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An infinite God ought to be able to protect himself, without going in partnership with State Legislatures. —Robert Green Ingersoll

Bad Faith April 6, 2007

Posted by Rastaban in : Faith & Reason , add a comment

Reliance on faith demonstrates bad faith on the part of the faithful. What makes reliance on faith “bad”? It’s bad, I would say, because it is intellectually dishonest. But what makes reliance on faith dishonest?

If the way we determine “facts” is by turning to faith, then yes, that is intellectual dishonesty. As I’ve said before, faith is useless at discerning matters of fact. The reason is simple: faith justifies or proves whatever we want it to. You tell me Osiris doesn’t exist? I have faith he does. I believe it, that settles it, and therefore Osiris does indeed exist.

Faith is not a method for determining truth at all. In fact, faith begs the question of truth. Yet people who invoke faith usually pretend otherwise, and that is dishonest. Bad faith.

If that’s bad faith, what is good faith? (more…)

Five Revelations March 26, 2007

Posted by Rastaban in : Christianity, Faith & Reason, Prayer, Religion, Unsacred Texts , 3 comments

I became an atheist through the back door, as explained elsewhere. It wasn’t until after I had been godless for several years that I began to discover the usual arguments that, for most non-believers, led to atheism. It was only as Christians tried to bring me back to God, ironically, that I began to see how ridiculous Christianity and the other revealed religions were, & how bizarre the jump from believing in God to believing in this or that particular revelation.

So Silent He is Not There

After reading Francis Schaefer’s He is There and He is Not Silent, I realized for the first time how silent God actually was. Sure, it was claimed that God had been loud thousands of years ago, that even today God spoke privately to the hearts and minds of individuals, but — and this is the kicker — publicly God is silent. Imagine, I realized, if Congress passed laws but never published them, instead only letting certain “blessed” individuals know, in private, what laws they had passed. In such a case, how could anyone be certain what the laws were, or whose claims to know the laws were legitimate? Yet that is the situation with God’s laws.

That is the great flaw of revealed religion. It is always a matter of a few individuals claiming to be “blessed” with knowledge of God’s laws and intentions. The rest of us always receive the revelations of revealed religions from other humans, not from God direct. In fact, anyone can claim that God spoke to them and therefore that they speak for God, but there is no way to confirm or deny those claims. Unless God speaks directly and universally to all of us, speaks publicly, we have no reliable way of knowing his intentions — other than by studying the nature of the world itself. (more…)

Am I an Atheist Whackjob? May 6, 2006

Posted by Rastaban in : Faith & Reason, Naturalism , 4 comments

In a column in The Raw Story, Melinda Barton argues that just as the right has a problem with “religious nutballs” on their extreme, so the left has a problem with “atheist whackjobs” on the extreme left. Sounds plausible to me, since every group and viewpoint has extremes. Plausible, that is, until I realize that her definition of “atheist whackjob” includes me. In fact, includes every atheist I ever met. The left needs to kick us out, she says. (All quotes of Barton are from her article, “The Left’s Own Religious Extremists”).

“Why face off with the atheist whackjobs? Because extremism is extremism is extremism. No rational movement dedicated to intellectual courage and honesty should maintain a relationship with those for whom intellectual laziness, dishonesty, and cowardice are a way of life. Doing what must be done to insure the integrity of the left will require identifying our extremists, countering their mythologies, and acknowledging the dangers they pose to a truly liberal society.”

“For whom intellectual laziness, dishonesty, and cowardice are a way of life” — ouch! Charitably, she goes on to explain that “not all atheists are atheist extremists,” though we will see presently that by her criteria it would appear that all atheists are.

Barton lists 5 “outrageous” claims made by atheist extremists. PZ Myers, a biologist who writes the blog Pharyngula, has already made an excellent point-by-point reply, however since my perspective is slightly different, I’m going to attempt to do the same. (more…)

Rev. Alberts: Time to Censure Bush April 30, 2006

Posted by Rastaban in : Bush Wars, Bushwacked, Faith & Reason , add a comment

Writing in Counterpunch, Rev.William Alberts says it’s time for people of faith — in particular the Methodist Church — to bring disciplinary action against the President, who happens to be a Methodist.

Rev. William Alberts: Time for People of Faith to Censure Bush

Alberts writes,

‘Resolving disputes peacefully was the first thing out of President Bush’s mouth and apparently the last thing on his mind. His pre-war public posture was that of a man of faith and peace. At his March 6, 2003 news conference, he said, “I pray daily. I pray for wisdom and guidance and strength. . . . I pray for peace. I pray for peace.” (The New York Times, Mar. 7, 2003) Two weeks later he ordered the bombing of the Iraqi people and the invasion of their country.’

Albert follows by impolitely bringing up the, ahem, public record as known so far. That records makes it clear that invading Iraq was on the agenda from day 1, and that the administration deliberately deceived the public in order to get their war. “I pray daily…for peace” indeed!

Alberts also pushes people of faith to call for Bush’s impeachment. But he overlooks one little detail. The one constant and dependable group these last 5 years, the segment of the American population that has steadfastly voted for, cheered on, and championed our current President, is none other than people of faith.

Perhaps what we should be asking is this: Why were people of faith so easily manipulated by the administration and shepherded along like, well, sheep?

Answer: that is what people of faith are good at — being sheep. And faith is the sheepdog that makes it possible.

Thoughts, Feelings & Faith February 13, 2005

Posted by Rastaban in : Atheist Culture, Faith & Reason, Religious Atheism , add a comment

People don’t like to be told that their feelings are wrong.

Which is understandable. Feeling are, after all, not thoughts. They can’t be proved — or disproved. They just are.

Which is why religion animates us, and philosophy does not. Religion is built of feelings, not thoughts. That’s why we refer to a religious outlook as a “faith”, and insist one must “have faith”. Religion is a matter of feelings.

And feelings are never wrong.

Nor right. (more…)