So You Believe In Nothing

"So you believe in nothing?"

As an Atheist, I'm often confronted by this question that is often said as a statement all of the time.  When I hear this said to me, I'm a little offended, not because it mocks me as a person, but because of how ignorant it makes these people look.  Views towards Atheism are just so ignorant - a lack of belief in the supernatural is not a belief in nothing, it's a belief in the natural and the realities of the universe. 

I don't believe in nothing.  In fact, I believe in the exact opposite of nothing.  I believe in everything that is.  I believe in reality.  I believe in things that are real and that are proven.

The big bang - it happened.  God did not say "let there be light" and just magically created everything.   The continuing expansion of the universe shows us that. 

Evolution - we did evolve from other species, and not made from a clump of dirt and that clump of dirt's rib.  This is not just a "theory" - it's a proven scientific theory without any holes or gaps as some would have you believe.  

Humanism - I believe in helping people and treating others fairly, not just holding certain beliefs because a supposed superior being says so.  I believe in helping people today and hoping they live happy and healthy lives, not in saving their souls for a future that is not known to exist.

And I believe in reality.  There's evidence for the big bang.  There's evidence for evolution.  But there really is no evidence for God other than supposed sacred books written by people who would think we're gods with the technology at our everyday fingertips.

Now, it makes me wonder, who exactly believes in nothing?

Mind Blown

I was reading "Breaking the Spell" earlier today and came across the above sentence and my mind was completely blown.

To all the believers out there that believe in an all knowing God, why doesn't he share that great knowledge with us?  Why do we have indoor plumbing now but they didn't in Jesus' time?  Why do we have televisions now but they didn't have them a hundred years ago?  Why did you give us cancer and not give us a cure when we know that you have one?  What great things do you know that we do not know now but future generations will?  Why are you so greedy with your knowledge?

I'm guessing a believer would answer "It's just God's plan"... seems like a really shitty plan.

A Look At Morality

"I've come to the conclusion that I don't believe in God and I'm an atheist."  I said this to one of my best friends a few months ago when I finally decided to make a strong and firm stance on my ideas of belief.

"So why don't you kill and rape people then?" she quickly replied.

"Because I don't want to?" I said with confusion. 

She didn't say a thing after I said this to her, quickly realizing how ridiculous her statement was.


It's funny how statements like this are often said to me when I tell people that I'm an Atheist -  "Where do you get your morals?" "How do you know right from wrong then? "There is no good without God."

It really scares me when I hear statements like these.  I'm sure most people, like my above mentioned friend, realize that non-believers are capable of doing good things in the world without a belief in or fear of God (I could go a step further and say that God makes good people do bad things, but I will leave that alone for now).  Certainly, when looking at the charitable contributions of people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, it's easy to see that good things come from and can be accomplished by non-believers.  On a personal note, I have given blood over 25, which I've done out of generosity and not to suck up to God.  Generally, I would say almost all people are good or at least attempting to be good regardless of their religious beliefs.

What alarms me about questions like "Why don't you rape and kill people?" is, are the people that really believe this to be true, that good cannot be done without God, that moral goodness in explicit to those with mystical and supernatural beliefs, do they really want to rape and kill other people?  Do they only not rape and kill because they're afraid of how their God will react?  Are they just afraid of hell?  And if hell wasn't their end result for doing so or if God wasn't watching, then raping and killing would be their natural instinct? 


Let's a look at a pretty well-known and mostly believed to be true "moral" from God: Thou shalt not kill.

I think most people would agree with the commandment that killing is a bad thing.  Sure, some cultures have and still do kill as a form of punishment and there are certain situations where killing maybe a necessity, but overall most would agree that killing - murder - is something we shouldn't do.  Since this is a common belief amongst people today and has been throughout most civilizations in our world's history, the idea that murder is immoral because of its tie to religion is illogical.  Before Moses came down from the mountains with those two tablets, I'm certain that the people waiting for him were aware that killing another person was an immoral thing to do.  The Egyptians most likely already had a law against murder.

