An Atheist's Answers

Some of the atheist themed Youtube channels that I like have had videos where the host has answered questions that a theist has posed to atheists. I have quite enjoyed these videos and so thought it might be fun to do something similar. I must admit that I had more trouble finding a usable list of questions than I thought, but in the end I settled on the list from this blog.



1.What caused the universe to exist? 

 I don't know. I don't know if we'll ever know. It is amazing that we have been able to trace the universe's history back to the Big Bang, but its hard to imagine what methods might be used to get a clear picture of the time before it. 

Personally, I suspect that the universe didn't have a cause because causality requires time and time began with the universe; asking what happened before the beginning of the universe would be like asking what is north of the north pole. (if you want a more in depth understanding of this philosophy here is a lecture by its most famous champion, Stephen Hawking) 

A brief history of time.

 2.What explains the fine tuning of the universe? 

The belief that "fine tuning" is a paradox without the intervention of a creator depends on the assumption that the universe as we know it and humanity in particular was an intended result of the universe's existence; the universe was not fine tuned to accommodated our existence, but rather, we are a product of the universe and therefore are made to live in it as it is.




3.Why is the universe rational? 

I am not entirely sure what is meant by this question, and I am not going to try to guess. But I will say that we are part of the universe, and our notion of what is rational comes from what we see in the universe. So for many interpretations of this question the universe appears rational to us because our notion of what is rational is born from the universe itself.


4.How did DNA and amino acids arise? 
5.Where did the genetic code come from? 

I am not a biologist, but I feel pretty safe in saying that at this time we don't know. That is the thing about science, every time we answer a question we discover three more need to be asked. A century ago a theist would have thought that asking an atheist how traits are passed from one generation to the next was a gotcha question, but since then the body of knowledge that comes from science has expanded.

I will say that 20 years ago I read a book called Genetic Takeover, and ever since the question of "how could life have arisen?" hasn't kept me up at night.



6.How do irreducibly complex enzyme chains evolve? 

The notion of irreducible complexity is one championed by people who have no desire to understand biology; most of the best cases for it were explained long ago.

The eye was once a favourite subject of those
who champion irreducible complexity.

7.How do we account for the origin of 116 distinct language families? 

Human ingenuity, isolated populations and tens of thousands of years. Honestly, I have no idea why this is one of the questions.

8.Why did cities suddenly appear all over the world between 3,000 and 1,000 BC? 

I find it a bizarre statement to make that something in human history happened "suddenly" over a time period of two thousand years (never mind that Mesopotamia arose about 3500 BC while some some isolated tribes still don't live in cities to this day).  But if you insist that a small number of cities being built millennium apart is a phenomena that must be accounted for, then the way to account for it is to look a few millennium earlier - agriculture spread around the world between 10,000 BC and 6,000 BC and cities are the natural result of agriculture.



9.How is independent thought possible in a world ruled by chance and necessity? 

It may not be; it is entirely possible that independent thought is an illusion. Notice how people are so quick to see others as gullible sheep, but themselves as free thinkers. Its entirely possible we are all fooling ourselves.



10.How do we account for self-awareness? 

We are have evolved large brains because they have helped us solve problems that needed to be solved for our survival. These same brains have been useful tools in understanding the universe and ourselves.



11.How is free will possible in a material universe? 

It may not be.



12.How do we account for conscience? 

I am going to assume this is referring to the aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment that assists in distinguishing right from wrong. Conscience was a beneficial trait for survival because we are a social animal. You can witness many other social animals displaying similar behaviors.



13.On what basis can we make moral judgments? 

If an action harms another human being it is immoral. You will notice that virtually every moral code in human history can be boiled down to two laws. 1. Show respect or reverence to the authority that made the code.  2. Don't do bad things to other people.

You will also notice that the fewer exceptions a society has to the rule "don't do bad things to other people" the more civilized we consider it.




14.Why does suffering matter? 

Because we have the ability to understand and empathize with the plight of other human beings, I feel we have a responsibility to them.



15.Why do human beings matter? 

To the universe we don't.

I know this is a humbling and paradoxical thought to someone who believes that the entire universe was made for humanity and that its creator takes a personal interest in all your affairs, but it is the atheist position.



16.Why care about justice? 

This is a difficult question because justice can mean so many things. I believe we should always seek to take whatever course results in the least amount of human suffering for the reasons I mentioned in 14.



