Vlog #1: why am i an atheist

[sweetsweatyfeet]

Jaywalker - forgive me for verging a little off topic. I am assuming you are Filipino. It is exceedingly rare to find a Filipino who is an 'atheist'. Do you mind if I ask some questions? - (and I hope I'm not being too personal).

How were and are you treated in your country for adopting the position of atheism? Do you find you sometimes have to hide it? Do Christians ever shun you? Do Christians and society at large 'impose' religious belief on you? Are you and your belief treated with respect?

[jaywalker23]

Most are curious but they're also quite respectful. Those who have negative views about atheism tend to be intellectually substandard, religious zealots and i don't associate with them anyway so i don't care

[thethikboy]

that is a semantic quibble. Regardless you don't simply have 'absence of belief' - you claim certain knowledge of the nonexistence of a supernatural being.

[jaywalker23]

People who claim certain knowledge of god's existence are called gnostic atheists or strong atheists. Even richard dawkins, the most prominent atheist right now, wouldn't claim certain knowledge of his nonexistence. I will not explicitly say that god is totally impossible but Let's just say that i consider fairies to be more plausible than god. So no I don't believe in God as I don't believe in fairies even if there's an infinitesimally small chance that they may exist

[thethikboy]

A pointless claim, absent of proof or proper argumentation. Your certain belief that the existence of God is less credible than the existence of fairies has no valid justification either.

[jaywalker23]

Both fairies and god have aboslutely no scientific backing. They're also both fantastic concepts that are hard to fit under our current scientific understanding. So the default position is not to believe in either until a scientific framework for them is found. Yes winged humanoids with pointy ears are a pretty ridiculous concept but a magical sentient being that can that can create an entire universe is infinitely more so. Outrageous claims require equally outrageous evidence.

[jaywalker23]

Given the fact that god is a more outrageous claim and he has about the same supporting evidence as fairies, then god, as described in any bible, should be taken less seriously than fairies

[thethikboy]

"Both fairies and god have aboslutely no scientific backing."

What is scientific backing? Charts, statistics, experiments? Are you of the naive opinion that science explains everything that exists and if it does not, that entity cannot exist? A kind of scientific reductionism.

[thethikboy]

What does that mean 'scientific backing'?

Do hold to the naive belief that science has explained everything with charts, experiments, theories and if an entity cannot be accounted for in its domain, it doesn't exist?

[thethikboy]

"Lack of belief in a supernatural (?)"

No. Atheism is the certain belief that God does not exist. Simply not believing is agnosticism.

[jaywalker23]

You're confusing strong atheism with atheism. I suggest you do some research.

[ddarkheartx]

God shouldn't even be in your vocabulary then, atheists. Do you even know how Christianity started?

[pinoyatheist]

But the word "god" can be found in the dictionary...same as unicorns, elves, fairies and lepraucauns. So why will it not be included to an atheist's vocabulary?

[pinoyatheist]

Nive to know other Filipino atheists in this planet. Mabuhay ka.

[Yakshinian]

Having grown up in my religion, the logical burden of proof is on the atheist, if they care to provide it, as extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. On another note, calling god supernatural seems to be a contradiction in basic definitions and does not make logical sense.

[olavka]

That you grew up in a religious home is obviously not a relevant argument about where the burden of proof may lie for a question that involves every single person in the entire universe.

You say God exists, which is fine, but if you can't back it up with anything concrete. Why do you believe it? You're aware that prayer has been shown to have zero effect in double blind tests right?

[draagon66]

Yakshinian (

"Having grown up in my religion"

here's your first problem right there. You were indoctrinated into your parent's religion from the start. Childhood indoctrination is the reason that religion persists and the implanted information you were given is so powerful to a small child that it has stuck and you can't dislodge it. Sad.

Thereafter, it is not the atheist that is making an extraordinary claim. Can't you see that? You can't wriggle out of the burden of [proof question easily.

[Yakshinian]

I believe in the god spoken about in the bible for reasons of a logical continuity that the bible has with itself, with history, and with application of its principles. My reason is unusual in that regard. I have yet to see any strong scientific evidence refuting the things written therein, but only coherent theories that have a ring of truth but fail to deliver definitive proof.

[jaywalker23]

The burden of proof is always on the side that's trying to prove a positive, hence direct proof for god (not lack of disproof for god) should make your case stronger not the other way around. God is a non-falsifiable concept. An absolute proof against god is unlikely to be found. Same can be said of other dieties, flying spaghetti monsters or invisible unicorns.Myths always involve a fair amount of facts.

[jaywalker23]

...Even if certain events in the bible were proven to be factual, that doesn't lead to the conclusion that a sentient being created the universe.

[Yakshinian]

All beliefs are based upon assumptions of fact. I could truthfuly say that I have no proof that this computer exists. Being a subjective being, perhaps the only thing I can know for sure is that something exists because something happens, and even that may be based on the assumption. Both of our belief systems are due to convincing evidence which leads us to think that proposition is more statisticly likely. I think the disparity is not in the method, but in the data set in this case.

[olavka]

Your "evidence" is simply a book and years of indoctrination though, while scientific evidence for evolution(for example, which falsifies genesis)comes from years of systematic observation of the world we live in. Please don't dare to compare them.

Also, nihilism is not accepted as a proper philosophical foundation for anything. It would basically falsify every observation ever made - including the Bible.

[Cypherus21]

Atheists have this misconception that they are smarter, more rational, and brighter than Christians. In reality, there are thousands of Christian scientists, professors, educators for Christianity's 2 billion followers. They are not irrational - they just see more the world than you do.

[jaywalker23]

I never said that i was smarter than any theist. ..What led you to the conclusion that they see more of the world than i do

[Cypherus21]

What led you to the conclusion that religion is an opium of the masses just because a few people have used it for salacious acts?

[tireiron]

This sir is an abuse, you misused the quote of "opium of the masses", reread Marx, do not use snipits of literature as you would the bible.

[jaywalker23]

touche

[bjduerst]

But does being an atheist also include insulting groups of people for the values and belief systems? Atheists who aggressively attack christians, muslims, etc. are no better than the evangelists who attack atheists

[jaywalker23]

I never insulted any religious group in this vid

[KasparHauser4]

Thank you for your video. It is a good summary for all atheists

[jaywalker23]

thanks