you will need a ruler to prove otherwise. Your eyes lie to you. Another example is tiredness. I stayed up for over a day playing trivia last year and started hallucinating. People hear voices. Kids actually see imaginary friends and can’t distinguish between their imaginary friends from real people. Intuitions and deep-rooted feelings can be (and often are) wrong.

Second of all faith is not a good thing. When people have faith it means they believe something without having any good reason to believe that thing. A middle-school boy who has a crush on a girl might have faith that they are meant to be together and that one-day they will actually end up together. The truth might be that the girl doesn’t know he exists or that she hates the boys guts. How many middle-school crushes result in life-long relationships? Not many. But try to reason with someone with a crush, middle-school or not. People sometimes wish things to be true so badly, that those things can seem very, very real.

It is no coincidence that the more educated someone is, the more likely they are to be Atheists. 95% of scientist do not believe in a god. Probably this is because it is their job to determine what is true and what isn’t. They deal in evidence and they don’t take things on faith. No one should.