My official return to atheism...
For a while there I was telling people I was an agnostic. This was out of a desire to avoid arguments at parties, and a desire to avoid people thinking I was trying to convert them as they would convert me. No more.
I do not believe in God, or any sort of supernatural beings. My statement that they do not exist is not an act of faith; it is due to the complete lack of any reliable evidence to the contrary.
It was actually an interview with Douglas Adams published in The Salmon of Doubt that first inspired me to take another look at the issue:
> An Interview with Douglas Adams, Winter 1998-1999
> "I don’t accept the currently fashionable assertion that
> any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal
> and opposite view. My view is that the moon is made of
> rock. If someone says to me "Well, you haven’t been there,
> have you? You haven’t seen it for yourself, so my view that
> it is made of Norwegian Beaver Cheese is equally valid" -
> then I can’t even be bothered to argue. There is such a
> thing as the burden of proof, and in the case of god, as in
> the case of the composition of the moon, this has shifted
> radically. God used to be the best explanation we’d got,
> and we’ve now got vastly better ones."
http://www.americanatheist.org/win98-99/T2/silverman.html
Since then, I've found countless writings that put into words the thoughts that were already tumbling around at the back of my mind:
16 Common Myths About Atheists
http://wayofthemind.dehumanizer.com/2006/08/15/16-common-myths-about-atheists/
Understanding Delusion
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/your-delusion.htm
IT Conversations: Sam Harris
http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail785.html
So from now on, I will wear my badge proudly. I am an atheist.
I do not believe in God, or any sort of supernatural beings. My statement that they do not exist is not an act of faith; it is due to the complete lack of any reliable evidence to the contrary.
It was actually an interview with Douglas Adams published in The Salmon of Doubt that first inspired me to take another look at the issue:
> An Interview with Douglas Adams, Winter 1998-1999
> "I don’t accept the currently fashionable assertion that
> any view is automatically as worthy of respect as any equal
> and opposite view. My view is that the moon is made of
> rock. If someone says to me "Well, you haven’t been there,
> have you? You haven’t seen it for yourself, so my view that
> it is made of Norwegian Beaver Cheese is equally valid" -
> then I can’t even be bothered to argue. There is such a
> thing as the burden of proof, and in the case of god, as in
> the case of the composition of the moon, this has shifted
> radically. God used to be the best explanation we’d got,
> and we’ve now got vastly better ones."
http://www.americanatheist.org/win98-99/T2/silverman.html
Since then, I've found countless writings that put into words the thoughts that were already tumbling around at the back of my mind:
16 Common Myths About Atheists
http://wayofthemind.dehumanizer.com/2006/08/15/16-common-myths-about-atheists/
Understanding Delusion
http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/your-delusion.htm
IT Conversations: Sam Harris
http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail785.html
So from now on, I will wear my badge proudly. I am an atheist.