5 Things Atheists Take By Faith
It seems to me false to claim that atheists/naturalists are people who simply do not operate by faith. (I think a simple way to define having faith is that which involves 3 components: Object of faith (a proposition or person), Assent to the proposition or person, and Trust in the proposition or person. Given this definition, it seems that everyone takes many things faith).
Atheists take many things by faith, even in contradiction to where a naturalistic worldview ought to lead them. As others have argued, it this seems to be out of a refusal to embrace nihilism, which is the logical position of the naturalism (one atheist who was consistent to where the logic took him was Nieztche).
Here’s 5 Things Atheists Take By Faith:
1 By Faith, believing nothing created everything for no purpose and under no personal guidance and everything we see around us (including all appearance of design) are products of mere time, space and chance and unguided evolution—in faith, believing that any notion of a Creator God is ruled out a priori.
2. By faith, asserting that life is meaningful and we can make a purpose to our life—and that is wrong to live a wasted life—, even though if there is no Creator then there really is no purpose to our existence and any attempts we make are woefully subjective as we head toward being forgotten forever, along with everything we do in a universe heading toward burnout and collapse.
3. By faith, claiming that moral goodness is “promoting well-being and diminishing suffering” (a la the authority and teaching of atheist Sam Harris who seems to function as the High Priest of Atheist Moral Ethics), even though science cannot prove this (it is impossible to derive any “ought” from what “is” in a godless reality, morals are merely preference, opinion, or taste).
4. By faith, claiming that we ought to treat humans with more dignity and worth then worms, rabbits or apes, even though there is no objective difference in their value—we’re merely advanced matter a few years ahead of apes.
5. By faith, trusting in reason, sense perception and memory, even though there are no reasons for knowing why these are trustworthy or true in a universe absent from an all-powerful intelligent rational God who would create a universe with these built in and teach us that we can normally trust these and they are dependable, being gifts given to us from Him which help us to acquire knowledge about the world around us.
1 reply on “5 Things Atheists Take By Faith”
Great post, Tom!