The One Minute Case For Atheism

Atheism is the lack of belief

Atheism is the lack of belief in the existence of gods. It is not a belief system or a religion but the denial that supernatural beings exist. There are atheists with all sorts of philosophies and beliefs.

You’re already an atheist

Even if you believe in a god, you probably don’t believe in other gods – Zeus, Osiris, Jupiter, Thor, Allah or Jesus. It’s hypocritical to be skeptical in the holy book, revealed prophets, miracle stories, or holy men of all religions but yours. You are an atheist when it comes to everyone else’s gods, so why give your god a free pass?

The burden of proof is on the theist

Can you prove that an invisible pink elephant is not floating above your head? How does one prove a negative in the absence of evidence? Theists make the exceptional claim that there is a god. That claim requires exceptional proof. The burden of proof is on the theist to prove God exists.

By using reason and science, humans have been expanding our knowledge of the world. Yet religionists continue to claim that there exists a supernatural realm immune to reason. Where is their proof? If a god is needed to create the universe, what created God? Rather than offer proof, mystics have often tried to silence and discredit those who reveal the complexity and majesty of the universe.

There are natural explanations for the universe

What keeps flowers from turning into rocks, or rocks from floating in the sky? It’s not the will of a supernatural deity, but the fact that flowers are not rocks, and gravity keeps things on the ground. The universe operates according to causal principles, without the need for any supernatural power to keep things from getting chaotic.

Morality does not need religion

Religious texts can offer moral guidance, but they are not the source of moral principles. Humans discovered long ago that following certain rules makes life more productive, peaceful, and pleasurable. Morality derives from human nature, not divine guidance. If one wishes to live a virtuous life, it is better to do so because of the earthly rewards of being virtuous than the fear of eternal punishment. Unlike a theist, an atheist knows that one life is all he has, and will try to live each day to the fullest.

Further reading

135 Comments

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135 Responses to The One Minute Case For Atheism

  1. Satori

    @Matthew
    Correction:Hitler was a Catholic. You can research newspaper clippings of them blessing him and find proof of him being an alter-boy.

  2. Ed

    I used to be a born again christian, Kevin. My brain had been withering like a snail submersed in salt (teaching religion to kids is child abuse). When I managed to start getting away from that salt, my brain began to recover, and I realized just how retarded it was for me, a near adult at about 16, to believe in imaginary beings that would smite me if I didn’t please their irrational whims. I suppose you still believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, too.

    Marshall, the decisions are not necessarily irrational, they are just made with incorrect or incomplete data-sets as the basis for the decision. Thinking that every thought must be predicted by a former thought is one of those irrational decisions. Life has no meaning other than itself. Your stupid idea about predicting ideas doesn’t lead to christianity, anyway. It leads to something like what the Native Americans might have followed.

    I don’t believe either of you used to be an Atheist, we’re just not that gullible. You are christian apologists pretending to be former Atheists.

  3. C. Hunter

    @Christian

    Just thought I’d pop in a reply to ‘Christian’ (no.21 on the responses)

    1. Your quote is quite explicit: “a lack of belief,” therefore it would be wrong to characterise atheism as you do as a belief in the non-existence of God – that would seem to imply that a being exists to have the predicate ‘non-existence’. Its a similar situation to not believing in unicorns. At first a statement like ‘I don’t believe in unicorns’ appears to suggest that if Unicorns have the property of ‘not-existing’ then they must exist in some sense else there would be nothing to have that property. We certainly don’t want to admit of unicorns into our belief system, so we are better off paraphrasing the statement of disbelief as an existentail negation:
    It is not the case that ‘There exists an x such that x is a unicorn’

    Similarly then the disbelief in God can be expressed:
    It is not the case that ‘there exists an x such that x is God’

    As for having to be everywhere at once to deny the existence of God honestly; i’m not quite sure where the reasoning for that lies. To begin, do you mean ‘truthfully’ by ‘honestly?’ If thats the case then it appears that this is plainly false, all that is required for me to say something truthfully is for me to utter it in a sentence and it actually be the case. Hence, ‘I don’t believe in God’ is true just incase I actually don’t believe in a God. Similarly, ‘There is no God’ is true just incase there exists no such being.

    If on the otherhand you mean simply by ‘honestly’ that you cannot really mean what you are saying unless you say it at every possible location, then this again appears to be plainly false. Also surely this would apply to you too and so in uttering ‘Baal does not exist’ you would need to be at all locations at once to mean it.’ Perhaps I merely misunderstand the sophistication of your argument.

