Let it never be said that any two atheists will answer questions about their atheism in exactly the same way. Case in point: In the first chapter of “Atheist Universe“, David Mills gives himself an “interview” in which he explains all about atheism. If I may, I’d like to engage in a little rebuttal and commentary.

Interviewer: You openly refer to yourself as an “atheist.” What exactly does that mean?
Mills: Essentially, an atheist is a person who rejects the concept of god.

Whoa, not so fast. As you said yourself a couple of sentences later:

Mills (continued): When the negative prefix a is added to theos, the derivative form becomes atheist and simply means “without god,” just as asexual reproduction means reproduction without sex.

An “atheist” is a person without a god. Plain and simple. Saying that an atheist “rejects” the concept of god implies a choice in the matter. I think it’s very important to note that I don’t believe in any gods because of the evidence, not in spite of it. If the evidence were different (if the laws of physics were different), being an intellectually honest person, I would be forced to reconsider.

Interview: But doesn’t the word “atheist” really mean a lot more than that? You don’t believe in life-after-death either, do you?
Mills: No, I don’t. And I think you’re quite correct that the word “atheist” can be extrapolated to mean a rejection of all supernatural beings and phenomena that are normally associated with the idea of god.

No, it can’t. All “atheist” means is “without god”. There are religious atheists (some types of Buddhists, for example), there are people who don’t believe in god but do believe in other “woo-woo” type stuff (like astrology, feng shui, ESP…), and it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to think that there are some atheists who believe in things like reincarnation.

Interviewer: What’s the difference between an atheist and an agnostic?
Mills: The words atheist and agnostic have totally disparate origins. But the real answer to your question is guts.

No, it isn’t. You didn’t actually answer the question, by the way.

Agnosticism is the belief that it is impossible to know whether a god exists. Atheism is the lack of belief that a god exists. Many people think these two ideas are incompatible, but actually, they’re not at all. I believe that most theists (if they’re honest with themselves) are agnostic. Most godless people are both atheist and agnostic — more specifically, they are agnostic atheists with regard to the general concept of god, but many atheists will go on to claim that they can know that certain specific, pre-defined gods do not exist, such as the Abrahamic god, or the Greek pantheon. Sometimes theists confuse this with declaring that there is no god, at all, full stop, and then use it as an excuse to call atheists dogmatic.

You are right that whether a person chooses to call themselves an atheist or an agnostic is oftentimes influenced by social acceptability, and it is more acceptable to say “I’m an agnostic” than “I’m an atheist”.

Even though for the purposes of argument, it is necessary to maintain a strict agnostic position towards the idea of god (we cannot, after all know everything), the longer I am an atheist, and the more books I read, and the more I live in the world, the more apparent it becomes that the existence of a god would require a major restructuring of what I know about how the world works. The idea of a supernatural being just does not make sense.

Interviewer: And what do Christians think of an atheist quoting the Bible?
Mills: [...] The fact is that most Christians know next to nothing about the Bible which they carry proudly to church every Sunday. I would be happy and confident to take a standard Bible-knowledge test against any churchgoer you might arbitrarily pluck from a pew next Sunday morning.

I have no doubt you would win. Most Christians don’t read, they just listen to whatever the guy behind the pulpit tells them.

Interviewer: But why do so many people believe in God?
Mills: [...] Few adults — and literally no children — have the independence of mind to dismiss the prevailing majority opinion as being total nonsense.

Are you sure about that? Maybe it’s been too long since you were a child.

Interviewer: A few minutes ago, you mentioned Carl Sagan. He believed that intelligent life might exist elsewhere in the universe. Do atheists acknowledge that possibility? Do you personally believe in UFOs?

Those are two completely different questions. Given the size of the Universe and the sheer number of suns and planets, I find it very difficult to believe that there isn’t intelligent life out there somewhere. But that doesn’t mean I think they don’t have anything better to do than abduct people from trailer parks.

