This is very beautiful. The author has clearly read our beloved Horsemen, and his argument the better for it. Spread this around!

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I think the last paragraph sums things up with precision and beauty.  It actually prompted me to join the Reason Project.  Bravo!

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Very nicely done.

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I like this because it reveals the author’s integrity.  It’s an integrity that cannot exist in believers who are compelled to proclaim a knowledge based upon faith rather than reason.

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I was raised Catholic and for 40 of my 50 years I was a regular church goer.  But after reading many books/articles, and watching debates and speeches on the computer, I am convinced there is probably no God, at least the way “he” is described by the world’s major religions.  But I’m a closet atheist, afraid to come out.  It’s a lot easier to pretend to still believe.  Too bad I didn’t have more courage.

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The last paragraph is quite beautiful.

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I was raised, baptized, and confirmed in the Methodist religion.  I began to question organized religion in my early 20’s when I was exposed to Catholicism and it’s belief in “original sin”, the worship of Saints, and the blind following of the Pope’s edicts; i.e.: birth control, no divorce, no female priests.  I began rebelling - loudly - against any organized religion which predicates it’s belief of salvation on:  the strict adherence of rules created (pulled out of the sky) by men, the subjugation of women, tithing of any kind, and belief that the Bible was written by God.

Still, I believed in a higher power. 

One day at work, I was trying to explain my beliefs to a co-worker who was dubiously silent regarding her own religious opinions, when she stopped me.  She looked me squarely in the eye and said, “This is what I believe”.  “Man created God when there became too many people for one man to control”.  I was stunned.  She was right.

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I enjoyed reading this and thought that it was very well written. I do understand that I was born an Athiest but I was once religious too. It takes a great deal of power and courage to change what was beaten into my head for so long but I’m forever thankful that I’m intelligent enough to open up my mind and try to understand right from wrong. With my head held high, I walked away from religion knowing that I did the right thing. Thanks to the author for writing this.

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First of all I agree with Hitchens that often in a Sunday school class a child will look in astonishment at some of the dogma being presented to them. I was doing nursery school while a friend was listening to the sermon as she is Christian and I prefer to tend to the little ones than listen too much of what I believe is man created dogma presented as religion.

Anyhow the preacher’s wife said something and a five year old looked at her and asked the most profound question she then looked in astonishment. She was unable to answer the question. This five year old was better in tune with the universe than the preacher’s wife whom was a preacher herself. It was not an atheist type question but a question that one might call spiritual or wisdom related.

Now I disagree with you and others that every child is born an atheist far from it. The atheists refuse to do their research into the mysteries of life and only do research into proving their atheist beliefs. Much as religion does. When it comes to rigidity of beliefs the atheist and the religious have much in common. Neither side has a clue of this reality as both sides despise one another yet they are so much alike in their mode of being in the world. This comment will upset you at first but meditate on it.

Now when you read this post you will pick up on the Sunday school story but totally reject without investigation the mysteries of life story. That is the power of paradigms.

I have yet to find a Christian or an atheist interested in doing research into the mysteries of life outside their cherished beliefs. Both sides are interested in doing research into areas that prove their beliefs and paradigms.

Neither side has a clue this is occurring that is what is so fascinating about the human mind. And taking on the bible and its dogma is not all that difficult but research into the mysteries of life without succumbing to materialism is more difficult.

When the atheist and the religious state a child is born with they’re a belief that is the human ego speaking, not intelligence.

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Researcher:

Would happen to know of any studies done on children to see if children are born atheist or if there are any natural tendancies? If so can you please direct me to one or more, because I have not been able to locate one anywhere.
Also - you have now met an atheist that is interested in doing research outside of my beliefs. How else can you come to a logical conclusion?

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Wonderfully written, especially the last paragraph!

I have always wondered how so many people can believe in religion and never subject it to any logical questioning. How so many consider it a virtue to believe something which is not only unsubstantiated but some of which has been proven false. I just don’t understand.