    2. This seems a fair point actually, however you appear to be sidestepping the essence of what was being said. By denying the existence of many other Gods, you do something that is in itself ‘atheistic,’ that is, as an atheist would do. The real point here is that you reject the existence of thousands of other Gods (which you might have believed in were you born into a different society or at a different time) So the atheists rejection of yours is really nothing that uncontroversial.

    3. This appears a somewhat misguided point: We can sense Love and other such emotions through our perceptual senses. We have certain bodily feelings and we observe actions in others which we interpret in various ways. Emotional feelings and mental states and events can be reduced to physical events. Recent cognitive neuroscience suggests that all of our mental states are actually identical to nueral activity.

    Love is unfortunately not comparable with faith: Faith is a form of belief, We might believe that we love someone, however the actual love that we feel in ourselves is a physical perception and not a belief like state.

    You use the phrase ‘we have FAITH in our minds to think logically.’ Yet faith by its very definition is believing what you are told without questioning it, hence logic does not come into play at all here. To have faith is to believe something without any reason to – if anything this is illogical. You then say ‘I was logically and purposefully made by an almighty God.’ Does purposefully here mean that God made you already knowing what yur pupose would be? If so then what kind of freedom do you really have if you were made for a specific task? Also what of the people ‘created’ in regions of the world where Christianity is not the main religion? Is God’s purpose for them to grow up non-christians, die and then go to hell. That doesn’t seem to me like something that a benevolent God would do.

    4. It is not logically impossible to imagine that the universe is infinite, else there should be the same logical impossibility in saying that God is infinite. The problem with this ‘un-caused cause’ response to the question of ‘what caused/created God?’ is that you create a new property which you say must be attatched to some first entity. The property of ‘not needing a cause.’ Once you have made that step, why not attach the predicate to the big bang? We have evidence that the big bang was the first occurance in our universe, why not simply attach the predicate ‘does not need a cause’ to that rather than an unobservable purely speculative being?

    5. “The universe operates according to causal principles” does not imply that it is self sustaining, in fact it is perfectly logical for a causal determinist to say that the causal chain of events in the universe will lead to the end of that universe.

    6. You seem to entirely miss the point here. The idea of morality being embedded in human nature and our social interaction is the idea that moral values have to arise as a result of simply being human and having social structures. Morality is relative to the society it is operating withing because morality is dependent upon the individuals within that society. There are no objective moral facts to be picked out in the world.

    An example from my life as an undergrad illustrates this point quite well I think. I was in a seminar discussing with a group whether there were objective moral facts. Someone raised the idea that unless ‘murder is wrong’ is an objective fact distinct from our knowing it then it would be possible to imagine a world in which murder is morally acceptable. Being a relativist I thought about this and realised that of course ‘murder is right’ could never be true. But the reason for this is that a society could not exist with such a moral, it would tear itself appart. In order for humans to co-exist in a social group we have to behave in particular ways to one another, else the structure will fail.

    Consider a group of apes. They live in a social group with particular social rules that must be observed. This does not mean that they have grasped some objective moral facts such as ‘it is right to pick ticks out of anothers fur.’ It is simply the neccessary requirements for co-existence.

    I think the final point of Atheists living their life to the full in recognising that it is the only one that they will have is really trying to get at the fact that we should not spend our lives chastising ourselves and holding back from the things we really want. We shouldn’t worry so much about making mistakes and spend all our time trying to redeem ourselves so that we can be fit for the afterfile. Yes we will make mistakes, but don’t dwell on them, you’ll only waste more time.

    Your final point here about atheists having everything to lose is obviously a reformulation of pascal’s wager. It’s an interesting argument, but I think its conclusion says a great deal more about the kind of God you believe in:

    i. If the only reason you believe in God is because you have ‘nothing to lose’ then is God really going to be satisfied with your belief? He would surely be rather shallow if he did as it seems a very weak orm of belief.

    ii. God wants your belief in him and your belief alone. Isn’t God supposed to be benevolent? Why would he value ‘belief’ over behaviour such as looking after your family, being a good person etc. It is quite possible to believe in a deity and yet be a horrific person – are you really suggesting that a benevolent and just God would allow such people into his kingdom and then deny those who have clearly lived more virtuous lives? It seems a very odd position to maintain to me at least.

    The Atheists on here are mostly not being resentful towards Christians, and they are not leading horrible empty lives. If anything they are feeling sorry for you in that they are thinking for themselves and you are not. There is a great danger in not thinking for yourself – simply doing what one is told because you think it is ‘the word of god.’ What do you think seperates you from the fanatics who do commit attrocities? Is it that you would never commit them, or is it simply that the person interpreting ‘the word of God’ hasn’t told you to yet? Once you give up your freedom of thought you are simply blindly following orders. If God made you to be free, then how is blindly following what a group of people are telling you God is saying even close to freedom?

