Thoughts on Atheism (and a plea to the religious)

[CliveStaples]

Well, consider the following argument:

1) Being a reasonable person entails exhibiting a certain, proper amount of humility about what we can know.
2) Atheism necessarily entails exhibiting an improper amount of humility about what we can know.
3) Therefore, atheism entails not being a reasonable person.

This argument is valid.

Science is by far the most humble endeavour. It has no agenda but to simply reflect reality through observation. Faith on the other hand says 'I know exactly where the universe came from'. Humble? I think not.

First, that has nothing to do with the point I was making. I wasn't claiming that science (which you're conflating with atheism) isn't humble; I wasn't claiming that faith is humble.

I was saying that there are valid arguments for which the claim, "Atheism requires a lack of humility" would be neither a strawman nor an ad hominem.


Second, science has its own assumptions (see methological naturalism, evidentialism, as well as the general fields of epistemology and ontology). The ideas that there is a shared reality, that external objects exist, that observations are possible, that our memories of the past are not fictitious--these are all assumptions. Articles of faith.

Science also makes certain truth claims regarding the world; if "I know where [x] came from" is proof of a lack of humility, then science isn't very humble at all. It purports to know the cause of earthquakes, the development of the human species, and so on and so forth.

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Additionally, it also provides a platform upon which to cast judgment. Science seeks only to explain. Faith and religion are more about control, ritual, and keeping the big guy happy.

Apparently you're not familiar with existentialist Christianity. I'd read up before making grandiose generalizations =)

Science might scare a few people into thinking the Earth is overheating or the Sun might explode, but it certainly never has anyone convinced they're going to be doomed to suffer for eternity if they don't submit.

...wait, I thought that atheists were all about pursuing the truth, no matter how bad it might be. Now you're saying that science is better because religion makes you believe unpleasant things? Irony!

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I come from a christian background. I was a devout christian for more than half of my life. It was actually through bible study and religious instruction that I came to be an atheist (amongst other factors, but it was largely an informed decision).

I reject faith in any sentient being as the sole creator and maintainer of the universe (I know that this is not how all people define God, but it is perhaps the most common one). I'm a believer in chance. I can't pretend to know anything for certain, none of us really can. That said, I am convinced more by the work of the secular scientific community than I am by any religious texts, religious scholars, or the like.

Erm, what works of the secular scientific community convinced you that God doesn't exist? I'm into math and science, so if there's a good scientific or mathematical (i.e., logical) reason to think God doesn't exist, I'd love to hear it.