The Choice is Emphatically NOT Between Christianity and Atheism
I am an atheist. I reject all religious faiths and paranormal claims. In fact I reject faith, period. I should never take a leap of faith beyond what the evidence leads me to conclude. So I do not believe. I am a non-believer. That distinguishes me from people who believe. Believers are all in one category (or type, or classification) of knowers. Non-believers are in a different category of knowers. Believers base what they claim to know on faith. Non-believers base what they claim to know on the actual probabilities.
Non-believers are therefore skeptics. We do not accept any assertion without confirming evidence to support it and therefore we do not accept any paranormal claim. We doubt all extraordinary claims of faith. We reject faith based reasoning in all of its forms.
That is the dividing line between those who are believers and those who are non-believers. All believers are in one camp of people. All non-believers are in a different camp. This distinction best describes us.
So it will do no good for believers in their dominant cultural religions to argue against atheism. In Hindu countries Hindu's argue against atheism, just as Muslims do in Islamic countries, or Orthodox Jews do in Israel, or as Christians do in America. In each of these cultures they assume that if they can argue against atheism then by default their religious faith wins. Here in America there have been many debates where the question is between Christianity or atheism.
But there is a real significant problem here for believers. There are many types of Christianity, including the so-called Christian cults. Several other types of Christianity have even died out. So before we can even have a debate between Christianity and atheism there must first be debates between Christians on which Christianity represents true Christianity. And this goes for the many other world religions. Before there can be a debate between any given culturally dominant religion and atheism there must first be debates to settle which religion is the correct one.
Why? Because skepticism, or atheism, or non-belief, are in an entirely different category than religious faith. On the one hand there is skepticism. By applying skepticism across the board, atheism is the position of last resort. It's adopted through the process of elimination as one religion after another is rejected for the same reasons they are all rejected. It is a consistent approach to all religions. On the other hand there is faith. Religions embrace faith based reasoning which goes beyond what the evidence calls for. The problem for religious faith then is why believers should adopt one faith over the others once they admit it's legitimate to embrace faith based reasoning in the first place!
It's faith that we skeptics reject. It's faith that believers embrace. We stand consistently in one camp. Believers are all in a different camp. The choice is emphatically NOT between any given culturally adopted religion and atheism. The choice is between all religions on one side of the fence and atheism on the other side. First believers must settle the question of which religion is the correct one because they all embrace faith based reasoning. But precisely because they embrace faith these religious disputes cannot be settled between them.
Atheists are simply waiting in the wings.
;-)
Non-believers are therefore skeptics. We do not accept any assertion without confirming evidence to support it and therefore we do not accept any paranormal claim. We doubt all extraordinary claims of faith. We reject faith based reasoning in all of its forms.
That is the dividing line between those who are believers and those who are non-believers. All believers are in one camp of people. All non-believers are in a different camp. This distinction best describes us.
So it will do no good for believers in their dominant cultural religions to argue against atheism. In Hindu countries Hindu's argue against atheism, just as Muslims do in Islamic countries, or Orthodox Jews do in Israel, or as Christians do in America. In each of these cultures they assume that if they can argue against atheism then by default their religious faith wins. Here in America there have been many debates where the question is between Christianity or atheism.
But there is a real significant problem here for believers. There are many types of Christianity, including the so-called Christian cults. Several other types of Christianity have even died out. So before we can even have a debate between Christianity and atheism there must first be debates between Christians on which Christianity represents true Christianity. And this goes for the many other world religions. Before there can be a debate between any given culturally dominant religion and atheism there must first be debates to settle which religion is the correct one.
Why? Because skepticism, or atheism, or non-belief, are in an entirely different category than religious faith. On the one hand there is skepticism. By applying skepticism across the board, atheism is the position of last resort. It's adopted through the process of elimination as one religion after another is rejected for the same reasons they are all rejected. It is a consistent approach to all religions. On the other hand there is faith. Religions embrace faith based reasoning which goes beyond what the evidence calls for. The problem for religious faith then is why believers should adopt one faith over the others once they admit it's legitimate to embrace faith based reasoning in the first place!
It's faith that we skeptics reject. It's faith that believers embrace. We stand consistently in one camp. Believers are all in a different camp. The choice is emphatically NOT between any given culturally adopted religion and atheism. The choice is between all religions on one side of the fence and atheism on the other side. First believers must settle the question of which religion is the correct one because they all embrace faith based reasoning. But precisely because they embrace faith these religious disputes cannot be settled between them.
Atheists are simply waiting in the wings.
;-)