    Finally, if the conception of God is of an all knowing being who created us with purpose, then he not only knew that atheists would become atheists, but he also intended them too.

    A very interesting debate, please let me know your thoughts.

    C. Hunter

  4. Rob

    You know.. Every time I see a religious person rant about how great it is to believe in their God, it just sickens me. I roll my eyes, shake my head and hope that person isn’t in any sort of position to influence our way of life. Like Chris said up in #6; “Why cant you just let people believe?” I think thats hardly the case. Why cant you just let people not believe? Why are you always trying to force us to convert or practice your ways? You people try so hard to subject children to religion in schools so you can mold their young minds. I bet if you were raised to the age of 20 and were never subject to any kind of religion, and someday someone came up to you and started telling you the story of the bible, you’d think he was a lunatic. As many have said before, “I dont believe in a God because I dont believe in Mother Goose.”
    Oh, and by the way, princess, Adolf Hitler was not an athiest.

  5. Troy

    Christian :
    4- What created God? If there was a being BEFORE God that would cause an Infinite Regress, meaning there would be an infinite chain of causes. This is logically impossible, there must be an uncaused first cause.

    I’ve always found this an interesting argument from Christians. On the one hand, they claim the Big Bang isn’t possible because nothing can just “magically” come into existence without a creator, yet in the next breath they tell you that God just exists and doesn’t require a creator. How can people state that there must be an uncaused first cause for something to exist, yet still believe that the universe could not have come into being on its own? If the universe can’t just magically appear, then neither can God.

  6. James

    “The burden of proof is on the theist” This premise is flawed. Christians believe the bible is the word of God and glean everything from these writings. In a court of law when a claim is made (such as with a personal will) and someone contests it, the burden of proof lies not with the claimant but with the one contesting the document. They must prove the document is in error. In other words “Innocent until found guilty”. Christians have nothing to prove. The one contesting does.

  7. kyle

    Jerry there’s a the thing called death. what then? Do you Actually want to just vanish from existance, not knowing you werent even created? Whats the point of even living if their is nothing to look forward to after you are gone. Simply put.
    ================================
    The point of living is whatever you choose to make it. And simply wanting something after death does not make it so. You have no basis for this belief other than a fear of oblivion.

  8. nancy allen

    Spiritual People Enlighten Me….Religious People Frighten me!

  9. Jacob

    Dear Believers

    I admire and envy your faith. Alas i am uncapable of such feat. Diversity is life. A world with only believers and non believers doesn’t seem to be such a good place to be. I like discussions, i like arguing. I won’t talk about Big Bang, or scientific stuff as most of it I don’t believe in as well. Unfortunatly nowadays scientific facts have taken place over religious facts. If we think about it science is the new religion. And like all religions it has it’s righteous followers. Everybody has it’s points. And if it was clear who was “right” and who was “wrong” this discussion would have ended eons ago.

    Best regards to all believers and non believers out there.

  10. Deism is a perfectly good alternative to christianity. Being anti-religion isn’t the same as being an Atheist. I think you’re running the wrong way.

  11. Robert

    Want to have more fun with the idea of belief. Let’s say I ‘believe’, now you can either believe that statement to be true or to be false. So belief in and of itself is not a fact, no one can factually say that anyone else believes in anything, the can only believe that someone believes or doesn’t believe, they can never ever know for certain. So belief is something between you and you deity of choice or it isn’t, now tha’s a fact.

  12. Trevor

    Pretty ordinary really. First 2 points are wrong (if wrong means anything to you). Third point is irrelevant. It is not a contest. If you are not persuaded, that is your problem. We’ll all face the consequence of our choice and reality. The important thing is that you have had the opportunity to consider your choice. The natural explanations argument is a matter of belief, they are not adequate and it is not solved. You can only have 2 starting points zero or infinity. Zero goes no where. That’s why cosmologists are now entertaining the infinitely parallel universe model. You think explanations are adequate! And the last point is a curious one. In an evolutionary model, only survival matters. Morality can never be more than utilitarian. Still, I agree that it is not proof of God.

  13. Michael Groves

    How funny that anyone could imagine that there is a one-minute case for atheism! Religion is a matter of faith, and faith is, by definition, belief regardless of contrary evidence or logic.