Picture someone waiting for Moses, running around and stoning Israelites to death and no one around him thinking he was doing anything wrong.  When Moses told them "Thou shalt not kill", do you think at that moment they all thought that killing was a bad thing?  Did it just dawn on them at the moment that murder hurt people and it was a bad thing to do?  That from that point forward, we have all just been suppressing our instinct of killing people because God told us not to? 

Obviously, there are certain things, concepts, and actions that humans do that are either morally good or morally bad, regardless of where the ideas behind these morals come from.  When we take a deeper look at the situation, morals laws or commandments really aren't guides to morality at all, but hard rules without any relation to the concept of understanding, emotion, or humanity .

Math & Morality 

I was a bit of a math wiz when I was younger because I was always good at multiplying in my head.  I guess I had a somewhat natural ability to double and divide numbers in my head, so it made multiplying a lot easier for me.

When I was in grade 5, my teacher made us play this game called "Around The World" where two students would be pitted against one another, they would be shown a multiplication flashcard, and the first one to answer correctly would win.  The winner would go on to the next student, and that would continue around the class.

Not to brag about my fifth grade successes, but I was the best at this game.  Maybe it was because I was the only Asian kid in my class, I don't know.  No matter why, I just always did really well.  But there was this one kid who I always ran into trouble with.  I would say we probably went 50-50 in our "battles".  He wasn't particularly smart.  In fact, I would say he was a pretty dumb.  One day in particular, I remember beating him in the game and, afterwards during recess he said, "You know I'm better than you, right?"

"I don't think so,"I said as confused as I was when my friend asked me why I don't rape and kill people.

"I memorized the multiplication table better than you.  You just got lucky."

"I don't have it memorized.  I just know how to multiply."

If we looked at simple equation like 3 x 4, what does that mean?  According to this dumb kid from when I was 10 or 11, it meant that 3 x 4 = 12.  But why does 3 x 4 = 12?  According to him, it would because it says so on the multiplication table.  But if we look at 3 x 4 in a realistic and true manner, what does that equation actually mean?  What it means is that we have groupings of 3 put together 4 times.  Or we can say that it's 3 added to itself 4 times.  Or to make it easier to understand using addition, it means 3 + 3 + 3 + 3.  When we look at in any of those ways, it makes it a lot easier to understand that 3 x 4 = 12 is true because we can see why it works and it's not true because it says so on a multiplication table.

Suppose we encounter an equation that doesn't fall onto the multiplication table like 12 x 13.  Is there no answer to a question like this if it's not on the multiplication table?  Or perhaps that equation doesn't even exist according to the people that wrote the multiplication table?

Because The Bible Says So

We often hear that the bible is a book of morals, but I really don't think that it is.  Looking at the most notable part of the bible in terms of morality, The Ten Commandments, is that story one of morality or law?  With God handing down these rules, these laws, the Commandments, as people, our morals do not grow, change, or make us have a better understanding of one another..  We're simply told that there are horrible things that we shouldn't do, but we aren't provided with a reason why. 

Again, looking at "Thou shalt not kill" (the most self-explanatory of the commandments), it's a pretty good moral to have in your life (aside from a few certain cases)  But when we look at this commandment from the perspective of the Bible, why wouldn't we kill?  From the Bible's perspective, we shouldn't kill because God told us so and God, being the all knowing and powerful creator of our universe, knows what's best for us and we should just obey.

Even if we agree that the bible and God are right and that murder is wrong, isn't it more important to understand why it's wrong?  Our morality should come from our own understanding of why we view something as wrong and not just because "God says so and God knows best".   Our morality should stem from our understanding of one another through our pains, emotions, and feelings.  With something as simple as why we shouldn't go around murdering (or raping) people, it should be as simple as the idea that I personally wouldn't want to be killed so I understand that the guy on the bus or the woman buying groceries probably doesn't want to be killed either so it would be wrong if I or anyone were to kill them for not apparent reason.  When you live your life, you realize it's precious and important and you wouldn't want someone taking it from you and it's easy to understand I shouldn't take it from someone else.

