What Atheists Have to Believe.

I got listening to a couple of podcasts and the subject of atheism comes up now and again.

But the answer to "What atheists HAVE to belive" can be summed up in a couple of words. Well no that's not true, the answer is not in the question which isn't worded particularly well. The thing that I, an atheist, has believe in,  and this is all, is that "There is no God".

That is it. I don't have to not belive in the Christian God, any God will do not to belive in.

I dont have to believe in  Zeus, Hermes, Hades, Hera, Aphrodite,
or Iuppiter, Mors,  Terra,
or Odin, Thor, Loki, Njordr,
or Krishna,  Vishnu, Kali, Ishvara,
or Shangdi, Mazu, Shou  Xing, Tu Di Gong,
or Izanagi-no-Mikoto,  Izanami-no-Mikoto,
or Cernunnos, Damona, Epona,
or Ra, Isis, Anubis, Osiris,
or An, Ki,  Enlil, Enki,
or Sin, Marduk, Ishtar, Nabu,
or Simurgh, Rostam, Gaokerena,
or Bunyip, Kurreah, Mutjinga etc

not a one do I have to belive in. There is no God.

Being an Atheist does not mean I have no moral standards, or moral code of right and wrong, I don't find it odd to help my fellow-man, nor do I covet my neighbour's wife or oxen most of the time.

I have one thing as an atheist to belive in. That is all.

I don't have to apologise for evolution, I don't have to explain the uncausable cause of the big bang, I don't have to belive in an eternal after-life anywhere for any reason. I don't have to belive that what I think or what I do has any repercussion other than to me and those my actions affect. I don't have to belive in a judgement book.

Mostly however I don't have to belive that I will vilify you, ridicule you or otherwise insult your belief in something. If you have personal experience of a God then good for you!, but that's you and what you saw, I can't measure it, you can't replicate or prove it, but I'm not about that you prove it to me, especially not with a Bible of doubtful origin and content, that would be circular reasoning.

Should a God come visit with me and prove they are God then I'll happily change my mind.  In the meantime I believe that you have a right to what you think, even if you have no basis for that belief, and I'll continue with mine, based on what I've reasoned to be a reasonable position. After all "God did it" is not a reasonable excuse for anything that happens to you, anyone you know or any event in the world that you are too ignorant to think through an explain. Is it?

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Bible-bangers aren't the brightest, study shows

The more religious you are, the less likely you are to be intelligent, a new scientific study has found.

via Bible-bangers aren't the brightest, study shows - Education - NZ Herald News.

According to researchers, Christians - particularly fundamentalists who believe the Bible is God's word - have a lower IQ than those who are less religious.

A possible reason behind the finding was a tendency for more intelligent people to challenge religious claims, said one of the researchers, New Zealand psychologist Professor Tim Bates.

"If you believe in religion, you haven't really questioned things," he said. "Brighter people were less likely to feel that religion plays a dominant role in their life."

The findings of the University of Edinburgh study were "a bit hilarious", said Auckland Bishop Patrick Dunn. "The suggestion that the less intelligent you are the more religious you would be seems to be degrading and insulting," he said.

However, he did agree that less intelligent people of all faiths tended to be more fundamental in their thinking, "whether they claim to be Christians or atheists or Muslims or whatever".

Conspiracy Theory #1 in a series

I make no secret of the fact that I'm really not sure that Neil Armstrong landed on the moon as advertised.

JFK was shot by a lone gunman, there is no bigfoot, we are not ruled by Aliens, 9/11 wasn't an inside job. Rosewell wasn't aliens, Area 51 does not house spacecraft or aliens, vaccinations are good. Princess Diana had a car crash.

I don't believe it's man-mad climate change, and I'm against fluoridation of water. And as for the nonsense that was folic acid in bread!

For a conspiracy to be attractive you have to be at the point where you believe in a counter position, or to be sufficiently disbelieving of the stated facts, that your own belief  carries more weigh and your conviction.