    If someone believes in Father Christmas, or God, or the Tooth Fairy, who am I to tell them their beliefs are false? Presumably, they can evaluate the evidence as well as I. As long as their beliefs and values are not allowed to supersede mine, why shoudl I mind what they believe?

  14. Badagus

    1. I do not give God a free pass, I think you are taking a view that either all gods work or if not that then no gods would work. This world is too awesome to just “be there”, there are too many coincidences. So to say that there is no god to me is wrong. Now to say that all gods would work is contradictory as the law for different “religions” go against each other so not all are going to be right since at one point or another they go against each other. Then to say that I give God an okay and out-of-jail-free card, that is a terrible perspective to take in my opinion. God would not put anyone else equal to Him, if He did then there is no awesomeness in that. I wouldn’t believe in a god who allows other gods to sit next to Him, that would destroy any possibility of God being all-powerful.

    2. The whole pink elephant deal, I know you are being over-dramatic with there being a pink elephant since that would be ridonculous but there is actually proof for there being God, there is no proof for that pink elephant (if you haven’t caught on by now, I believe in the Trinity). Science and God will never be on the same level and I really don’t think that we can prove God exists or doesn’t exist through science, it is a never-ending cycle of probability and statistics and blah blah blahhhh. If it was that easy to prove that God, who created us, was real through something as simple as science then I don’t believe He would be a good god at all. Let alone understand Him through science, if we could understand EVERYTHING He has done/is doing/will do then what makes Him God? Heck, God created this world and ahhh I could go on and on but if you have an open-mind as I want to have towards what your thoughts are please watch this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1EAmfOu9lE (there are four parts all on youtube).

    3. I agree that there are possible explanations for creation coming from the big bang but also look to the probability of it happening the way it did and on top of that how does science explain the creation of our emotions and the supernatural that has happened? From what I have personally seen God do in my life and friend’s lives I have concluded the high improbability of being “banged” into the world. Though, I think evolution can still happen and that can agree with God but I won’t go into that.

    4. Do you happen to know the origin of morality? God’s commandments of Israel are the basis of what rights and restrictions we have today. Why would people have morals if there wasn’t really a cause for this life? To be perfectly blunt, why be a nice person in life? So you can get laid a bunch? There is an eternal future that I look forward to and that is why I believe in the morals that I have.

    There is actually a lot that backs up “Christianity” though I hate calling it that, I know that often Christians have given a bad name to their fellow brothers and sisters. We aren’t all screaming lunatics that condemn you to hell, I promise.

  15. Bill

    I’m a rather happy atheist, thank you very much. I would love to just let theists and non-theists live among one-another happily, but we all know that will never happen. Theists are “trained” to force their beliefs on others, and to hate and pity those that don’t belief in their silly myths. Atheists on the other hand, would be content to just live in peace, but are bombarded with religious dogma 24/7, and some people are unable to keep quiet about it. It’s annoying, in the least. Clock radio wakes me, it’s a song about Jesus. TV news, some guy thanking god for rescuing him from a fire instead of the person that actually rescued him, every other car on the highway has a Jesus sticker, co-workers wanting to talk to themselves (pray) for you since you have the flu, and saying God Bless You if you sneeze…it’s inescapable, and at times, infuriating. I’m quite tired of people hating me because I can’t make myself believe in something that there is absolutely no evidence or sign of existing except for a book. However, I try very hard not to judge others for their beliefs, and let people live the way they choose….until it affects me negatively.

  16. Samantha

    I know that people say that Christianity isn’t forced on people. But sometimes, it unintentionally is. Growing up I was made to attend mass and catechism. It just wasn’t right for me. I would leave crying because I couldn’t understand how some of the people I was closest to, were considered bad people in Gods eyes. I went on leaving in a crying fit for almost 4 years, before my overbearing father gave my mother permission to pull me out of catechism.

    I have a very large, very traditional Catholic family, and I have complete respect for every one of them, who believe in God and Religion. I just wish they could respect my differences, instead of telling me that I’m wrong, and will find God one day.

    I’m a happy cheery person. I love to volunteer and help out family and friends, but I don’t do this out of faith in God, rather, I do it to better the world I live in. I do these things because it makes our time on earth a more enjoyable experience.

    I respect other peoples beliefs and all I ask is for you to respect mine, even if it is not believing.

  17. paul8bee

    if god were defined as being Absolute reality, then it would take a very imaginative mind to prove it wrong.
    Can you prove that reality does not exist? I might argue that the thought that I am having right now does not exist anywhere but in my own mind. But I have not Proof. That is , proof that is sufficient evidence to convince.

