Atheism as faith
Might as well bring this up while Twitter is all abuzz with #nogod. This is a frequent argument I have with my friends, and one I can never get anyone to agree with me on.
I assert that Atheism is just as much faith as any religion.
To assume that you know with no amount of uncertainty how The Universe was created and what will happen after you die is foolhardy. There’s only one way to find out what the posthumous experience is for sure, and so far nobody has come back to share.
Understanding and accepting that we will never answer some questions with absolute fact is part of the respect that every faith and religion deserves.
I believe with absolute certainty that there is no God, but because I cannot base that belief in unrefutable fact it must be faith.
“Never has such a simple concept provoked so much misinformation, myths, and bigotry. Atheism is just the absence of belief in gods — nothing more, nothing less. Beyond that atheists may believe or disbelieve absolutely anything, but religious theists continually insist that atheism is much more than disbelief in gods and that atheists necessarily hold to philosophies like nihilism or communism. Atheists are even targets of bigotry like claims that atheists cannot be moral, cannot understand beauty, or cannot have meaning in their lives. A lot of very basic information about atheism and atheists is needed.” -Austin Cline | Basics About Atheism & Agnosticism: What They Are and Are Not
An atheist doesn’t generally “believe with absolute certainty that there is no god”. People often make this mistake, as said above. Look at it this way (thanks to Douglas Adams):
I believe in a god as much as I believe there are fairies living under my garden. Is there a chance there are fairies? Sure, but it’s so unlikely that a logical person automatically discounts the possibility.
Now of course, if you could come up with incontrovertible proof that there is a god, then I too would become a believer. Same goes for the fairies.
God botherers often accuse atheists of having “faith” that there is no god, demonstrating that they really don’t know what faith is.
Faith is when you believe in something despite the lack of evidence.
I am an atheist because of the lack of evidence, not because I have faith that there is no god.