Like going to the moon. I'm not convinced that the Saturn V rocket worked first time, and every time afterwards. I'm just not. There are a billion websites and a billion counter websites that go over the arguments for and against, from the dodgy photographs to the physics, I'm just not going to repeat them here. Of course it could be that you just believe that we did, and that the records are correct without question. in no time in history has there ever been falsehood in any account.

The thing is that you don't have to have that many people "in" on the conspiracy, it wouldn't be difficult to stage. It appeals because it's an elegant alternative to someone who has incredulity about the 'actual' event.

Sure many conspiracies unravel over time, but many endure. Is it the grand scale of the moon landings that means I'm wrong, I didn't say I had proofs either way. Besides which I don't know if asked "What would lead you to believe that it was true" that I could give any answer except fly me up there to show me the footprints.

Enduring conspiracies include, of course, religion, and the whole myth and dogma surrounding jesus. But that's not a conspiracy in the sense that a government is trying to fool all of the people all of the time.

Athiesm and Man made climate change

I don't believe there is a god. That's pretty much it. I don't have to believe there is one, and I find it hard to reconcile while people have this crushing need to believe there is one, when it is clearly contrary to all the evidence. Then of course we read it through different eyes.

I don't believe in man made climate change. I believe in climate change of course, you'd be daft not to at least grasp that there has been a progression of the seasons, and that there appears to be growing extremes of weather.

Religious types. particularly the Christian types, are pretty much the same as Climate Changists. They both cast you as "unbeliever" thereby labelling you as someone who is counter or contrary the "norm". It is not normal to be a Christian, ask any Buddhist or Muslim for instance.

and man "must be" "has to be" responsible for climate change, no if's but's or maybe's about it. Definitively and absolutely it's man. Man has to be the centre of things, it's what God would have wanted.

I find it unpalatable to be labelled unbeliever, as I would be if I was labelled "unclean" or "underclass" for instance, as I am sure it was unpalatable to be labelled "Jew" in 1940's Germany.

It's somewhat like the Ford/Holden thing that is prevelant in Australia/New Zealand. One side believes without a doubt that one V8 is better than the other. Regardless of any other cars made by them it's just about the name. There is no lucid argument as to why one is better than the other, it's based on personal preference and the winning capabilities of either on race day - in race cars that bear only passing resemblance to the road car version. But you get labelled as "Ford" person or "Holden" person even if you are driving a Mitsubishi - which quite frankly is what most of them do drive. Just illogical.

Just as it's illogical to be distainfull of theists or those that don't actually belive 'man' has broken the planet just based on your own preference.

Athiesm and Man made climate change

I don't believe there is a god. That's pretty much it. I don't have to believe there is one, and I find it hard to reconcile while people have this crushing need to believe there is one, when it is clearly contrary to all the evidence. Then of course we read it through different eyes.




I don't believe in man made climate change. I believe in climate change of course, you'd be daft not to at least grasp that there has been a progression of the seasons, and that there appears to be growing extremes of weather.

Religious types. particularly the Christian types, are pretty much the same as Climate Changists. They both cast you as "unbeliever" thereby labelling you as someone who is counter or contrary the "norm". It is not normal to be a Christian, ask any Buddhist or Muslim for instance.

and man "must be" "has to be" responsible for climate change, no if's but's or maybe's about it. Definitively and absolutely it's man. Man has to be the centre of things, it's what God would have wanted.

I find it unpalatable to be labelled unbeliever, as I would be if I was labelled "unclean" or "underclass" for instance, as I am sure it was unpalatable to be labelled "Jew" in 1940's Germany.

It's somewhat like the Ford/Holden thing that is prevelant in Australia/New Zealand. One side believes without a doubt that one V8 is better than the other. Regardless of any other cars made by them it's just about the name. There is no lucid argument as to why one is better than the other, it's based on personal preference and the winning capabilities of either on race day - in race cars that bear only passing resemblance to the road car version. But you get labelled as "Ford" person or "Holden" person even if you are driving a Mitsubishi - which quite frankly is what most of them do drive. Just illogical.

Just as it's illogical to be distainfull of theists or those that don't actually belive 'man' has broken the planet just based on your own preference.