    I claim crazy and you can not make me sane.

  18. Jason

    oh kevin you sad little man…muslims do not believe in world domination anymore than you or I. have you ever actually had the pleasure of calling a muslim “friend” ?? or does you tiny, narrow minded, propaganda loving brain prevent this. Fundamentalists are present in all religeons and judging muslims by the standards of the likes of alqueda is the equivilent of judging the irish by the standards of the IRA or christians by the standards of David Koresh. open your mind and realise that to be accepted you must accept to be tolerated you must tolerate….. Hell? have you ever been in a war torn nation? We have all the hell we need right here on earth thank you very much and as for all you “do you have joy? what motivates you” crap… well I am just fine, I love my life, wife and kids and do not need an omnipresent father figure to make my life worthwhile! I have faith in the fact that we are more than just flesh and blood but am not so arrogant to believe that I am educated enough to stick my pin to any of the many religeons currently in circulation. Get over yourself dude you aint that special! salaam allah kum my brother… lol@Kevin

  19. Copernicus

    All religion is a mental virus. It slowly destroys the host and it’s goal is to multiply and seek other hosts.

    There is no god. Deal with it.

  20. im new to these talks plz keep them coming im learning so much ,from reading your comments thankyou

  21. Brandon

    @ chris
    Chris, you’re a bit off. We don’t believe there is no God because it is out of our control, but simply the idea that a God exists is ridiculous. Imagine for a second… someone who has all the power in the world. Someone who causes these problems, and sees how far they have escaladed… and does nothing to help. Does not lift a finger. He can’t even shit magic into our empty bowls and help this famine that is starving so many kids. If you had the power, would you not help as well as this imaginary person?

  22. Brad

    So it’s a bit late, but someone posting under the name Christian awhile back compared the fact that we can’t see “love,” but still have faith in it to his similar faith in God.

    I would just like to point out that it’s been known for several years that the emotion we know of as “love” is nothing more than a series of chemical reactions in the brain, just like getting sleepy, hungry, or angry. As a matter of fact, when in “passionate love,” the brain behaves much like that of a brain that is insane. I suspect a brain on religion might very well behave the same way.

  23. Tim

    @James

    James : “The burden of proof is on the theist” This premise is flawed. Christians believe the bible is the word of God and glean everything from these writings. In a court of law when a claim is made (such as with a personal will) and someone contests it, the burden of proof lies not with the claimant but with the one contesting the document. They must prove the document is in error. In other words “Innocent until found guilty”. Christians have nothing to prove. The one contesting does.

    I is impossible to prove that a being fitting the Christian god (or any other religion that believes in a transcendent being) does not exist. The transcendence of them puts them outside reason which is convenient.

    The thing that makes me an atheist rather than an agnostic though is the meaning of godness. The implication that a being has absolute moral right to rule and judge based on being the author or more powerful than its assumed subjects is a dangerous concept even if executed with “fatherly love”. If replicated in other sectors of society it would (and does) lead to great injustice and inhumanity.

    If a being that fitted the description of a theistic god were somehow proven to exist I would still not concede it the right to determine my fate.

    Faith does not just require you to just believe something may exist or to believe it does exist, it also requires you to love it and obey it.

    As such it is more of a sales pitch than a legal defense case as it is requiring definite change and action from the position of the non believer. The burden of proof is thus very much on the sales person and not the the potential client.

  24. Omar

    Hello,
    i stumbled across this article and just noticed that the author made an error in the compilation of “gods.” I would like to correct that Allah is Arabic FOR God, and not a different god. Also I noticed quite a bit of bit a hostility from both sides of this argument. I think people should just take deep breaths and just accept that different people have different views, and it is when we attack, impose on, and criticize others that we get such negative results as we are seeing right now. Regardless of anyone personal back ground we should please take the time to think about that. People, everyone including yourselves have proved through this forum that we are all individuals. Yes people under certain banners have done very immoral things throughout history but it is unfair and very ignorant of anyone to stereotype and bunch people together as all sharing similar view just because a particular person came from a particular back ground. Governments do very inappropriate things to other countries, but they do not represent the civilians that live under that national banner. Please refrain from the attacks and insults on each other, because it would only lessen weaken yourselves especially when one of the big debates under this subject is morality and moral behavior. I think we can all agree that such attacks are not very moral religious or not. From a personal experience I have seen that to every stand point in life there is a large and in a sense uncompilable variety of beliefs in the world. You can write volumes on each particular religion let alone their different denominations (if that applies) and even for Atheist perspectives can be just as diverse because the world is huge. So please do not pick at one belief and expect that argument to stand for the other respectable beleifs . Yes we have one life, weather or not you believe in re incarnation, salvation, heaven&hell, or decomposition. But we should not waste it bickering and attacking one another, but perhaps learn from each other and enhance our own lives. I am sure everyone can agree on that. We can not change the past, while I am sure many would love to for the tragedies that have befell, but we can keep from irrational and immoral actions from repeating but learning and being better people.