Believing "thou shalt not kill" is true because God says so makes it as true as 3 x 4 = 12 because a multiplication table says so.  It maybe right, but there is no justification for it.  Our morality stems from who we are and how we understand the world and one another.  I'm not saying that believers are completely immoral people but our morality stems from within ourselves and cultural factors and are not dictated to us from God, books, or other works of fiction.  Whether we're reading the bible, watching pornography, or listening to Justin Bieber, we don't take our morals from these works, we apply our morals to them.

What Good Does Stopping Do?

Earlier today, I watched the above video of the new Pope on his way to his inauguration mass.  On his way there, he stopped at a disabled man, gave him a kiss, and continued forward to the mass.

It seemed like a good gesture - the Pope stopped, acknowledged the man's existence, and maybe gave him a blessing.  I'm sure that after the encounter, the Pope gave the man and his family some hope and a good feeling from being acknowledged by a man that's holier than them.  They will probably remember this day for the rest of their lives - meeting a celebrity is always a big deal (I once met Salt n Pepa at an amusement park) - and it will be something this family can always relive in their minds and relive on YouTube.

But looking at this video, what did the Pope, Jesus' right hand man on earth, actually do for this family other than take a few seconds out of his day.  Did he really do anything for them?  They go home, nothing changes, no miracles occurred.  Physically, he stays the same.  Financially they stay the same (and you know the purse strings get tight when you live with a person with special needs).  Other than a story, a video, and a placebo, how does anything really change?

Last Sunday, I was in Downtown Toronto and walked passed a homeless man I've seen for years.  He asked me for change and I replied, "Sorry, I don't have any."  In return he said, "At least you stopped to talk to me."  I met someone for a lunch date and after the lunch date, I walked passed the guy again and said, "I don't have any change, but I can buy you a cup of coffee."  We then went to Tim Horton's and I bought him a soup and bagel combo with an extra large coffee.

Did anything change after my brief moment with this homeless man?  Well, no, not really.  I don't know if I gave him any hope or even a very good story.  I wish I could have helped him more - get him a job or somewhere warm to live - but I just don't have the means.  But I know for a moment, just a brief moment, I made him full and warm, and that's something.

If you check out the comments on the video, I tell a brief version of this story and someone replied that maybe I should be the next Pope (Side note: I am male and technically Catholic).  I think I could do a good job, but I would never think I would never be so pompous to think that I was holier than anyone.

My Mother The Fighter - Why Faith Is Not An Acceptable Answer

Just over three years ago, my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer.  She was a relatively healthy woman that was always on her feet (she had this tendency to walk like she was dancing, but also had no rhythm), rarely drank (drinking one beer a year at most), and didn't smoke (telling me she smoked once when she was younger and my grandfather spanked her for it).  For a year, I watched my mother lose her hair, get fat and wither away at the same time, and die before my eyes.

Do I regret any part of that time of my life?  Yes, I honestly do.  I wish I could have treated her better.  I wish I could have been better to her.  I wish I could have just really given her all the love that she deserved and more.  I regret that very much.  Even though we shared a great bond, I will always regret not giving her even more.

My Mother's Illness

She struggled with with her illness for a year, going for chemotherapy on a regular basis.  We'd sit up all night with her as she would pass out, as she would throw up, as we saw her fall to the ground not knowing if she would ever get back up.

Do I regret any part of this time in my life?  Absolutely not.  I remember the day that my mother was diagnosed with cancer.  My Godmother, a doctor, told me that cancer is treatable and curable.  If it's caught in its early stages or isn't strong enough or spread much, she can beat it.

My Mother The Fighter

My mother was a fighter throughout this time.  She was always positive - smiling, laughing, making jokes.  She really didn't change much at all.  Her optimism throughout this struggle will forever be the most inspirational thing I'll have ever witnessed.

