4 (More) Lies Theists Tell About Atheists

within certain theist circles dialogue on atheists is dominated by ideas which misrepresent atheists entirely a single honest conversation with an atheist could put these ideas to rest for most people but many theists who have never been able or perhaps willing to have such a conversation go about propagating these ideas to be clear i'm not talking about all theists here in fact this video will discuss statements which i have almost exclusively heard from abrahamics primarily christians and muslims living in the u.s probably has a lot to do with that but it may also be that not all faiths are so focused on everyone believing in a particular god in the interest of improving the dialogue between theists and atheists i'd like to kindly address some common misconceptions about atheists which stand in the way of productive discourse i certainly don't represent all atheists so if you're a theist watching this realize that if you'd like to understand where a specific atheist you know stands on the issues to come it's best if you just politely ask that person about them as i hope everyone will come to see by the end none of these misconceptions have to exist if we commit ourselves to kindly asking people what they do or don't believe and more importantly listening before we speak oh and a final note before we begin i've already made a video correcting five other common misrepresentations of atheists so if you'd like to check that out it's linked in the description atheists believe everything came from nothing first off atheism does not dictate one's cosmology there's no rule atheism and forces which says that a person has to believe anything about the universe's origins i will say though that many atheists or at least many of the western atheists with which i'm familiar are proponents of big bang cosmology this may not mean what you think it means however the big bang is not some version of creation x nilo or creation from nothing the event we might call the big bang is not posited as an absolute beginning to our universe in the first place but simply the furthest we can trace the expansion of our universe backward until our understanding of physics breaks down a purely scientific understanding of the big bang is not accurately represented as something from nothing but rather as our mathematical models work well up until a certain point beyond that well we don't know that said many of the atheists i know in accepting the big bang do not claim to know exactly how our universe came to be personally if asked where everything came from or how everything came to be i would just say i don't know because that's the only honest answer i can give i won't stand firmly by one hypothesis over another when the evidence is just not clear most atheists i've ever known agree with me on that so no atheists don't believe everything came from nothing many of us just refuse to pretend we know how our universe came to be exactly because in reality no one does i think this misrepresentation of atheists says much more about the theists who believe it than the atheist it's meant to describe it's only those theists after all who would describe the positions one could have on the issue as either my god did it or everything came from nothing thankfully plenty of theists don't hold to this position how do i know that well i've actually spent time talking to and more importantly listening to a wide variety of theists explain their positions if certain theists listen to atheists in the same way they'd see that atheists don't in fact believe everything came from nothing you have to have faith to be an atheist this one is not usually stated outright but instead implied in the christian cliche i don't have enough faith to be an atheist any time i've heard this said it's been accompanied by ludicrous caricatures of scientific theories which atheists are assumed to believe along with the notion that if god is not the explanation for everything that exists then the only other conceivable explanation is that everything came from nothing buying into these scientific theories as well as creationx nilo takes blind faith they say i'll need to make a couple of clarifications before we dive in here one although i personally accept the big bang theory and the theory of evolution by natural selection not all atheists necessarily do two definitions of faith are not all the same some christians for instance are very careful to define the word faith in the way in which they define the greek word pistus a word translated to faith in the new testament this definition is usually said to be trust or belief based on reason or knowledge the cliche in question here intended as a disparaging comment on an atheist epistemology does not work with a definition of faith which implies reasonable belief which may be why i haven't seen too many christians who use that definition using this cliche this cliche only implies that atheists are unreasonable if the definition of faith being used is something along the lines of unjustified belief or belief without evidence so to finally address this cliche if you think the scientific theories of the big bang and evolution by natural selection or other well-attested scientific theories which explain something about how our world develop into its present state can't be justifiably accepted that's probably because you don't understand how overwhelming the empirical evidence for those theories is just because you don't understand those theories does not mean others are not justified in accepting them it does not take faith to accept these ideas because the evidence for them is sufficient enough many many religious people are fully aware of this as well second in saying i don't have enough faith to be an atheist which admits the person speaking does have some faith in their god implies that believing too much without justification is a bad thing but believing some things without justification is good i have to ask how much are we supposed to accept without justification and does it matter what we're believing christians specifically often uphold faith as a virtue and encourage others to have a great deal of faith so is believing christianity without justification okay while believing anything else without justification is not honestly i don't think that's what most people mean to say when they use this phrase or state that atheism takes faith i think they're more likely using a snappy clever sounding phrase they heard from an apologist without really thinking it through once again this is a misrepresentation of atheists which could be corrected if the theist who states it simply tried listening to what atheists actually say a true atheist wouldn't talk about religion so much they would just move on with their life the problem here is whether or not someone talks about religion is not dependent on their religious beliefs there are those who disbelieve who talk about religion and there are those who believe who don't there need not be a correlation there obviously this