It’s a bit silly asking questions about what people do ‘secretly’, because they’re not going to tell you, are they? But most atheists seem to be perfectly sincere in their responses: they are no more scared of your god than you are of Thor or Anubis, and for the same reasons.
Category Archives: How do atheists…
What would an atheist accept as proof for God that cannot be smelled, touched, seen, heard or tasted?
Different atheists have different criteria for ‘proof’ of the existence of gods, but none of these criteria have ever been met. But why should we have any criterion that doesn’t involve sense-data in some way? Our senses are the most reliable and effective method that we have for determining what’s real. Anyone claiming the existence of some …
How do atheists explain miracles?
Coincidences don’t require an explanation, because they’re coincidences. Rare and unusual events don’t require explanations unless they happen more frequently than probability would predict, and they don’t. Miracle stories don’t require an explanation, because we know that people make up stories all the time. What would require an explanation is an event in which a supernatural being turns up …
Atheists: Have you ever experienced something unable to be explained?
There are many phenomena that atheists can’t currently explain. There probably always will be. But there’s nothing to suggest that these are inherently inexplicable; they’re just difficult, complex problems which will probably take a great deal of time and effort to unravel. And right now nobody else can explain them either. Explanations don’t come in two types, …
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If atheists only believe what can be proven in a lab, then are they incapable of imagining a better life after this life? Could life be the lab?
Atheists can believe anything and everything, as long as it doesn’t entail the existence of any gods. Some atheists believe in a better afterlife, and some probably believe in a worse one. But the main reason why people become and remain atheists is that they tend to reject claims that are made without evidence. Since …
For legitimate hardcore atheists and scientists, how many times have you seen life emerge from a few chemicals mixed together in soup-like conditions?
Just as often as theists have seen gods creating life—or doing anything at all—which is to say, never. But we can explain how it might happen.
Wouldn’t it be easier not to be an atheist?
That depends on how many theists are around you, and how difficult they are trying to make your life. In communities that practice tolerance, free thought and freedom of speech, it’s not difficult to be an atheist at all. It’s certainly a lot easier than trying to live a twenty-first century life in accordance with …
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Atheists, do you respect other people’s beliefs though you yourself do not believe in a deity? It is morally right to respect people’s beliefs, correct?
Since we can’t observe other people’s beliefs, it doesn’t matter whether we ‘respect’ them or not. What we can observe is their behaviour. And if their behaviour seems to be dangerous or destructive to themselves or others, it’s worth trying to find out what causes it. A great deal of the dangerous and destructive behaviour that goes …
If God didn’t exist, how do atheists explain that there is no scientific paper that disproves the existence of God?
Good science costs money, and the people who fund it are usually looking for results which have at least some chance of advancing human knowledge and ultimately yielding useful results. That means avoiding researching questions to which the answer is already known. The vast majority of scientists are perfectly well aware that if they attempted …
Can atheists worship a robot?
Atheists can do anything at all, other than believe in gods. If they believe in gods, they stop being atheists. But why would anyone worship a robot? And why would any self-respecting robot want to be worshipped?
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