I often look back at this time of my life and wonder what was going through my mother's mind.  I often wonder if she was actually just optimistic (because the woman I knew and loved was just an upbeat and optimistic person) or if she was in denial about the whole the situation.  She knew she had cancer obviously.  She wasn't looking at the sky running her hands over her eyes.  She knew that she had cancer and that she was fighting it.  But I sometimes stop and wonder, looking back at the times she'd be laying on her hospital bed and fighting off her back like BJ Penn, if she was kidding herself about beating the cancer or if she really thought she would fight through it.  Was she just optimistic about the whole situation?  Did she think it was mind over matter?  Was she sadly just kidding herself?

Is Ignorance Bliss?

Looking at my mother's situation, imagine if her doctor, while holding her chart that held her diagnosis, decided to tell her that she didn't have cancer.  Imagine if he told her that she was healthy, there was nothing wrong with her, and she was in good health.  How do you think my mother would react to that?  I'm sure it's quite obvious that she would feel a great sense of relief and, most likely, a great deal of happiness.  But would those feelings be true feelings if they were based on a lie?  Is false hope a good thing?  A healthy thing to have?  A healthy way to live your life?  Moreover, would it be right of her doctor to tell her this because it makes her happy?  And when the illness got worse, would it be right just to continue telling her that she's healthy just to keep her happy?

I'm often asked why I have such strong views on Atheism, amongst other topics, and why can't I just let people be happy.  There are two reasons mainly why I have such strong views - one, which I will go into further in a future post, is that non-belief in God should not be seen as less important than a believer's belief in God.  Atheism is not faith in nothing, it's belief through logic and reason.  And two, I find it very condescending when people say, "It makes me happy, so just let me have this" or "If it makes them happy, let them do it."

In my mother's example, is keeping her happy more important than giving her knowledge or the facts of the situation?  When it comes to your own health, either mentally or physically, wouldn't it be more advantageous for a person to actually know the truth and to come to terms with that truth?

In terms of religion, knowing the historical inaccuracies of the Bible, moral faults of the Bible, the scientific failures of the Bible, the improbabilities of the Bible's stories, and the social and cultural problems that religion has brought to the world, why should I not share this knowledge with people?  Why is this information not to be shared?  Why should I think it's okay for people to have their sacred happy feeling at the expense of other people's rights, well-being, and, most importantly, the truth?  Of all of the topics that are explored in the universe, the most important questions people have to ask - where did we come from, why are we here, what happens when we die - how are these questions the that we allow to be answered on feelings, blind faith, fairy tales, mysticism, and hunches?

If I said 1 + 1 = Pizza, and that was my feeling and held that belief for my entire life, would that be accurate?

If I decided to water my lawn with Kool-Aid because I had faith it would make the grass turn red and the idea of possibly having a red lawn makes me happy, would you condone this lunacy?

If I read that bird blood would cure leprosy, would you consult that book or pharmacist that could give you the cure? (Leviticus 14:49-53)

How is faith - belief without reason - an acceptable answer to any question in any realm?


***

In my mother's case, I do believe that she was just optimistic and that she really thought that she would be able to fight out the cancer.  The day she died, she suffered two seizures.  The first one, I was told, was so strong that if she wanted it to and if she let it, the seizure would have killed her.  She fought through it and won.  The second one, she had nothing left to fight it off with and passed away.

Yes, my mother died, but she didn't die without coming to terms with her illness or, from a story too emotional for me to type out right now, coming to terms with death.  She understood her illness, she understood the consequences, and she dealt with it with science and she fought it with a warrior's spirit.

Putting your faith into faith may make you happy, but it leaves you ignorant to the reality of the truth.

New Pope? Not Really

Earlier today, I tweeted a brief thought about the annoiting of a new Roman Catholic Pope. 

Ontario - Female/homosexual premier. USA - Black President. Catholicism - Old, White, Gay bashing Male. #progress
— Ryan Man (@AFragileSmile) March 13, 2013

I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and the Premier of our great Province is a female homosexual.  Granted, she got the position in an odd way, but I never heard anyone get upset over her gender or sexual preference.

The Unites of America has a half Black President.  He was voted in showing that the majority of the United States accepts the notion that a Black man is their commander and cheif.

