There’s No Need for a Higher Authority

Squashed Asks: Do you have anything that you consider a higher authority than yourself to test your beliefs against? What in your life are you forced to wrestle with, even if it makes you uncomfortable?

I don’t see the purpose of the desire for a higher authority, to be honest. Believing anything based simply upon the authority of someone else is a terrible idea, and I think this can be applied to gods as well.

Even if I were to find out that there is, in fact, a “higher power” in the universe, I’d be quite skeptical of believing the things that it said or doing the things that it told me to do simply because it was bigger or smarter or more powerful than I am. I’d prefer to see evidence of why I ought to listen to that higher authority before choosing whether or not it was worth doing so.

Evidence and Uncertainty

Squashed Asks: How much evidence do you need to “know” something—particularly where double blind experimentation is not a practical approach? Does direct experience work? The word of somebody trusted? Personal review of scientific journals? How do you make decisions when you don’t have all the information you would like—or when you have to rely on other people to provide the evidence?

I think we live in an uncertain universe in which we, with our limited minds, physiology, and lifespan have only limited ability to know anything with certainty. That being said, I would say that the quantity of evidence necessary to be convincing is sometimes variable, depending on the degree of certainty required. Even more important than quantity is, of course, quality of evidence, and some types of evidence are more convincing than others.

I would also like to point out that the quantity and quality of evidence necessary for something to be consider “known” or “proven” also depends heavily upon the consequences of being incorrect.

What If, Indeed (or Why Pascal’s Wager is Bullshit)

What if you are wrong? How important is it to you to be part of the “right” religion? What consequences do you foresee if you have chosen incorrectly? How much doubt would you say that you have about your religious beliefs?

This question is one that I generally won’t ask a believer unless they have asked me first–because it’s a nonsensical question to ask an atheist (or anyone, really). What if I’m wrong? Well, so what if I am? I hope that if that’s the case I find some evidence to actually indicate that I’m wrong so I can change my mind before I’m too late. That’s not really what this question is about, though, is it?

“What if you’re wrong?” is a question designed to end conversation, to put a stop to dialogue, and to shame the person you are talking with into silence. It’s a question with no right answer, and it’s a question to which a real answer is only rarely expected or desired. Nonetheless, I think it’s an important question to have an answer to if for no other reason than to avoid letting it be the conversation stopper it’s intended to be.

Death is Really, Really Scary

What are your views on the afterlife? Especially, what happens to people who don’t agree that your religion is the correct one?

Anyone who has read my other posts in this series should know by now that I find a lot about religion, and especially about Christianity, to be entirely despicable. Christian doctrines relating to Hell and Salvation are among those that I find particularly toxic, and believers in such various doctrines range from entirely and purposefully hateful (e.g. Westboro Baptist Church) to blissfully (for them) unaware of whatever harm they cause (e.g. the vast majority of moderate-to-liberal Christians in the US).

"Still Life with a Skull" by Philippe de Champaigne. In this 17th century painting the flower, skull, and hourglass stand for Life, Death, and Time.

Here’s the thing: Death is really, really scary. It’s easy enough to explain what happens to our bodies and our stuff when we die. We decompose, and our things end up in landfills, thrift stores, or the dusty corners of our descendants’ attics and crawlspaces. The question that has preoccupied people for, in all likelihood, millions of years isn’t answered by that explanation, however. What we all want to know is where do we go? What happens to whatever it is that makes us, well, us?

Rejecting the Abusive Father God

What qualities would you say make a god worthy of worship? To what extent does your god embody those qualities, and how? I will ask for examples here, and I am likely to point out contradictions if I am familiar enough with your religion to do so.

One of the things I’ve always found odd about believers (and in the US, where I live, they’re mostly Christians, so I’m going to address Christianity here) is that the primary attributes they claim for their God are “loving” and “just.” Now, when one reads the Christian Bible, it’s unclear how anyone could arrive at the conclusion that the God of Abraham is a just or loving character.

The Christian bible is simply full of stories that illustrate the character of God as an unreasonable, self-contradictory, cruel, jealous, and spiteful.

On [Not] Choosing My [Lack of] Religion

Of the numerous world religions that exist, what made you pick yours in the first place? On what basis have you decided that your particular religion is the correct religion?

I was raised in sort of a casual Catholic family, and I was baptized as an infant. My parents took us to mass most Sundays when my sister and I were small, and when we were old enough we were enrolled in the CCD program–sort of a Sunday school deal, but on one weeknight each week. I went through the First Communion/Confession stuff when I was 7 or 8, and when I was 14 or 15, it was time for Confirmation, the coming-of-age rite in which young Catholics are supposed to confirm their commitment to their faith and to the Church.

It was around that time that I first realized I was an atheist, and I told my parents that I didn’t want to go through with Confirmation because I didn’t believe in it. This didn’t go over well. They promptly threatened to not allow me to get my driver’s license if I didn’t go through with it, but they also told me that I wouldn’t have to go to mass anymore once it was over. When you are a young teenager not being able to drive in high school is a pretty big threat so, of course, I ended up going along with it, although it has never sat right with me. I felt dishonest for lying, angry at my parents, and resentful about the coercion involved, but once it was over with I got on with my life.

Evidence, Honesty, and the Value of Faith

What verifiable evidence supports your belief in a god? Unsubstantiated “miracles” don’t count. “I just feel it in my heart” or similar nonsense is not evidence. However, I will accept “I don’t need evidence,” as a valid answer–although it will make me think you are foolish and worry about your grasp on reality.

This is the first question from my “10 Serious Questions for Religious Believers,” and it’s a big one.

Evidence of one kind or another is the basis of all knowledge, but there is good evidence and bad evidence. At least, there is universal evidence and personally specific evidence. Universal evidence is evidence that can be seen, touched, experienced, and understood by anyone. Personally specific evidence is evidence that is only convincing to the person who claims to have that evidence. Personally specific evidence is always unverifiable and unreproducible.

Richard Dawkins, in a beautifully written letter to his daughter, names three types of bad evidence, or rather non-evidence, for believing anything: Tradition, Authority, and Revelation. Tradition encompasses the things that we believe because, well, that’s what people have “always” believed. When we believe something based on authority, we believe it because it was told to us by someone important, irrespective of whether or not the claim stands on its own merits. Lastly, revelation refers to the things we believe because we think we have supernatural insight that allows us to know something we otherwise wouldn’t be able to.