Good for him.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/magazi...eader.html
However, as the article describes it seems to be an emotional reaction to the death of a friend's friend. While it does cut to the selective cherry picking nature of any god claim, emotional reactions causing a shift of position is not the core reason to reject any claim. The core reason is evidence and evidence alone.
Why bad things happen to good people we often hear "former atheists" cop out to as to why they became an atheist. "I was angry at god". Not saying this is the reason this former preacher left his religion, but could easily fall back into theism without deep understanding as to the psychological reason they fell for it in the first place. But you can be angry at the use of logic people use to defend such a claim. No one in their right mind would baby sit a kid in the same selective cherry picking manor this alleged god seems to.
When one thinks about the entire history of evolution and nature in reality, we can see that violence and destruction and death have always been a part of natural reality. There have always been earthquakes, hurricanes, bacteria and viruses. There has always been crime and war.
And once you accept that both the good and bad that happen in natural reality are not the result of a comic book battle between fictional super heros vs super villains, you can be angry at absurd use of logic, without being angry at any fictional being.
To this former preacher I would say it is sad that it took a death for you to come to your senses. No one likes to lose friends or loved ones for any reason, to anything. But don't let your emotions rule you. The fact is we all face death and no one can avoid it. Death is simply part of a natural reality void of superstition and magic men. It is no different than a leaf falling off a tree and rotting. Even the star we call a sun has a lifespan, and the same with our planet.
The emotional reaction only has a valid argument in the context of the "OMNI" attributes people claim about an allegedly moral caregiver who sets us up in an environment he did not have to set us up in, then blames us for what he didn't have to set up. This has long been expressed in Epicurus "problem with evil" which I have yet to see any credible refutation of from a logical standpoint.
The good and bad in reality are better explained by nature and evolution. Ocham's razor is all it takes when someone gives you superfluous myth. Which makes more sense in reality? Humans have always made up myths and falsely believed them to be fact? Or, invisible friends by any label are real?
Atheism is nothing but the kid growing up and giving up on Santa. Evolution was around long before the Egyptians falsely believed the sun was a god. We now live without that false belief, and I do not think life will be any different if the popular god claims today are discarded, other than they will simply be discarded. There will still be natural disasters and disease. But without myth, our observations without sugar pills can help humanity extend our finite ride.
The plus of having a former preacher give up on religion, is that they are ones better to argue with those still in religion as to why they don't need it. Welcome to reality preacher, glad to have you with us.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/magazi...eader.html
However, as the article describes it seems to be an emotional reaction to the death of a friend's friend. While it does cut to the selective cherry picking nature of any god claim, emotional reactions causing a shift of position is not the core reason to reject any claim. The core reason is evidence and evidence alone.
Why bad things happen to good people we often hear "former atheists" cop out to as to why they became an atheist. "I was angry at god". Not saying this is the reason this former preacher left his religion, but could easily fall back into theism without deep understanding as to the psychological reason they fell for it in the first place. But you can be angry at the use of logic people use to defend such a claim. No one in their right mind would baby sit a kid in the same selective cherry picking manor this alleged god seems to.
When one thinks about the entire history of evolution and nature in reality, we can see that violence and destruction and death have always been a part of natural reality. There have always been earthquakes, hurricanes, bacteria and viruses. There has always been crime and war.
And once you accept that both the good and bad that happen in natural reality are not the result of a comic book battle between fictional super heros vs super villains, you can be angry at absurd use of logic, without being angry at any fictional being.
To this former preacher I would say it is sad that it took a death for you to come to your senses. No one likes to lose friends or loved ones for any reason, to anything. But don't let your emotions rule you. The fact is we all face death and no one can avoid it. Death is simply part of a natural reality void of superstition and magic men. It is no different than a leaf falling off a tree and rotting. Even the star we call a sun has a lifespan, and the same with our planet.
The emotional reaction only has a valid argument in the context of the "OMNI" attributes people claim about an allegedly moral caregiver who sets us up in an environment he did not have to set us up in, then blames us for what he didn't have to set up. This has long been expressed in Epicurus "problem with evil" which I have yet to see any credible refutation of from a logical standpoint.
The good and bad in reality are better explained by nature and evolution. Ocham's razor is all it takes when someone gives you superfluous myth. Which makes more sense in reality? Humans have always made up myths and falsely believed them to be fact? Or, invisible friends by any label are real?
Atheism is nothing but the kid growing up and giving up on Santa. Evolution was around long before the Egyptians falsely believed the sun was a god. We now live without that false belief, and I do not think life will be any different if the popular god claims today are discarded, other than they will simply be discarded. There will still be natural disasters and disease. But without myth, our observations without sugar pills can help humanity extend our finite ride.
The plus of having a former preacher give up on religion, is that they are ones better to argue with those still in religion as to why they don't need it. Welcome to reality preacher, glad to have you with us.