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Thank you for a great article.  You have inspired me to write the story of my deconversion.  Keep up the good work! More!

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Researcher is not much of one. How about getting skeptics and believers together to conduct a study on the efficacy of prayer? Oh wait. Already been done. And guess what? Prayer has no effect on one’s health and/or recovery from illness.

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I just read this thead and thought I would add my 2 cents. If I understand correctly atheists believe in the non-existence of god. If this is true, I hope they realize how irrational this is. Belief in non-existence? Doesn’t make sense to me.

The scietific method is only capable of demonstrating existence. Non-existence is not demonstrable. Can anyone prove the non-existence of green firespitting dragons? I don’t think so.

Atheism is a religion of non-belief. Yet I sympathize with you.

To demonstrate existence first requires identifying what it is you are looking for and then observing it. If so, then if another person performs the same proceedure, they should also see it.

The volitional superman god of religion that changes the laws of nature according to transient human inputs (i.e. prayer) or who created the universe in 6 days and took the next day off, or who got pissed and killed a bunch of sinners are stories to enslave the mind and to scare children and adults into doing what their told - or else.

Of course the question: Where did the world come from? is valid. I would think an atheist would believe in the old steady-state theory of cosmology. No beginning and no end.

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“If I understand correctly atheists believe in the non-existence of god. If this is true, I hope they realize how irrational this is. Belief in non-existence? Doesn’t make sense to me. The scietific method is only capable of demonstrating existence. Non-existence is not demonstrable. Can anyone prove the non-existence of green firespitting dragons? I don’t think so. Atheism is a religion of non-belief.”

My opinion is that your logic may be a bit off-target here. I don’t think atheism is a religion at all, nor do I perceive that the author of this article was trying to present it as one. And to say that “athiests believe in the non-existence of god” is somewhat awkwardly stated. Can’t one simply say that they do not believe in god? I realize that you would then lose the punch of your “prove it” argument. So are you saying that it is “irrational” not to believe in god? Your perception of what is rational must surely differ from mine!

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Atheism appears to me as a group of individuals with a common belief in the non-existence of god. The suffix “ism” generally refers to a doctrine or ideology - in this case non-belief.

I congratulate anyone who was indoctrinated into a mystical religion and overcame this handicap by choosing reason over blind faith belief. I was rather fortunate in that as a child all the bible stories in Sunday school made no sense to me and were boring. Christmas was fun! My parents didn’t push it and I think they dropped us kids off at Sunday school so they could have some peace and quiet at home for a little while.

I think many antheists may have developed a rebellious spirit after discovering reason and feel some resentment about being lied to. Also, hopefully, a new found faith in themselves. Some may have become anti-theists. This is an understandable reaction.

The best book on theology that I have read is “The Age of Reason” by Thomas Paine who was also the architect of the American revolution. His importance in American history has been supressed because of this book. I highly recommend it to those recent atheists who have rejected religion based upon reason. Hard-core atheists need not bother.

Here’s a few gems from “The Age of Reason”:

“I believe that religion consists not in believing or disbelieving, but in doing justice, loving mercy, and endeavoring to make our fellow creatures happy”

“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, nor by any church I know of. My own mind is my own church”

“The only idea man can affix to the name God, is that of a first cause, the cause of all things. And, incomprehensibly difficult as it is for a man to conceive what a first cause is, he arrives at the belief of it, from the tenfold greater difficulty of disbelieving it.”

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“All of you think you are an atheists because you say you are. Ha. Idiotic. Lose a child. Find yourselves in a wheelchair. Get trapped with no way out. Your so-called atheism will falter.”

Presumptuous. Why would you arrive at the conclusion that some or even many of us have not already become familiar with personal tragedy?

Your laughable “trying to be popular” argument, overuse of words like “moronic” and the utter lack of basis for your conclusions makes me wonder if you are in junior high school.

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