It Takes More Faith to be an Atheist

 

 

The very first problem I notice with this statement when religious people say it is, up until this statement, faith is supposed to be a good thing.  And yet, all of a sudden the religious want to eschew faith as much as possible.   Personally, I hope to be more consistent than that. I do call faith bad. The main difference is that I don't change my mind when it protects some belief I cherish.

 

The second problem, admittedly minor, is that in the statement's most generous interpretation, it uses a misapplication of the term 'atheist.'  It assumes that 'atheist' means an active disbelief in god when it is better characterized as a lack of a belief.  Someone who puts forth a definition of the word 'god' and then says that they actively disbelieve it would be better described as an anti-theist.

 

The next problem is that it's just false.  Let me illustrate this by listing the assumptions that atheists have to make, next to those of most theists.

 

Atheist assumptions:

• My senses are generally trustworthy to the extent that the consistencies they generate are representative of an actual, cooperatively experienced reality.

Theist assumptions: (these are usually made, not always)

• My senses are generally trustworthy to the extent that the consistencies they generate are representative of an actual, cooperatively experienced reality.
• There is a god. (whatever that could mean)
• God is omnipotent '''
• God is omniscient '''
• God is omnibenevolent ""
• God cares about what happens in our world
• God intervenes
• A particular "holy book" represents god better than the others
 
 

Some may be thinking that the separate god assumptions should be lumped together, to which I would point out that it's conceivable that there could be a god who doesn't care, and yet has all of those other attributes, but that's usually not what theists believe. Not all theists make all of these assumptions, but most make most.  It's pretty clear to me that theists make many more assumptions than atheists tend to make.

 

Faith is belief without evidence and reason. Stated differently, the more reason you have to disbelieve something, the more faith it takes to believe it.  I also would quibble a little on the idea that it takes faith to make that first assumption. I don't hold that position dogmatically and if challenged am happy to admit that I am making an assumption there.  Can the same be said for a theist for any of their assumptions. I think not.