Sunday, February 1, 2009

Bob and Atheists - Part I

I'm an atheist. I don't make a big deal about it, because my lack of a belief in gods (including the Abrahamic God of Christianity) has nothing to do with the fact that Bob is either lying or fundamentally wrong on a whole host of topics.

Well, it turns out that Bob is also wrong about why the vast majority of atheists are atheists. Here's Bob's opinion on the topic from January 27:
My theory has always been that ... there's really no such thing as an atheist. That most of these people are angry at God about something or they emotionally don't like something about God, so the way they lash out is to deny his existence. Of course, atheists would be offended by that notion...
Personally, I wouldn't say that I'm "offended" by Bob's "thoughts." It's better described as a general amazement as to how any somewhat "rational" person could reach a profoundly stupid conclusion!

First, we're all born as atheists. Newborns and children don't have any belief in gods and must be taught the existence of God. In my case, I was never taught to believe in God, therefore I never developed any belief in any god. So, Bob's assertion that I'm "angry" at God is ridiculous, because I can't be angry at someone/something that I've don't believe in! Saying that I'm angry at God is the same as saying that I'm angry at the Easter Bunny. And I've never been angry at the Easter Bunny because he brings me chocolate.

Second, to a certain extent, we're all atheists. Most people do not believe that Zeus and Thor are gods with supernatural powers. Therefore, most people are atheists with respect to Zeus and Thor. Surely, Bob isn't a non-believer in Zeus and Thor because he's angry at them. He just doesn't believe in them! Why can't Bob just realize that the difference between atheists and followers of Abrahamic religions is that our disbelief simply extends one god further?

Bob: Please stop trying to demonize atheists as some sort of unreasonable, anger-filled heathens. It's simply not a logical conclusion and, of course, not supported by any evidence whatsoever.

3 comments:

Matt said...

Let me assure you that it doesn't take an atheist to recognize Bob for the fraud that he is. I am a devout Christian, who has engaged in several heated on-air conversations with Bob, and I can tell you that, rather than "defending the faith," he does nothing but disservice to the true Christian Faith, about which he knows very little.

DJ said...

Amen. Matt.

Kramer said...

It seems Bob applies his fifth grade intellect, and reasoning abilities to all scientific fields, now including psychology.
I wonder why Bob has'nt acquired himself a Phd from one of those fine unaccreditted, christian diploma mill's like all the other pseudo-intellectual christian apologist's.