  25. fordogzsake

    i was having a conversation last night with my partner. she is struggling with her own theistic journey and is right now at the “agnostic” stage. anyway, she was asking some of my opinions on the topic and i asked her what she thought of this:

    if God is what the Christians say he is and Satan is what he is then that means they are polar opposites, right?

    yes.

    okay, so Satan, from my understanding, will do anything and everything to disprove God and steal souls from Heaven, correct?

    yes.

    in that case, what God doesn’t grant for whatever reason, then Satan should be salivating to do so in that we will believe and follow in him, true?

    true.

    SATAN APPEAR AND PROVE YOU EXIST!!!

    nothing. damn.

    it’s not just a belief in God(s) in a positive way, but also believing in the alternative. to some, Satan is a god and they have no proof either, neither do the Hindus or even the followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

    ask and it shall be given, knock and it shall be opened. seems pretty forthright. i didn’t read any disclaimers of what not to ask for or what not to knock on.

    why does Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have different accounts of the night Jesus was born?

    why isn’t the entire Bible translated and published? it’s a well-known fact that in the 15th century a group of mortal men decided what God’s word would be to the people. they got to pick and choose what was in the so-called Holy Book. i guess that’s how religion has learned to pick and choose to this day to corral and control others.

    have you theists really and truly studied religion in full to be able to state there is only one true god and not just say it because that’s how you grew up or one day had an epiphany because life was just too hard to handle yourself. life is easier when you can put all responsibility in “someone” elses hands. of course life get’s easier along the way. duh. it’s called life. it get’s better, it get’s worse and so forth and so forth. your believing in a deity doesn’t change that. so when things get good, you thank the lord all mighty but when things are bad then you must not be good enough so get on your knees and get more into the church…give more money….flagellate yourself!! pray till your tongue falls out, speak the language of the angels so the demons (which are angels fallen) can’t understand you!

    okay, sorry, got carried away there. i just really and truly wish that he that is without sin, cast the first stone and judge not lest he be judged.

    have a great day.

  26. “The burden of proof is on the theist” was contested within this thread, because of the bible. Now that is an unsound argument. I always can make up existence claims that nobody can disprove. As somebody already did in this forum: “There is an invisble elephant moving above my head.” Nobody can disprove it. But is it right? And is it more right if I write that claim down in a book? And I pretend that invisible elephant has inspired the author of the book.
    No: The burden of proof remains on the one who maintains there is a yeti in the Himalaya or there are Gods.

  27. Gwen

    Erm, forgive me if I’m wrong, but seeing as atheism is the disbelief in ALL Gods, one cannot be atheist and believe in a certain god at the same time….

  28. @Gwen
    You’re right. I’m not arguing that theists are literally atheists. My point is that theists always make an exception for their particular god, but while using reason to reject all other gods. There is a contradiction in their thinking.

  29. The Magical Pretty Pink Unicorn

    I’ll use your own doctrine to kill you off:

    If you are not perfect, then God is not perfect. Thus, he does not exist, for what bastard thing can come from something that is ABSOLUTELY perfect in every way, shape and form? And there is absolutely no possible way to contradict this statement, unless you’re saying that God isn’t perfect, which contradicts your own damn Bible.

    I’d like to bring into my sights the stupid-ass fuckers who bullshit the way I speak and twist my words, and make this little message here quite the fuck clear for them: It doesn’t fucking matter how I feel – you’re not going to pity play me into believing in some zombie Jesus, or the stupid-ass Job who gets fucked up by Satan for no damn reason, as if the Fall had never happened. Nor will I ever bow down to cows, or worship a thousand-handed woman, or a tall Aryan man with a large hammer, because it is stupid and useless and makes no damn sense whatsoever. And don’t you dare say my thoughts and philosophies are beliefs. Their meanings are so far away from each other that it’s not even funny, and I respect the former far more than the latter.

  30. Geoff

    While many atheists do believe in love, even though they can’t perceive it with any of the five senses, love is basically just a word to describe an abstract concept, a feeling created by chemical reactions in the brain, as Brad said above. Albert Einstein, although often called a theist, referred to God in the same manner, as a mere name for the collection of the universe’s natural governing laws. If this is what some people here are recommending, that’s fine, but I would suggest you use a different term than ‘God’ to avoid confusing people, especially zealots who will quote you out of context to support their causes.