So when it came to picking a new Pope, the Roman Catholic Church went with a a 76 year-old white man that is known to be against homosexuals (amongst other things). 

Is anyone surprised by this?  Was anyone really expecting much change from the Church? 

The Church is holding back the progress for all of mankind in terms of science, morality, health, well-being, and just overall way of life.  With this new Pope, I do not plan to see any changes on the views of homosexuals in the world, birth control, or any further investigation or changes in terms of child abuse in the Church.

Sure, he's the first non-European Pope ever, but ideologically, how will he be any different?

Let's pray to God that this one is better... but since I'm an Atheist, I hope that the Governments of the world will smarten up and start working against the Church as a whole.

Let Us Proclaim The Mystery of Faith

Imagine that you and I are best friends.

Firstly, thank-you for being my imaginary best-friend.  As far as imaginary best-friends go, you are absolutely the best, coming in second place only to God.

Secondly, imagine that the two of us make plans to meet up for a cup of coffee at 3 o'clock promptly on a Sunday afternoon.  You arrive at the coffee shop first and you wait for my arrival.  I don't show up for quite along while.  Quarter after three, I'm still not there and you begin to get worried, thinking to yourself, "Ryan is never late."  Another ten minutes pass so you call my cell phone, but there's no answer.  Another ten minutes pass and you send me a text.  I don't reply.  At this point, your feelings lie somewhere between concerned and annoyed.  At 3:45, I finally stroll through the doors of the coffee shop and your feelings officially settle on annoyed, telling yourself, "He better have a good excuse."

"Why are you late?" You ask me.

"Something completely out of the ordinary happened on the way here," I reply looking genuinely shaken up.  "So you know that little empty side street by my house?  You know, the wooded area with the deer crossing sign?  You'll never guess what I saw just standing in the middle of the street."

"A deer?" You ask.

"No," I pause and take a deep breath.  "A unicorn," I state as a matter of fact.

"A unicorn?" You ask.

"A unicorn.  There was a unicorn just standing there in the middle of the road and I couldn't go around her and that's why I'm late."

Do You Trust Me?

Looking at this scenario, you have three options of response:

1. You think I'm full of shit and that my story is completely ludicrous because I have no one to verify my story and the existence of unicorns has never been proved.
2. You think something may have been blocking my path on the road, but it probably wasn't a unicorn.  Perhaps it was just a deer.
3. As my best-friend, you have faith that I would never lie to you and take me on my word that there indeed was a unicorn blocking the road with no one else around to see.

I think most people would go with option one.  My story, no matter how good of friends we are (and again, thanks for the imaginary friendship), just seems implausible, impossible, and unrealistic.  The fact that I have no one to corroborate my story further solidifies that I was most likely just making it up and that, while you can't prove what I did or did not see, the likeliness of it happening seems rather unlikely, impossible even.

Option two seems like a somewhat plausible option.  Maybe I was mistaking what I saw for a unicorn?  It was a deer crossing so it was probably just a deer.  Maybe the deer had been in the bushes and had a branch caught on it's head?  Maybe it was dark and it was just a bunch of branches that got blown on to the road that resembled what I thought to be a unicorn?  Or maybe it was nothing at all?  I wear glasses and my vision is pretty bad so maybe I was just seeing things?  Maybe I was tired and was simply just seeing things that weren't actually there?  While it's not a great excuse for being late, perhaps I was just mistaken?

With option three, you are putting your faith completely into me, my senses, and experiences and that even the possibility of any part of my story being a lie is unfathomable.  You have come to the conclusion that the odds of me lying is less likely than the existence of a mythical creature that most people in the world have heard about, but whose existence has never been authenticated.  My word is the truth.  My word is scared.  You believe in the existence of unicorns because you have completely put your faith into my word. 

Who Exactly Do People of Faith Put Their Faith In?

faith

[feyth] 

noun

1.  confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another's ability.

2.  belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3.  belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4.  belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

5.  a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

I would like to examine a few of the above definitions of faith, comparing my previous unicorn example with believers' faith in God.

