Thursday, June 11, 2009

Atheists do so adhere to Dogma

Every six months or so, atheists post a flurry of remarks trying to make people believe they don't adhere to dogmatic beliefs. It's always good for a chuckle.

In a kind of “If you can’t beat em - join em” scenario, a shared atheist doctrine resembling very much the themes of religion has been congealing quickly in the last year. Along with atheist conferences and atheist schools of indoctrination popping up, some of them operating on Sunday mornings, that atheism isn’t clearly a faith-based philosophy will, in a short while be an indefensible stance to take. So, to the Dogma of atheism:

1)“Better by far to embrace the hard truth . . .”
Here Carl Sagan is instructing younger atheists what their attitude should be in the face of atheism’s hopelessness.

2)“We must develop expressions of awe and wonder regarding the workings of the Universe.” Carolyn Porco, Richard Dawkins.
This is now standard and expected fair when atheists are describing, to who ever will listen, what awesome individuals they are and how they will turn the next generation in to wonderful individuals as well.

3) All atheists must get out there and begin doing good works.
We’ve heard the now familiar call to all atheists to become good citizens. An example of this tenet can be found in the instruction for all atheists to donate blood during the World Day of Prayer. This demand that you become a good person is in contrast to the standard atheist attitude that was clearly sounded in a recent atheist blog when a young man, lamented, “Can’t I just fuck around and watch tv in the evening if I want to?”

4) No religion tells us what to do.
Only slaves feel enslaved and no one reacts negatively to rules, guidelines and authority more strongly than the immature, self-centred atheist. Simply hearing the word “God” used in a non negative manner makes atheists like Michael Newdow react like cockroaches scurrying from a freshly lit light bulb. Atheists feel stifled and imprisoned by the mere existence of religion.

The next six points of atheist dogma deal with one subject but are voiced in detailed point form because there is no room for misinterpretation in this part of the atheist belief system.

5) Nothing positive regarding God can be mentioned in the presence of children.
It is not science per se, not even evolution as such, but a special brand of anti-God-Darwinism that atheists want to be taught in the schools. A belief in God must be removed from ALL children’s minds. As Richard Dawkins preaches, “Faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the small-pox virus but harder to eradicate.” The real reason that atheists want the exclusive teaching of evolution in schools is not just that atheists see it as being scientific but that they deem it to be anti-religion. Dawkins again, “Religion is capable of driving people to such dangerous folly that faith seems to me to qualify as a kind of mental illness.”

6) Teaching Christianity is harmful, even abusive to children.
Christopher Hitchens writes, “How can we ever know how many children had their psychological and physical lives irreparably maimed by the compulsory inculcation of faith?” The atheist answer? Inculcate all children with atheist beliefs.

7) Christian Children are not the property of their parents.
Daniel Dennett, “How much do we regard children as being the property of their parents? Should [Christian parents] be free to impose their beliefs on their children?”
Again, the atheist answer is to impose atheist beliefs upon not just their children but upon everyone’s children.

8) Atheists know best what children need to learn.
Christopher Hitchens suggests that atheists become the defenders of the world’s children, “Parents don’t literally own their children . . . [Christian parents] ought to be held accountable by outsiders (read atheists, perhaps the drunken Hitchens himself) for their guardianship, which does imply that outsiders have a right to interfere.”

9) Christian parents have no right to teach their children about Jesus.
Psychologist Nicholas Humphrey, “ [Christian] Parents, have no god-given license to enculturate their children in whatever way they choose . . . to bring them up in an atmosphere of dogma . . . or to insist they follow the straight and narrow paths of their own faith.” While totally ignoring a Christian’s God-given mandate to raise up our children in the fear of the Lord, I’ve personally experienced this developing atheist dogma from an atheist blogger. His stated hope is that our children will be taken from us to keep them from being taught about Christianity. This of course implies the hope that someone else will raise our children and teach them the tenets of his faith.

10) Children must be taught a reverence for science.
Well, respect - yes, but reverence?

