Atheism as faith
Might as well bring this up while Twitter is all abuzz with #nogod. This is a frequent argument I have with my friends, and one I can never get anyone to agree with me on.
I assert that Atheism is just as much faith as any religion.
To assume that you know with no amount of uncertainty how The Universe was created and what will happen after you die is foolhardy. There’s only one way to find out what the posthumous experience is for sure, and so far nobody has come back to share.
Understanding and accepting that we will never answer some questions with absolute fact is part of the respect that every faith and religion deserves.
I believe with absolute certainty that there is no God, but because I cannot base that belief in unrefutable fact it must be faith.
Huh? That’s completely backward. Nothing is irrefutable. By your definition, evolution is faith. Gravity is faith. The speed of light is faith. By your definition, my insistence that there is no such thing as leprechauns is faith.
You define athiesm as “To assume that you know with no amount of uncertainty how The Universe was created”. Atheism has nothing to do with that. Atheists simply say, “due to a complete lack of evidence, I do not believe in deities.” That’s it. Nothing more. There’s certainly nothing about atheism that asserts an understanding of how the universe was created. In fact, there’s nothing about atheism that involves having an opinion about the universe at all. However, it’s likely that most atheists do believe the latest scientific evidence of the creation of the universe.
If someone was raised in the middle of nowhere and never encountered anyone who believed in god, he’d be an atheist simply by virtue of never having heard of the “guy”. This person is no different than I am, in that neither of us have seen evidence of god and therefor are not compelled to believe in its existence. That’s fact, not faith.
Buddhists are atheists. Not only do they not claim to “know with no amount of uncertainty how The Universe was created”, they tend to avoid that question altogether. They have a belief structure that qualifies as faith, but their lack of belief in god is rooted in fact.
Believing in something for which there is no proof = faith-based.
Not believing in something for which there is no proof = fact-based.