  31. Debbie

    Believer or non, not the point. Everybody do what makes you happy and everybody’s happy. You walk by people every day and don’t talk to them, don’t smile, don’t know them, their problems, nothing. If they died, you wouldn’t know and it wouldn’t affect your life. So why care what religion people are or what they believe as long as what they believe isn’t hurting you. Think for yourself, keep to yourself, believe what you want and go about your day. Everybody. It’s really simple. And Christians, it is incorrect to call your values Christian values. The Ten Commandments are old testament so they are really Jewish values. And Jesus was a Jew so in your Christian value ways you dislike Jews though you pray to one and think that those without your Jesus need saving. People believe what they believe for the most part (some came to their own conclusions) because it’s what they were taught growing up. If you were born in Afghanistan, you’d be Muslim most likely and believe in that just as fervently and just as dangerously given the history of Christian wars. Everybody, leave everyone alone. Atheists, you are wise and think for yourselves. Good for you. Christians, you have faith and believe what you believe. Good for you, too. Muslims, you believe what you want and I just want you to not bomb me. Let’s all keep walking by each other on the streets, continue to NOT care about their lives, and expand on that by not trying to control their beliefs when in fact, you don’t give a shit about their lives! Who are any of us to begin to think that if their is something as amazing as a Supreme Being, that we could even start to figure out what that being is thinking? Just think for yourselves and leave me and everyone else alone.

  32. Debbie

    Actually, Albino elephants are pink.

  33. monkfish

    This whole athiesm fad, regardless of beliefs or lack of them, just seems pretty fashionable right now

  34. Jeremy Frank

    Bravo Jerry, Well said.

    Even if there was a god, what makes Christianity the correct religion? What about Zeus? Poseidon? Santa Clause? Seriously, I believe man invented gods to explain the unknown because they had no real explanation at the time and then needed something to fill the gaps of logic. the bible was fabricated by man the koran was fabricated by man ect.

  35. Brandon St. Germaine

    All of these Christians claiming religion is intellectually sound or logical don’t know what they’re talking about.

    There’s no evidence or reason to believe in God. The world works without him. There’s no meaning to life because there isn’t one. I understand some of you can’t handle life having no greater meeting, but wanting one outcome more than another doesn’t make you intellectual, it makes you biased. Real intellectual people admit that their senses and understandings can be flawed, so we’ve developed ways to test our senses against reality-proofs. Anyone who can’t self analyze and realize they’re full of shit when it comes to personal friends in the sky is kidding themselves, and the furthest possible thing from an intelligent, intellectual being.

  36. Daniel Ehramjian

    You talk about proof being needed for God or gods to exist and you talk about science. Yet you lack to say that science hasn’t disproved the theory of supernatural, God, or any other gods. The fact that science hasn’t proved of God’s existence means nothing besides the fact that it hasn’t disproved any of these theories either. So if there really is not an invisible pink elephant floating over my head, prove to me that there is no God either.

  37. paul8bee

    A Theologist is a person who asks a question.
    The question is not limited to any religions or atheist view. It is a true frontier. Atheists and Religious are both confined and limited and restricted to the question, as they see it. The question is global
    Consider the following ideas on what a god is

    God: everything you can know or not know. All the forces of the universe. The sum is but a part of the whole. If god was the whole< then I am part of the whole.

    God: A bearded kindly old man who sits on a throne in heaven and help people.

    God: God is nature

    God: Mater can not be destroyed or created.

    A True Theologist will consider All of these definitions.

    But the bible god? The word god is not limited to the printed words of the bible.

    • Vern Stevens

      You are not specific as to the question the theologist asks. Also, it is not accurate to suggest that atheists do not consider all the religions (or descriptions thereof) just because they are atheists. The fact that an atheist has rejected all currently known religions is not a basis for saying they haven’t considered them.

  38. LoudPatriot

    There are no gods and Hitler was a christian. if you look at his speaches and writings he said the same thing as bush. “god told me to do it”.

    Here I’ll say it again real slow.

    Theeerrreeee aaaarrreee nnnnnnnnnooooooooo gggggoooooddddssss.

  39. Michael Groves

    @paul8bee
    If you define god as anything you want to, then of course any debate over his existence becomes meaningless.