11) The universe is the single exception to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
True, no atheist would dare to state h/her beliefs this way. Yet, this is exactly what modern atheists in the field of origins are proposing. I had some goof propose to me just last week that the Steady State still holds promise for fundy atheists. Even though the Borde-Guth-Vilinkin theorem shows conclusively that any expanding universe has a definitive space / time boundary, atheist scientists continue to bring forth proposal after proposal that attempts to circumvent this law.

12) No Miracles!
While the universe came into being by a force that operated outside the Laws of Physics, and while this is a working definition of a miracle, in atheist dogma, No Miracles Are Allowed Or Possible. As Lee Smolin says, “Must all of our scientific understanding of the world really come down to a mythological intelligence . . . [that] wills matter into being? It seems to me that the only possible name for such an observer is God, and that the theory is to be criticized as being unlikely on these grounds.”

13) It is a given that humans would eventually evolve in conditions present on primordial earth.
Atheists believe that against literally impossible odds, it is no accident that our kind of life finds itself on earth.

14) Evolution is such a powerful force that life is now, even as we speak, coming into being on other planets and/or in other universes.

15) Material and natural reality is all that exists.

16) Science has proven that God cannot exist.
Atheist High Priest Dawkins is beginning to bend on this one as even he can no longer deny that the cause of the Big Bang, presents a strong case for a “Deist” type of God. Nevertheless, the majority of hardliners still hold that >

17) Because God cannot be discovered through scientific inquiry, God does not exist.
“Modern science directly implies that the world is organised strictly in accordance with deterministic principles of chance. There are no purposive principles whatsoever in nature. There are no gods and no designing forces rationally detectable.” William Provine.

18) Any knowledge that does not conform to materialism and naturalism will not be allowed into the discussion.
Isn’t that amazing? Atheist scientists actually want to live with an a priori rejection of evidence, if that evidence does not fit the atheist scientist’s world-view. And even if that unacceptable evidence leads to a resolution of a given problem, to the atheist mind, it’s better to do without a resolution to the problem. While remaining slaves to the thinking with which they were born, atheists dare to call themselves free-thinkers. Pure delusion.

19) Reason and scientific inquiry can tell us all that we need to know and all that we can know.

20) Atheists are smarter than anyone who believes in God.

21) There is no “I” to the human animal. We are a mass of cells and neurons that operate according to the Laws of Nature.
As atheist actor Woody Allen stated in his defence after it was discovered that he was having sex with his daughter, “That heart wants what it wants. Who can understand it?”

22) Death is the end.

23) There is no cosmic purpose.

24) There is no Divine justice or reward.

25) Free will is an illusion.


26) Evil and suffering prove that God does not exist.

27) Living by these Beliefs, Tenets and Dogma of the atheist faith is emancipating.

The following individual best describes today’s modern atheist:
S/He is a lonely, intrepid figure, deprived of cosmic hope, abandoned to h/his own wits, navigating h/her way through the heavens, pitting h/herself against the unknown, refusing to accept the tyrannical sovereignty of God, rebelling against the divine decree, and determined to build out of h/his own resources a rival empire devoted to happiness in the here and now.

This of course is Milton’s description of satan in “Paradise Lost.”

In closing, it may need to be explained that any given atheist might say, “I don’t agree that this or that point is dogmatic atheism.” So what? Show me a member of any religion who doesn’t claim the right to disagree on some points.

15 comments:

D. A. N. said...

OK, now I am a fan. Brilliant work.

bvamkris said...

Your blog, I think has a lot to teach me about atheism and Christianity. I know I can never find the time to read all your posts since 2006, but I do believe there is a lot I can learn. I am also beginning to think that we are talking about the same thing, without realizing that we are.

The Atheist Missionary said...

Your efforts to generalize what atheists believe is as fruitless as trying to generalize the flavour of delusion chosen by adherents of religious faiths.

I can't resist responding to the tenets of my supposed dogma:

1. Not sure what you mean by hard truth but I think I would prefer it to the soft version or no truth at all.

2. Anyone looking toward the cosmos cannot help but be overcome by awe, regardless of whether they are a theist or atheist.

3. I am not aware of anyone saying this. All I have said is that I don't need the motivation of God or the promise of life after death in order to choose to do good works. I can certainly choose to f*ck around, watch t.v. or leave comments on your blog.

4. You wrote: Atheists feel stifled and imprisoned by the mere existence of religion. I agree but only when religion tries to affect our lives.

