Back when I was a believer, this whole "it takes more faith to be an atheist" thing held me for a while. It seemed to be an argument against losing faith. That is, if I leave my faith, I will be required to employ even more faith, and that is what I am leaving. So why leave? But this doesn't hold faith itself in high regard, does it? The idea now is to have the least amount of faith possible, and that is to be a believer.
But this net is so flimsy; I really don't know how it held me for so long. Faith is supposed to be a virtue, and if I believe that faith IS a virtue, AND I believe that it takes more faith to be an atheist, why not be an atheist? Now the atheist has the more virtuous viewpoint? How did that happen?
Is this the believer admitting that faith is not virtuous? Why would you want to show the opposing side that they possess more of the virtue you hold in such high regard and that they hold in such low regard? It’s not like you see a bunch of atheists telling believers that it takes more gods to not believe in gods than it takes to believe in gods. What? That last statement makes just as much sense as the title of this blog. Stop re-reading it. It does. Have some faith. Sheesh.
Then you realize that it requires NO faith to not believe in imaginary deities, fairies, unicorns, dragons, chimeras, etc. Do you believe in pixies? Does that require faith? So really, losing faith really does mean losing faith. That is, after all, why they call it losing faith. It takes LESS faith to be an atheist. Duh.
But that misses this point:
If you are a believer, and you think faith is virtuous, and you think atheists have more faith, why do you chose not to have as much faith as you think the atheist does? Why are you in such a hurry to lose the faith competition?
It’s okay to lose your faith. It’s not virtuous. It’s delusion. Trust me.
Andrew, Andrew. What are we gong to do with you? Everyone has faith. The only question is faith in what? When people say that it takes more faith to be an atheist, what they mean is there is less evidence for atheism than there is for a belief in God. For example, if you are being intellectually honest, an atheist cannot explain the origin of the world. Or an atheist cannot really provide a basis for ethics. I made a promise to write a post about why faith in God makes life better, and I will. Also, I think you and I should formalize our debates and create a separate blog. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteReally? You want like an ongoing blog where we constantly disagree with each other? A blog dedicated to constant bickering under a thin guise of moderated angst? A blog where the two primary debaters will never really see eye to eye on anything?
ReplyDeleteDAMN THAT SOUNDS LIKE FUN!!
Uh, I have no idea how to make that work. So, I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to do the work to set it up. But that also give you the right to pick the first topic and set the stage!
Can we make it public and link it all to EA and boost both our stats? Can we open the comments so other people can chime in? Can we block Frank?
I will try and set it up!!!!! Bickering here we come. I appreciate arguing with you though because you do not make it personal.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I created the blog. www.andrewvtim.blogspot.com. I need your email address to add you as a "contributor". Email me. My email is thurmanlaw@gmail.com.
ReplyDelete