(no subject)
Jake Wheeler
3A
Abstract Concept : Atheism
Atheism (a-the-ism) Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
Simply put, an atheist is someone that does not believe in the existence of a God or gods. Associated with the general concept of atheism, there is “weak” and “strong” atheism. “Weak” atheism is more commonly known as agnosticism. Where one does not agree with the common belief of a God or gods shared with theists (or individuals that believe in a superhuman, divine “power”), but does not completely deny the existence of a God or gods. A “strong” atheist is someone that boldly does not believe the in existence of a God or gods.
When one comes to describe the basis for a atheist being atheist, the subject becomes tricky. Generally speaking, atheists don’t like or accept the idea of there being a divine power over one’s head watching and judging (at least when one speaks concerning “strong” atheists). Also, most atheist’s believe that you only live one life, so why live it based on something that you can’t prove. Most atheist’s simply don’t need to believe in a God or gods for “spiritual” support. A message the atheism implies is that “its no good to rely on some external source in order to change you; you must change yourself.”
When someone says to me, “Well, if you’re atheist, that means that you don’t have a defined moralistic code. So, that means you just do whatever you want and you can justify it by your belief.”, one could say that “No, atheism doesn’t give you a moralistic code to follow like Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Along with being considered “alternative to what’s commonly believed”, atheists generally decide things for themselves.” For example, all of the major monotheistic religions have good and coherently bad morals to the observer, but, that’s a perk of being atheist. One can take what one would feel as being “just” or “acceptable” by one’s own standards.
But, when one talks about “standards”, one generally implies that those standards came from some where. For Christians, Jews, and Muslims they come from there respective “Bibles” or “Books of Code”. For atheists, those “standards” come from society. Coincidentally, the majority of our social “standards” are Christian derived. Ironic…I know. Based on this certain little fact, most atheists could be considered hypocrites and highly contradictory. Generally speaking, most atheists (I especially) do not find the moral lessons of the “Bible” or “Book of Code” to be incorrect, but, rather the manners in which the lessons are used or more specifically, the “mythology” or “rituals” of the religion is what atheists find to be uncomfortable.
For thousands of years, millions of people have tried to prove the existence of a God or gods. First off, one would have to clearly define what is meant by “God”. Once that was accomplished, one would only be describing what one’s idea of “God” was. Therefore, one would be suggesting what “their God” was. Which, inevitable, throws the whole concept of a universal “God” off balance. Finally, attempting to logically prove that “God” exists would only get you an idea of what is real. Lets say you misplaced your keys. Using deductive reasoning, you could attempt to find your keys in the most logical of places. Like your car’s ignition, the pocket of your coat, the floor under your key hook, the kitchen table, etc. You look all these places and you don’t find your keys. Well, that’s where logic and reality meet. In this world, reality wins. So, you continue to look. Out of desperation, you look everywhere you could possibly image. You look under your bed, on your dresser, everywhere. Then, you look behind the bread on your kitchen counter. Your keys a tucked away behind the loaf of whole wheat bread. How it got there, is anyone’s guess. This is an example of how logic isn’t always right when put against reality. When searching for the truth, logic can point you in a direction, but, its not always the right one. The proves that you can look all you want, but, “God” may not be in the most “logic” place, or even exist at all.