Steven Wilobo

I would like to respond to the article regarding Atheism titled, Atheists are wrong about God, which ran on Sunday, 11, January 2009. Having read the article, I was surprised to find that the unnamed author’s representation of the Atheist position was grossly inaccurate. Either he is ignorant of, or he intentionally misrepresented the atheist position, perhaps to sensationalize his story for the benefit of the intended Christian reader. He even suggested that atheism is related to paganism!

What??
This response is not intended to promote atheism. Indeed, those that desire to be religious have every right to be religious – and may they enjoy their religiosity. Rather, this response is simply intended to explain the rationale at work when people choose to become atheists, which the author of the aforementioned article misrepresented completely.

To begin with, it is true – as the author stated – that atheism is an absence of a belief in the concept of God (and usually all things supernatural, including spirits, demons, etc). The reason is simple. We are not persuaded by the arguments put forward for the existence of God by the various theistic religions. It is not by faith that we are atheists. We are just not convinced.

Atheism makes no positive claims; it simply questions the positive claims made by theists of various stripes for the existence for their various gods. The burden of proof always lies with those that make the positive claim. The author of last week’s article tried to shift the burden of proof on the atheist. This is a logical fallacy. For example, is the burden of proof upon those of us who don’t believe that Alien abductions occur? Or, must the proponents of the claims of alien abductions present their evidence?

Interestingly, thousands of self-professed abductees have presented evidence over the past several decades; but most of us, including most Christians, don’t find their evidence credible or convincing. For this reason, today, the majority of people don’t accept claims of alien abductions as true.

Similarly, when the Christian claims, “The Bible is the word of God” (positive claim); the atheist simply asks “Okay, can you prove it?” or “How do you know this?” The Christian then offers his explanations (or evidence); but the atheist is not convinced – and neither is approximately 66 per cent of the total global population, who happen not to be Christians.

Atheists have read the Bible and consider much of it to be folklore, considering the outlandish stories in it that defy logic and the laws of nature. Atheists don’t particularly want to reject these stories; it’s just that we find them completely unbelievable.

This is also exactly how Buddhists and Hindus view the Bible. Muslims too are not convinced that Jesus is God the Son – because the evidence doesn’t lead them to that belief. Meanwhile, the Christian has looked at the Qur’an, the Hindu Bhagavagita, Buddhist texts – and not found them convincing either.

Atheists basically aren’t convinced by ANY of these claims. It is that simple. We just don’t find any claims of the existence of gods, as put forward by whichever variety of theist, believable thus far.

Current research shows a continuous steady decline in religiosity in Europe and other developed nations around the world. Atheism and secularism are increasing. But is this surprising?

With better education, increased literacy and better access to information, religious people around the world are taking a deeper look at their rationale for adhering to their beliefs, and many are starting to question it. People are now aware of the multitude of mutually incompatible religions that exist, and that have existed in the past, which all make fantastical, non-verifiable supernatural claims – and have began to recognize all of them as falling within the realm of mythology.

Atheists are no different from anyone else. We wake up in the morning, enjoy the sunshine, go to work, talk to friends, fall in love, start families, spend time with relatives and loved ones, watch movies, go to clubs, listen to music, have ambitions in life, etc. We find all of these things greatly fulfilling, just like anyone else. We have no “vacuum”.

Each of us, whether atheist, Jew, Christian or Muslim, as human beings, attach value to the things we care about. The only difference is, atheists acknowledge that this life is the only life we shall ever live, and not a minute of it should be spent on unwarranted anxieties based on ancient myths and superstitions.

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