Is Atheism right

Answer 1

If this question means "Is there a God?", then the answer is that no one has proven or disproven the existence of a God, a task that is especially complicated by the fact that even people of faith disagree on the exact nature of "God". For some believers, it's simply a question of faith, and to some extent, a question of freedom. For others, it's a question of what they can and can't prove, using logical reasoning or scientific methods in existence today.

If this question means "Can good people be atheists?", well, of course they can. All Atheism means is a disbelief in any God. It does not require the atheist to ridicule, revile or demonize people who believe that there is a God, any more than a belief in a God makes it right to demonize people who don't believe in God. Anyone who reviles or ridicules another person for having a belief different from his own shows a basic disrespect for his fellow man. Such behavior is neither rational nor loving.

Also please note that it is possible to disagree with someone's opinion and suggest places that they may find more information without actually intending to suggest that they are a lesser person or that their opinion has less value. Sadly when it comes to this issue an opposite opinion is often seen as denigration of the other person involved in the discussion. The purpose of a discussion surely is a sharing of ideas.

Answer 2

Being "wrong" requires knowing the ; since nobody knows for sure, anybody could be wrong.

Scientifically there is no way to prove or disprove the existence of God.

Belief in God is therefore a matter of faith.

Given this, it is therefore hard to understand how someone can have a belief (faith) that God does not exist (and thus be atheist).

It would be far more rational to say that you were not sure one way or the other and thus be an agnostic.

Atheism is simply the position one adopts when there is no good evidence to support a view. Since there is no good evidence, the view is irrelevant, and can be treated as false for all intents and purposes - because it has no noticable effect on the world.

Atheism is not a faith-based position. In fact, it is just the exact opposite: it is the complete absense of faith.

Some Agnostics follow the argument that if one can neither prove nor disprove something, it is therefore in a grey area, and there can be no sure . This is not seen as the rational course by many atheists, because the exact same logic appears ridiculous when applied to:

• The Tooth Fairy
• Zeus
• Percy, the invisible pink unicorn
• A magic teapot which is in orbit between Earth and Mars, which controls the destiny of everyone on Earth
• The invisible magic elephant who lives in your house

There is no good evidence to support any of the above propositions. If you choose not to believe that they are true due to the lack of evidence (even if you allow that they are not impossible), then you would be atheist towards them.

If, however, you think that they should not be regarded as true or false by default but rather kept open as possibilities which should be considered and given some weight, then you are agnostic towards them.

It was this realisation which turned me from an agnostic into an atheist: I found agnosticism to be an unsupportable position when applied to magic teapots - about which I was decidedly atheist. I didn't see why one proposition with no good evidence should be favoured over another proposition with no good evidence, and thus I changed my views to become an atheist.

So are atheists wrong? Maybe. It's certainly possible (but very unlikely, I think, because after all this time there is still no evidence to suggest that this is the case). Most atheists I know would change their views if good evidence was provided that showed that a deity exists. But that has not yet happened.

Answer 3

Atheism is not wrong. A opinion cannot be "wrong", it can be contrary to the opinion held by another person. For atheism the position taken is that:

• there is no god(s)
• there is no afterlife
• there is no immortal part of a person that goes on

The proofs offered by the theist position are not strong enough to offer a viable alternative to atheists. As consequence the atheist position is acceptable to many people.

When any reasonable standard of "proof" is used (demonstrable, repeatable, consistent, not dependant on observer bias, independent, etc.) atheist positions on the non-existence of god(s) win every time.

Answer 4

Atheism is by no means wrong. We simply use our logic, reasoning, skepticism, and rational thinking to figure out how nature occurs, and not to cling to primative myths and fairy tales.