Welcome to another chapter in Atheist Digest, a summer series started by XNeeOhCon and written from the point of view of agnostics, skeptics, and atheists alike.
Today's topic will cover some common myths about atheists, for which I hope we can have some good and reasonable discussion.
Previous diaries in Atheist Digest:
Introduction by XNeeOhCon (re-posted by Chicagoa)
Semantics by Chicagoa
Belief by Something the Dog Said
Science and the Scientific Method by rfall
Evolution by rfall
A couple months ago, snkscore wrote a nice primer debunking some common misconceptions about atheism, entitled "Understanding atheism, the atheist strawman arguments and what atheism isn't." I will go over some of these misconceptions again, while adding in a couple of my own.
1. "Atheists believe that there is no God."
2. "Atheists claim to know there is no God."
Both of these statements appear at first glance to be similar -- they both make an association between "atheism" and the phrase "no God." Yet, they convey different meanings. Statement #1 says that atheists share a common view of the world based on a belief system, that atheists see God as non-existent simply because they believe it, without evidence to support their claim. Statement #2, on the other hand, says that atheists have knowledge that there is no God. In other words, atheists have empirically tested for God's existence, and based on the evidence, are certain of the absence of a deity.
Part of misunderstanding atheism is a matter of semantics, which Chicagoa covered earlier in this series. Rather than saying that atheists believe there is no God, it's better to say that atheists don't believe that there is one. Atheism simply means a lack of belief in God, and that the evidence available to us does not support the existence of a creator. That's all it is. It doesn't mean we're 100% certain -- as far as we know right now, we can't know with absolute certainty that there isn't a deity. However, we don't base our lack of belief on faith, but rather, the lack of evidence. The bottom line is that both statements #1 and #2 are inaccurate.
3. "Atheists deny the existence of God."
Actually, this isn't true.
Atheists don't "deny" the existence of God. We can't "deny" the existence of something we don't believe exists or ever existed in the first place. If you go outside when it's cloudy and raining, and then say, "It's a sunny day!", then that would be denying the existence of rain. We know that rain is real because we can see it, we can touch it, and we can scientifically prove that it's there. If we "denied" the existence of God, then that would imply that God's existence is a provable, incontrovertible fact just like rain, and that atheists are just ignoring it.
Once again, I might be playing around with semantics. But I think it's important to make clear that atheism is not a denial. Rather, it's a simple proposition, an acceptance of the world as we think it truly is.
4. "The U.S. was founded on Christian principles."
Was it?
The individual religious preferences of our Founding Fathers have been debated for a while. But what is not in debate is what is written explicitly in the U.S. Constitution, particularly in the 1st Amendment:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
And in Article VI:
no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
The meme that the United States was founded on Christian principles is often used by the Religious Right to justify their belief that America is a Christian nation. Politicians often use their religion as a qualification for office, in order to convince voters that they have superior "moral values" (and in some cases, just to demonize atheists). Some have even taken this myth far enough to start changing school curricula to fit their religious dogma.
Moreover, the Religious Right often forgets a very important principle as espoused quite eloquently by one of this nation's most important Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson.
Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.
Jefferson was a proud proponent of the separation of Church and State. He believed that a person's faith was his or her own, personal choice, a choice upon which the government should not be allowed to infringe. It is a principle which I hold very dear. Americans have the right to practice their own faith, or not practice a faith at all, provided that such a choice does not harm or infringe upon others.
5. "Atheists have no moral center without God."
This is one of the more dangerous (and sadly, common) myths about atheists to have taken root in mainstream society. It served as the basis for my first diary about atheism, in which I responded to a religious Kossack who claimed that atheism was responsible for the horrors wrought by Stalin, Mao, and Hitler.
Besides the gross historical inaccuracies of this statement, let's remember that humans have evolved and developed governments and systems of laws over several millenia. There is no reason to believe that religious piety is the only factor that has kept civilization from falling apart into complete depravity, but that's exactly what statement #5 suggests -- that without God to guide our lives, there's nothing to stop people from stealing, cheating, and murdering others. There are powerful religious figures in society whose entire careers are devoted to convincing people that atheists "aren't fully human." They're the same people that use religious doctrine to convince their followers that gay marriage is immoral, or that reproductive choice is murder -- and they even defend the actions of terrorists like Scott Roeder.
I live my life under the assumption that there is no God. I don't steal from or murder other people. The reason that I and other law-abiding atheists don't steal from or murder other people is because that's the right thing to do. It has nothing to do with fear of punishment in the afterlife, or eternal damnation of the soul -- I don't believe in those things. The golden rule of doing unto others as I would have them do unto me, the need to be a good person, and the fear of punishment in this life (imprisonment) are enough to keep me from committing crimes. Atheists are not out to take over society or dominate others. We just want to live our lives in peace without feeling persecuted for lacking a belief in a deity.
In closing, I will end by reiterating something I wrote in Daily Kos three months ago in that initial atheist diary:
Atheism is, for better or worse, a part of my identity. I will not run from it. I will not accept being demonized for it. Yet I still dream of the day when it no longer matters if one believes in a god or not. I do not feel I need the guiding principles of a higher power to be a good person. I will respect the choice of religious Americans -- their choice is guaranteed by the Constitution. I just ask for respect for my choice.
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Upcoming topics in Atheist Digest:
Tuesday August 18th – Topic 7 – Creation, Cosmology, Deism, and the Space-Time Continuum. - (Chicagoa)
Chicagoa: This will be "a diary on cosmology - physics, logic, and theory - to explain to the haughty deists why we don't accept their First Cause or Kalam Cosmological arguments for the existence of a non-interventionist designer deity." This will possibly include a discussion of the philosophy of infinite/finite time and space, and explore the common misperceptions of Einstein’s and Hawking’s views of "God."
Thursday August 20th – Topic 8 – The Other Side of the Fence: Faith and Spirituality, (Rebuttal?) - (Colorado is the Shiznit)
Colorado is the Shiznit will lead the charge on this one, because the rest of us aren’t really qualified. We would like to have some discussion on what benefits many feel they get from faith and/or spirituality, and why they hold these beliefs. We would also like to get some kind of survey of religion/spiritual people’s perspective of Atheism/Atheists.
Sunday August 23rd - Topic 9 - Growing up Atheist - (WarrenS)
WarrenS talks about growing up in a family of atheists (all right, grandparents on one side were churchgoers, but that's it). How did his parents (both scientists) teach morality and ethics? How did growing up atheist affect his relationships with religions and religious organizations? How did it affect his relationships with religious people? Now that he has a child of his own, how will he approach these questions? Expect lots of stories and thought-provoking digressions in this one.
Tuesday August 25th - Conclusion: ‘Why We Care So Much’ - (XNeeOhCon, with input from all)
This one is pretty simple, but needs more attention. We need to make everyone see why we are so ‘obsessed’ with religion and what it really means to be Atheist in the United States. Within this section we will restate why we felt like participating in this series, and what we hoped to accomplish. We’ll try to tie up as many loose ends as possible and we will get some brief concluding statements from any of those who participated that would like to submit them.
UPDATE: On the other side of the coin, here's a good primer debunking some myths about people of faith, written by wiscmass: "The A**h0le in the Red Car."