    For the purposes of the discussion, I think it’s fair to say that we are discussing the usual all-powerful, all-knowing, prayer-answering, sin-punishing personal god, of the generic type that mainstream Christians, Moslems, Jews, and Hindus subscribe to.

  40. > The burden of proof is on the theist.
    > Unlike a theist, an atheist knows that
    > one life is all he has.

    Knowing without proof, please tell me how you do that…

    If you want to believe god(s) don’t exist, please be happy doing so.

    But… what’s big fuzz about ?
    Afaik no party in this debate has the means to prove anything yet.

    So… why attack others over something you can’t prove, whatever your belief/religion may be ?

    • Vern Stevens

      “If you want to believe god(s) don’t exist, please be happy doing so.”

      This suggests you misunderstand the argument. One needn’t even consider something exists without being offered evidence of such existence in the first place. The default is not that X exists; the default is that X does not exists until evidence of X suggests that it does exist.

  41. Anonymous

    I’ve stopped trying to argue with religious people. There’s just no use. Honestly, if you are religious, all I can say is end yourself / don’t give that mental illness to your children.

  42. Christian

    @nick dangerfield

    Why not? Jesus could have walked on earth in the pre-modern age when technology wasn’t invented to communicate through the masses; or he could have chosen the modern age, when the humanist ideas of Marx and Lenin piled body bags with “reason”; or he could have chosen the postmodern age, when truth is just your experience. Every time seems like a bad time because the world is corrupt. So, Nick Dangerfield, why wouldn’t he choose to come at that time?

  43. Pete

    hahah u know wht?

    god is racist

    if god had gone to china before it got trapped by the Buddhist they could be more christian

    if god had gone to africa before they started they own gods then they would be more christian

    if god had gone to north america before they started their gods they would be more christian too

    quite frankly god doesnt care if u believed in his religion cuz if he did he would make everyone do so… DUH hes god all powerful

    you know wht i hate most?
    im going to hell
    because god doesnt care about me and didnt give me enough brainwashing while i was little so i dont believe in him 🙁 boo hooo cryyy
    i dont wana go!!!

  44. Christian

    @C. Hunter
    Thanks for putting thought into what I said and responding to the actual points instead of going off on emotional tangents. Obviously, when it comes down to it, we disagree, but I appreciate that you were willing to take it seriously.

  45. Pingback: The One Minute Case against the Existence of God | One Minute Cases

  46. Brian

    Before you make a case, you should address you’re own use of logic. First, atheism IS a belief. You believe that there is no god, and without any evidence whatsoever to prove your assertion.
    The problem with atheism (belief that there is no god or gods), monotheism (belief in one God), polytheism (belief in many gods), or any person or group claiming to know the true nature of the universe is that no one is willing to “know what they don’t know”. You don’t know anything about the existence of a God, you only believe you know and believing something is different then knowing the truth.
    The Truth being that no one knows if there is or isn’t a God and perhaps the entirety of human existence may conclude without anyone ever knowing anything.
    so, believe what you will, there is or isn’t a God, but never assume that that belief is a Truth that is known to you without any question. They call it faith for a reason and I see you have faith in your chosen religion of atheism. Perhaps one day athesits will wake up and become agnostics, one can only hope.

  47. “”but simply the idea that a God exists is ridiculous””

    In the end, it is God as “the individual Understands the Word”

    1.God is a bearded kind old man who sits on a throne in heaven.
    2. God is Energy, constantly forming and dissolving.

    Which god does not exist?
    God #1 exists in the imagination of that person.
    God #2 exists in reality.

    Its all about your understanding. That is the key to it all.

  48. Joe

    Everyone seems to be talking about enjoying their lives as christians, catholics, whatever. But have u tried living the life yourself, allowing yourself to submit to freedom instead of getting stuck in some brainwashing religion. No offense but, that is how i personally feel. No, don’t give me bullshit such as, “Open your minds, You must have faith” or whatever crap you theists intend to say. You people say that there is a creator of everything. Thus, following the article, what is the creator of the creator? Following your logic, what cant we apply something else created “God” (not like he/she/whatever exists). I read the bible. And despite whatever God says about himself being so loving as such, i have seen multiple articles about God, telling a young innocent person, to go kill an entire city. I mean, what kind of “loving god” orders someone to go do his dirty work for him? If he was so “almighty and powerful” I believe that he is able to do that himself.”

    The bible also makes me think. Who wrote the bible, i mean, how do you know the information in the bible is accurate? Who knows, Moses might be climbing out the mountain and due to fatigue, he suffered massive hallucinations and heard “God’s” voice. You never know. Where is the evidence? THE PROVE!? WE NEED PROVE.

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