Looking at the third definition of faith, it simply states, "belief in God." Using my example of a unicorn crossing the street, that definition would be slightly altered to "belief in unicorns" if you did in fact believe my story.  But how did you come to this belief in unicorns?  Do you actually have faith in the unicorn you've never seen, heard or touched?  Do you put your faith into this mythical creature?  What you're actually doing is putting your faith into me.  You're putting your faith into my words, taking them as true, taking them as sacred.  Your trust and confidence is in me to come to the conclusion of your beliefs, not the unicorn itself.  What that unicorn could do for you and mean to you and your life is up to your and your ability to reason, but its existence in your mind is as a result of your faith in me.

Again, let's take a look at the definitions of faith, particularly, the first one that states, "confidence or trust in a person or thing."  In comparing my example to believers, is it actually God that they put their faith into or is it a person or thing they've put their faith into that led them to believe in God?

Like the unicorn, believers weren't there to see God perform his miraculous feats that defy the laws of our natural universe such as parting the Red Sea or Jesus' walking on water, so, in order to believe in him or her or it and/or Jesus, they've put their faith into people and things to let them know that God is real.  Parents, teachers, priests, whack jobs at street corners waving bibles around yelling, "Praise Jesus", door to door parishioners attempting to convert, grilled cheese virgin Marys etc.  There are a number of people that believers put their faith in to get their understanding and belief of God, taking their word for it. But, where did their belief come from?  Again, it came from their priests, parents, teachers, whack jobs, etc.  And where did those people get their faith from?  From their priests, parents, teachers...  This line of faith goes down through generations and generations of people and generations and generations of believers until it comes down to one single thing - the Bible.  

The Bible - the truth, the word of the lord (Please see the circular reasoning behind the bible to your left).  But to put one's faith in the Bible and to believe it as truth and the word of God again comes down to a person or persons.  The Bible was not written by God (despite what this girl may have you believe).  The Bible was written by man.  It was created by man, passed down orally by man, written by man, edited by man, and canonized by man (For a brief look, look at Ricahrd Dawkins' Facebook page).  Believers' understanding of God comes from having faith in men from the past that you could never know on a personal level and whose names are unimportant or unknown at this point of history.  This is a long line of men who have a long history of committing atrocities throughout the world (ex. child molestation cover ups, condoning the Holocaust, witch hunts, etc.).  This is a long line of men that are known to lie, cover things up, and encourage despicable acts.  To believe in the words of the Bible is to put faith into hundreds of years of revision, inaccuracy, and miracle stories that, by today's or any culture's standards, seem unrealistic, impossible, and untrue.  (Let's face it, if anyone told you they were late for a lunch date because they saw a unicorn, you'd call them out on Bullshit) 

Are these really the types of men you would put your faith into?  Are these the type of men you would let babysit a child?  Are these the type of men you would want to base your morals around?  Are these the types of men you would put your life into their hands?  Are these really the types of men you would put your faith into, blindly, completely, securely, and without any doubts?

The second definition of faith reads "belief that is not based on proof".  Examining the history of the church and the people behind the construction of the Bible, timeline of how the Bible was written, and all of the scientific inaccuracies inside of the Bible (Evolution, the Big Bang, the heliocentric model), how is it that people can continue to believe in a book that makes extraordinary claims, knowing that the people they've based their beliefs on are men that had no proof and very little credibility, whose only credibility comes from saying that their word was the truth?  Read the sentence to the right and you will be able to decipher the reasoning behind my last sentence (it might take awhile).
  

Believers' faith is not in God, but in the people that led them to believe that God exists. 

When I sat down to write this, I wasn't out to shake people's beliefs in God, but to break down the credibility and inaccuracy behind what they have put their faith in.  In the end, who are you more likely to believe, someone who lived hundreds of years ago and claimed something he said and/or wrote down was real, true, and sacred?  Or me, your imaginary best-friend?  At this point, I wonder which you are more likely to believe in - God or Unicorns?