Vlog #1: why am i an atheist

this is a very short summary of my position. If you want to read some of my more detailed artices, check out the links below

http://jaywalker-1982.tabulas.com/2007/05/30/@1429191/
http://jaywalker-1982.tabulas.com/2006/07/26/@1252891/#comments

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[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

[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.

[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]

"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.