Interviewer: In 1963 Madalyn Murray O’Hair persuaded the U.S. Supreme Court to remove prayer from America’s public schools. I’m sure you supported that Court decision. But don’t you think that it’s unfair in a democratic society for the majority who want to pray in school to be denied the opportunity by a tiny minority who object?
Mills: As long as there are algebra tests, students will continue to pray effusively in the public schools. The 1963 decision prohibited mandatory prayer, in which students of diverse religious backgrounds were forced, under penalty of expulsion, to mumble a prayer reflecting the religious beliefs of the local schoolboard. There is no law in any state that prohibits voluntary prayer in America’s public schools.

This is a very important point. People who are upset about prayer being “banned” in public schools are gravely misinformed. Yes, Virginia, you can pray in public schools. You just can’t make me pray.

Interviewer: Are you afraid to die?
Mills: I’m afraid to die in that I want to continue living. I don’t want my life terminated.

I don’t want to die any more than the next person, but the idea of death doesn’t scare me as much as my consciousness just can’t imagine the idea of itself not existing — like a mental “divide by zero” error. But wherever “I” was before I existed, I have to assume that’s where “I” will go after I die. I assume it will make sense when I get there.

Interviewer: Has being an atheist affected your social life?
Mills: Not especially. [...] I do feel, however, that I have a thorough appreciation of what it’s like to be black or Hispanic or gay in America.

Hmmm… I know what you’re getting at, but “thorough”? I don’t think so. Yes, we generally have an idea of what it’s like to be part of a hated minority group, and we are one of the last groups that it’s still acceptable to discriminate against, but out of all of the hated minority groups, we are also the one with the most ability to hide our membership in it. We don’t have to change our skin color or completely deny our natural sexual drive — we just have to lie. And even as difficult as that position is to be in, it’s nothing compared to being the wrong color or being attracted to the wrong gender.

Interviewer: How do atheists define morality then? Since you don’t believe in God, do you believe in a right and wrong?

The following discussion circles around but never quite gets to something I think is a very important point:

Some theists insist that all morality comes from God, and since atheists have no god, they must also have absolutely no concept of right and wrong. These people would have you believe that all atheists are sociopaths who would rape and murder their own children without even a second thought.

Well, if this line of reasoning is valid, then how is it that I have been a professed atheist for six years now and have not harmed anyone during that time? How is it that none of my atheist friends or acquaintances have either? You’d think we’d have a crime syndicate going by now. How is it that the number of atheists in prison is lower than that in the general population? The answer, of course, is that we do have a concept of right and wrong.

Meanwhile, if a theist’s concept of morality comes only from God, then that would have to mean that the only reason — the only reason — they don’t rape and murder children is that they think they will be punished after they die. Not because they have any empathy for their fellow human beings, not because they have any respect for society, not even because they’re afraid that the victim’s family might want revenge, but because a magical being who lives in the clouds might be mad at them sixty years from now.

If there are any people anywhere who actually think like that, I hope I never, ever meet any of them, because I am scared shitless.

Interviewer: Do you celebrate Christmas?
Mills: Atheists celebrate the Winter Solstice [...]

Speak for yourself! Some atheists celebrate the Winter Solstice. Some celebrate the pagan aspect of Christmas (in other words, all of it except for the Jesus thing) and call it “Winter Solstice” or “Yule” or even “Christmas”. Some celebrate other holidays, like Hanukkah. Some ignore the holiday season altogether. Some people like to pretend that atheists are a monolithic entity with identical, dogmatic beliefs (we’re much easier to stereotype that way). Please don’t give them ammunition.

Interviewer: Finally, let’s suppose that you’re dead wrong. There is a God and you’re brought before Him on Judgment Day. What would you say?
Mills: I would probably point out that, during my lifetime, I read the Bible more than most of His followers. I studied Church history, I thought more, read more and wrote more about religion than most Christians. And I didn’t even believe in Him! Therefore, I should get double credit! [Laughs]

Assuming this deity is the Christian god, I wouldn’t suck up to him. He’s got a lot to answer for.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 14th, 2006 at 11:34 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.