Why I'm an atheist

[sarahmichigan]

This is going to be kind of anti-climactic since I've been thinking on it for a while and leading up to it, and yet it's going to be short. But here goes.

I'm an atheist because I think the burden of proof is on those who believe in ANY kind of supernatural phenomena. As far as I can tell, material, natural explanations explain the world and how it works and how it came into being just fine.

To me, positing a Higher Being (especially the more specific you get about what this being is like) to explain things is like saying that tiny black fairies contort their bodies to show the time on my digital watch rather than relying on naturalistic, material explantions about electricity and such.

Now, I understand why some people have an intuition that there just MUST be something bigger than us that created the world. That's fine, and I can understand that. (I have trouble figuring out, sometimes, how people go from "some higher being" to "my specific sect or doctrine," but that's another subject.) However, I don't have that intuition.

I remember when I was taking philosophy courses at Western Michigan University, and sometimes the professor would ask, "What's your intuition about that statment or assertion?" This was in the context of many philosophical arguments, not just ones about the existence or non-existence of God. I remember thinking, "Intuition?! This is supposed to be a philosophy course, and not a New Age class about how to fine-tune your ESP."

But really, when it comes to belief in a higher being of some sort, I think a lot of us are going off our gut feeling. My gut says that only the material world exists, and there isn't anything "super" above the natural world. Any weirdness that can't be explained by science can usually be explained by psychology.

Comments

[lefthand.livejournal.com]

I think people need a god to 1. ease their fear of death 2. To lend merit to their otherwise non-notable lives. Participation in a religion gives worth that isn't connected to merit. Thus if you have no intrinsic worth, religion fits the bill nicely.

Since I am not afraid of death (in that I know it is coming and am ok with the life I have led) and I have merit of my own, I have little need of supernatural powers to comfort me or lend me value.

God doesn't add anything to the equation and Ackham's razor takes him out.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

I think people need a god to 1. ease their fear of death
I wish more people would join me in pinning their hopes on medical immortality. Gerontology and nanotech research would probably go faster, then.

[mogwar.livejournal.com]

I truly believe that you are going to live damned near forever. I'm just afraid you might get lonely, after all those years. The rest of us just don't have nearly the interest that you do in living forever.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's true. Most people would just rather live forever in some other plane of existence.

[tacit.livejournal.com]

Some of us do. My partner Shelly is pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical nanotechnology for just that reason, and both of us are Alcor members. :)

[tacit.livejournal.com]

I wish more people would join me in pinning their hopes on medical immortality. Gerontology and nanotech research would probably go faster, then.

Amen to that. oh, my God, you have well and truly hit the nail square on the head.

It's depressing, really. Every year, Americans spend more money on things like dog food and cosmetic surgery than on life extension research, by nearly two orders of magnitude. It's depressing.

The notion that once you're past the grave, everything is perfect forever and ever, amen has got to go.

[simianpower.livejournal.com]

I do, too. Since I work in nanotech, it'd pay my bills. Possibly forever. I like that!

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

There are nanotech jobs in Michigan?

[meecie.livejournal.com]

Academic: http://www.nano.med.umich.edu/

And corporate: http://www.nanobio.com/

[simianpower.livejournal.com]

Not really enough to notice. I'm a PhD candidate.