17.How do we account for the almost universal belief in the supernatural? 

Because humans did not evolve to be logical; we are at our core, storytellers. Logic is something we discovered fairly recently and we struggle to apply it with brains that exist for other purposes. Truth is not a popularity contest.

(I love how he tries to use the widespread belief in the super natural as a point in his favour, even though most of those people believe in super natural events that he would reject)


18.How do we know the supernatural does not exist? 

We don't; you cannot prove something doesn't exist. But before I will accept anything supernatural as being true I will need evidence. At this time there is not a single instance of the supernatural standing up to scientific scrutiny. 

"Some people speak as if we were not justified in rejecting a theological doctrine unless we can prove it false. But the burden of proof does not lie upon the rejecter. ... If you were told that in a certain planet revolving around Sirius there is a race of donkeys who speak the English language and spend their time in discussing eugenics, you could not disprove the statement, but would it, on that account, have any claim to be believed? Some minds would be prepared to accept it, if it were reiterated often enough, through the potent force of suggestion."
- J. B. Bury


19.How can we know if there is conscious existence after death? 

We can't. But again, there is no evidence.




20.What accounts for the empty tomb, resurrection appearances and growth of the church?

There is no documentation of the empty tomb, or the resurrection outside of Christian writings. In fact there is no historical evidence that Jesus even existed. 

I am not sure why I should be expected to document the spread of Christianity. There are many religions the author does not believe in that provide ample evidence that a religion can become far spread without being true.

This was a lot of fun to do; it was interesting to see what questions the author thought would be difficult for an atheist and many of the questions were an interesting reminder of how different the perspective of a theist can be from an atheist.

Some of the questions I completely expected like 1, 2, 13, and 20. Some of the questions really took me by surprise like 7 and 8. A few of the questions left me really confused like 3. My favorites were the ones where the author was essentially asking "I have belief x about the universe, but if there is no god belief x doesn't make sense; how can x be true if there is no god?" (answer: x isn't true) Questions 9, 11, and 15 were all like this.

One thing I can say from this is that I could never be a person who makes a hobby out of debating religion; I find it draining, and knowing that no matter how well you make your point you will almost certainly convince no one of anything gives it an air of futility. 

9 Tips For Interfaith Couples

There is a book due out later this year called In Faith and In Doubt  which will be about marriages where one partner is religious and the other not. A couple of different places online have already featured a list that is supposedly in the book about the 9 things the author feels a couple in such a marriage needs to do; I thought it would be interesting to put our marriage up against that list.



#1. Never try to convert or de-convert your partner. 

I don't think either of us has ever tried to do this to the other, though we have both been guilty of making comments that amounted to "my life would be easier if you would just believe what I believe".




#2. Talk about your differences of belief as early as possible in the relationship.

We are a huge failure at this one, and by we, I mean me.

I suppose I can claim some innocence with regards to not telling Margaret I was an atheist early in the relationship because even though its probably fair to say I already was one when we met, I hadn't really figured that out for myself yet; its was only really after admitting to myself that I don't believe in God that I was able to look back at my life and see that going from a believer to non-believer was a 25 year fight.

But I can't claim any innocence on my lack of interest in learning about Margaret's faith. I had always assumed that any reasonable sounding Christian I met believed the same sort of things I had believed when I was an Anglican; the idea that other faiths could be very different never occurred to me. And since coming to realize that LDS believe some very different things than Anglicans I have wanted to talk about it even less because it has become a very touchy subject between us.

A good example of something Mormons
believe in that Anglicans don't.

#3. Work out agreements for all shared practices, including churchgoing, parenting, and family religious identity, by defining your negotiables and non-negotiables. 

We have definitely failed at this, and I think its fair to say that I am largely to blame for the failure.






#4. Focus on shared values more than different beliefs.

Here is something which we excel at. Margaret and I have a lot of shared values, from the very little to the very big. And the things we don't agree on by and large are things that don't affect us very much.

Actually, as much as I enjoy talking with my wife about a wide array of subjects, it would be kind of embarrassing if somebody were to overhear us, because there are no shortage of times when we have conversations where our views are so in line that we are just endlessly agreeing with each other.





#5. Make personal respect non-negotiable, even as you question and challenge each other’s ideas.