5. There is nothing wrong with talking about God (whatever you believe he/she/it to be) in the presence of children. I do it all the time. The danger is when you start telling children that they have to believe in God.

6. I'm not sure what you mean by teaching Christianity. See my point #5 above and PLEASE read Richard Dawkin's letter to his daughter Juliet (available in several posts on my blog).

7. If you are suggesting that we are imposing atheist beliefs by teaching our children to approach life with a healthy skepticism, then I guess I am guilty as charged. However, indoctrinating children one way or the other (there IS a god or there IS NO god) is equally harmful in my view.

8. Regardless of whether we know best or not, all parents try to do the best they can in raising their children. They are the most important thing in the world to those of us who have kids. If you think you know all the answers, the odds are you have a religious, not an atheistic, leaning.

9. I don't know what you mean about teaching your kids about Jesus. How about telling them the truth? Such as: millions of people believe that Jesus existed, was crucified, died and then came back to life. Millions of people don't believe that happened and think the whole suggestion is silly. What do you think?

10. The scientific method should be revered, respected and admired - who can argue with that?

11. I have already explained to you that your beliefs in this regard are just a modern version of those first enounced by William Paley. You are simply a creationist who accomodates the scientific knowledge which you know can't be refuted. When you get to the point where the scientific method can't yet provide an explanation, you say: God did it!

12. No miracles - see David Hume. he covered that as well as anybody over two hundred years ago.

13. You wrote: It is a given that humans would eventually evolve in conditions present on primordial earth. That is unmitigated bullshit.

14. I, like Dawkins, would bet that life exists (and will eventually be found) elsewhere in the universe and that an evolutionary process will be driving it.

15. I, personally, don't believe that any of us have the intellectual brainpower to conceive of all that exists. Just think of the multiple dimensions theorized by superstring theory. There is probably alot more out there - I just don't see why God is your default mechanism and why you would put any stock at all in 2000 year old miracle myths, scrolls, etc.

16. Science has proven that God cannot exist. Again, total bullshit. Even Dawkins has said that he coudl be persuaded. You obviously haven't read The God Delusion - you should.

The Atheist Missionary said...

[continued]

17. Because God cannot be discovered through scientific inquiry, God does not exist. Au contraire. If the scientific method could assist with proving the existence of God (such as clinical proof of the power of prayer), people like you would be on it like a dog on a piece of raw meat.

18. Any knowledge that does not conform to materialism and naturalism will not be allowed into the discussion. I don't know where you get this stuff. Your existential "knowledge" is fairy dust to me.

19. Reason and scientific inquiry can tell us all that we need to know and all that we can know. My friend, the opposite of reason is irrationality - thank-you for your gracious concession.

20. Atheists are generally smarter than theists and a recent study tells us that atheists are far more likely NOT to be 40 year old virgins than regular churchgoers. Please explain that one to me.

21. We are a mass of cells and neurons that operate according to the Laws of Nature. - agreed.

22. Death is the end I know of no evidence to the contrary - do you?

23. There is no cosmic purpose. Agreed. It's like asking what is the purpose of a maggor, a sunrise or a mountain? The questions makes no sense.

24. There is no Divine justice or reward Can't argue with that.

25. Free will is an illusion I believe that but so do most religious believers. Rick Warren tells us that God chose the exact date of our birth and precisely when we will die.

26. Evil and suffering prove that God does not exist. The existence of evil/suffering and the extent of such suffering is profound evidence that God (at least as envisaged by Christians) does not exist. Of course, if you believe that there is a God, it is just as likely that he/she/it is infinitely evil and that the love and goodness in our world are the exceptions.

27. I'm not sure what you mean by atheism is emancipating. It is what it is. You can live your life to the fullest or end it in existential dispair. Either way - it is what it is. Fairytales aren't going to make it any better.

PersonalFailure said...

what i can't figure out is why it's so important to prove atheists are dogmatic. we're not, heck, i could get a fight going among atheists about the colour of the sky, but why do you need us to be, Makarios?

The Atheist Missionary said...

PersonalFailure, the answer to your question is because they are running scared when light starts being shined on what they believe. People blindly go to Church for decades without giving any thought to the tenets of their supposed faith.