is most often said to atheists who are vocal or critical on the topic of religious ideas or practices saying this shows a complete lack of empathy on the theist part though as it's easy to see why an atheist would feel the compulsion to talk about religion religion is a massively influential factor on human life it permeates our cultures governments and worldviews it affects all of us whether we like it or not it makes perfect sense that a person would have and express opinions on something which affects everyone it's that simple further a reason why atheists notoriously criticize certain religious beliefs and practices is because those beliefs and practices result in the marginalization if not persecution of atheists some religious people often the exact same ones who say atheists shouldn't have opinions on religious practices believe and teach that atheists are morally bankrupt foolish arrogant or even dangerous of course atheists would want to push back against that we're totally normal people and until everyone can accept that atheists like myself will be justifiably motivated to speak against the very religious structures that condemn us beyond even that religious belief often plays a role in the oppression of innocent people of all kinds issues like whether lgbt people should be allowed to marry adopt children or even in some cases be allowed to live are often discussed in religious terms many governments even so-called secular governments have official religious advisors to their leaders public health care policies funding for scientific research and even military action are influenced by religious beliefs of those in power all over the world of course atheists would have opinions on that and not just for their own sake but for the sake of others as well discussion of religion is every person's business until religion ceases to insert itself into every person's business atheists have no meaning in their lives when i first became an atheist i fully expected in accordance to my conditioning from birth to sink into a deep and inescapable depression because i supposedly lacked any meaning in life being an atheist certainly was emotionally difficult for me for a while but i did quickly realize that i still almost instinctively found meaning in my everyday life i simply did not stop caring deeply about my family my wife my friends what i was going to do with the rest of my life the lives of others the future of humanity or any of that i was conditioned to think that the only way to find meaning in life was to derive it from god's divine will and that if i didn't do that i would have no reason whatsoever to live i didn't think that meaning could be found in life unless it was assigned by god and promised that i along with some part of my reality existed eternally once i got on the other side of that though i learned from experience that all my expectations were completely mistaken instead i realized that i had actually been more of a nihilist as a christian than i was as an atheist it was an atheist after all who could find no meaning in life without god it was the theists who claimed that there was no meaning in life without god who couldn't this idea that atheists have no meaning in life is not one atheist proclaim but rather a projection of certain theists own belief that without their faith they'd find no meaning in their own the truth is most people find meaning in their lives but don't all do it in the exact same way you may find meaning in your faith others may find meaning in a completely different faith and still others may find meaning without religion at all all of us believers of countless faiths all over the world as well as non-believers of all sorts find our own reasons to keep going as evidenced by the fact that we all continue to exist set goals form relationships and value each other meaning is something humans inevitably create in their own way meaning is the product of a mind absolutely but it need not be the product of a divine one personally i feel a sense of urgency in life i think this life is probably all i've got and while i'm here and biologically and psychologically wired to enjoy life when i'm working toward goals deepening relationships having fun hobbies and eating good food i'm just going to make the most of it i've also been born with an incredible amount of privilege having every opportunity i need to live an enjoyable life but since many others haven't and my innate sense of empathy drives me to care for my fellow sentient creatures i find an enormous amount of meaning in doing what i can to help others enjoy their lives too if there's anything i've learned about meaning as an atheist it's that it might just be more difficult to permanently lose all sense of meaning in life than to find some without even looking we're quite literally wired this way or else our species wouldn't survive so while it may be some genetic inevitability i find enough meaning in life to say that i feel a sense of gratitude for being able to live the only life that i know i have just as i said in my other video on this subject what should be taken away from this is that the solution to the misconceptions in all these ridiculous statements is empathy if you put yourself in an atheist's shoes you can see how absurd these statements are and why they'd be frustrating to the atheists who constantly hear them before repeating something about atheists which you've only ever heard from theists consider speaking to an atheist to get their take i strongly encourage atheists to do the same with theists empathy and a willingness to listen is required if we want to get anywhere at all in this dialogue finally you don't have to agree with what atheists say or think but i think i can speak for most atheists in saying that if more theists took the time to listen to and understand us before spreading misinformation the discourse on the god question would drastically improve thanks for watching i've been drew of genetically modified skeptic a special thanks to my patrons for their constant love and support if you want to hear more from me subscribe and follow me on social media at the handles below as always if you're an apostate in need there are resources linked in the description to help you find community and mental health support remember to be kind to others in the comments and until next time stay skeptical

Channel: Genetically Modified Skeptic

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Keywords: atheism, atheist, agnostic, skeptic, skepticism, genetically modified skeptic, gm skeptic, lies about atheists, lies about atheism, friendly atheist, why don't atheists believe in god, atheist response, atheists believe everything came from nothing, I dont have enough faith to be an atheist, atheists have faith, why do atheists talk about religion, atheists have no meaning in their lives, atheism and nihilism, atheist meaning in life, 5 lies theists tell about atheists

Id: Xww1XC9T0lE

Length: 13min 32sec (812 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 29 2020