I think its probably fair to say that a big part of the reason I don't like to challenge Margaret's ideas on subjects that are either directly or peripherally tied to religion is precisely because I don't know how to do it in a way that I wouldn't fear being disrespectful. (even in writing this post I am terrified that I am being disrespectful)

I don't know how much of an improvement silence is over disrespect, but I hope it is at least a little bit of one.




#6. Engage in and learn about each other’s worldviews — and that must be a two-way street.

As this point has a lot of overlap with previous ones I feel like I am repeating myself. We have definitely failed at this, and I blame myself. I am uncomfortable discussing anything of real consequence with other people, especially those I care about, when we are in disagreement, both because I fear offending them and because my social anxiety tends to kick in during these types of conversations and I find myself struggling to follow the conversation, much less properly express my point of view.





#7. Remember that the opinions of believers are not always the same as the doctrines of their churches, just as believers must remember that the opinions of nonbelievers are not always the same as those of prominent atheists.

The fact that I came to know Margaret very well before I had much of an understanding about her church has meant that there has been little chance of my making wrong assumptions about her beliefs based on her faith; if anything I have at times made wrong assumptions about her church based on her beliefs.

The opposite is also true, Margaret and I had been married several years before I realized that I was an atheist so I don't think she has ever assumed the views of Dawkins, Hitchens or others to be mine (if she's even heard them at all).

It's a level of strange only rivaled by Ricky and the Muppets
 somehow making an unfunny movie together.

#8. Raise children with the freedom to choose their own religious or nonreligious identity. Expose them to many traditions, beliefs, and practices.

We have agreed that Robbie should be able to choose for himself, though when that choice should be made and what should happen in the years before it is made has not always been clear or easy for us.

But as for the second half of this, I have trouble with it and always have. Atheism isn't a belief, its a lack of beliefs (or as Bill Maher once said "Not only is atheism not my religion, its not even my hobby"), and I don't know how to explain to Robbie why I don't believe in God without sounding like I am saying "that thing your mother believes in, is completely wrong"; I don't know how to explain my position without attacking his mother's position, and as it would be wrong to do that for many reasons, I have never told Robbie anything about my thoughts on religion beyond simply "I don't believe in God".

If I feel I cannot tell Robbie why I think theistic beliefs are wrong, why would I be accepting of people who are strangers to me telling him that I am wrong? I can accept his mother teaching him about God because she is his mother, and he can and should learn about her beliefs.

But, of course, part of Margaret's beliefs include that children should be involved in a number of programs to teach them about God and such. For me it is a very difficult thing to agree to some stranger teaching him, especially because, just as #7 noted, people of the same faith can have very different beliefs. I just don't see any upside to having an adult who is not one of his parents being put in an authority position over him to teach him lessons of faith.

However, there is something much more deep and personal about why I am hesitant to subject Robbie to religious indoctrination at a young age. My experience, and the experience of most atheists who were born to religious parents, is that the journey from being a person of faith to one without faith is a very long and painful one.

If I knew that if Robbie joined the LDS church and could spend his whole life in it being happy and fulfilled, then I would be happy for him to go. If in the near future he decides to go on his own, I will be OK with that too. But I could not live with myself if I was complicit in forcing him to go as a young child, only to have him go through the struggles I went through coming to term with his own lack of faith.

I wouldn't know what to do if at 35 years old Robbie came up to me and asked why I made him go to church when I knew from first hand experience how painful deconverting can be.




#9. Support and protect each other from mistreatment or disrespect, especially by those who share your worldview, including extended family.

If this statement were read very broadly, I could come up with instances where each of us failed the other, but I am quite certain that the author's intention was to mean protect your partner from those of your faith (or lack of) disrespecting your partner because of his/her faith (or lack of).

I hope I would pass this test, but I have never been put to it. Quite simply, I have never felt inclined to join an atheist group, nor have I felt the need to announce my atheism to those few people I have known who are atheists; this has never come up because there has never been any opportunity for it to come up.

On the other hand, Margaret has had to deal with this, and she has been simply amazing every time. When members of her church have been pushy about converting me, she has asked them to leave and not come back. When a member of her church tried to pressure her into putting a picture of Jesus as the centre piece of our family room, she felt no shame in telling said women that we would not be taking the suggestion because it would not be in line with the beliefs of Margaret's husband . Simply put my wife is awesome, and that more than anything is why our marriage works.