If someone starts ridiculing you for being dogmatic, an effective retort is: you are too! This is b.s. and I spent a hour hour this morning trying to refute it.

Thesauros said...

There is NO truth? And would that statement be true?
============
David Hume? Even non religious have rejected his arguments. I'll talk about that some more in my second reply
============
“You wrote: It is a given that humans would eventually evolve in conditions present on primordial earth. That is unmitigated bullshit.

Not according to Dawkins.
==============
“Even Dawkins has said that he coudl be persuaded.”

ONLY if god evolved.
===============
“If the scientific method could assist with proving the existence of God”

I think it has via:
The Law of Causation
The Fine Tuning of the constants and quantities
Things like showing that there cannot be an infinite regress of cause
That the infinite cannot exist other than in theory
That life cannot spontaneously rise from non life
All of the things that science know CANNOT be the cause of the universe and of life point to a supernatural cause. This is NOT a toss up between:
- Nature might have done it but we don’t know how, and
- God might have done it.

Science has brought us to the point that we can say, we know that nature is NOT capable of bringing everything into being from nothing by nothing. Atheists are simply not able to allow themselves to consider the only other option. Which is your next point.
============
“I don't know where you get this stuff. Your existential "knowledge" is fairy dust to me.”

If you take a casual look at the world around you, you will notice that neither reason nor science can imbue and person with wisdom. I’ll add intelligence and education to that mix. Without wisdom our relationships, our communities, our countries and our world are on a long, slow decline to the crapper.
============
Richard Dawkins - “. . . any belief in miracles is flatly contradictory not just to the facts of science but also to the spirit of science. As scientific laws cannot be violated, miracles cannot occur. Reasonable people therefore have to renounce miracles.” A devil’s Chaplin
==============
“Atheists are generally smarter than theists and a recent study tells us that atheists are far more likely NOT to be 40 year old virgins than regular churchgoers. Please explain that one to me.”

And you think that losing one’s virginity early as possible is a sign of intelligence?
================
“Death is the end I know of no evidence to the contrary - do you?”

You mean besides Jesus?
============
“Free will is an illusion I believe that but so do most religious believers. Rick Warren tells us that God chose the exact date of our birth and precisely when we will die.”

God knows that exact date that you will shoot yourself in the head. How does that refute free will?
==========
“People blindly go to Church for decades without giving any thought to the tenets of their supposed faith.”

And your proof for that would be?

D. A. N. said...

The Atheist Missionary,

I was going to reply but Rod did a fine job exhaustively.

One of my points that I wanted to make was on your response:

17. Because God cannot be discovered through scientific inquiry, God does not exist. Au contraire. If the scientific method could assist with proving the existence of God (such as clinical proof of the power of prayer), people like you would be on it like a dog on a piece of raw meat. 

Please keep in mind, like D’Souza pointed out, "Science is an attempt to understand the natural world in a natural way. Science then in that sense is restricted to natural explanations for natural phenomena. If a natural explanation is inadequate then science stops."

uzza said...

I'm an atheist, and I only agree with 10 out of your 27 points. A good idea is, when you don't know anything about a subject, don't write about it.

Thesauros said...

Sooo, you're the decider?

uzza said...

Yep. You're telling me what I believe, and you're wrong. So I decide you don't know what you're talking about.

Thesauros said...

What I did was take statements that I've heard from ten or more different atheists.

Would you be willing to tell me which ones don't apply to you?

uzza said...

OK, that's fair. Let's see,
I agree with 15, 22, 23, and 24.
Then for 1,2,3,7, and 13, I agree with the bold statement but violently disagree with your commentary that follows it.

Baconeater said...

Vvamkris, if you want to know what atheists think, go to atheist blogs. This idiot is so out to lunch, he continues to post on atheists as if he has a clue.

There is no dogma. An atheist is someone who says no to the question "do you believe in God?"

Atheist have differing political views, and also view believers differently from one atheist to the next.

I don't paint believers with the same brush. Most believers in Europe and Canada accept evolution, many like Makarios remain willfully ignorant about that topic as well, yet posts as if he knows something.

Makarios is a loon.

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