Deep South Atheism

It's always fun to get into it with theists making absolutely unsubstantiated claims about their chosen deity, how the world works, history, etc etc. Most of the time, I choose to go the "for the sake of argument" route and get on the theists level, so to speak. This backfires, sometimes, when they take that to mean that I actually DO believe in Yahweh, but that I'm actually just mad at him I'm sure you have heard that before if you've spent any time in conversation with a theist.  So, to clear things up, I want to outline the four hurdles that a theist actually faces when they try and convince me of something. I'm not going to get into each of the arguments for or against... I just want to briefly explain each step along the way.  First, starting at the beginning, you have to show that the universe was created by, well, a creator of some sort. There are plenty of faulty logical arguments that attempt to prove this, which I won't get into here, but ult...

https://www.pewforum.org/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/ The trend continues. Not surprisingly, millennials are leading the way...most of the older generations, including my own, are still majority Christian.  "More than eight-in-ten members of the Silent Generation (those born between 1928 and 1945) describe themselves as Christians (84%), as do three-quarters of Baby Boomers (76%). In stark contrast, only half of Millennials (49%) describe themselves as Christians; four-in-ten are religious “nones,” and one-in-ten Millennials identify with non-Christian faiths." The end may be coming faster than I ever thought possible. Growing up, I certainly never would have thought I'd see things come this far. Of course, growing up, I was part of the problem, so I likely would have been in denial, anyway.  It does raise some interesting questions, though. While I do think it's an overall good thing, this is a huge shift in culture in a relative...

This is a very tricky subject in the overall debate between theists and non-theists.  Theists seem to think it's a silver bullet argument...the one area where they can absolutely take the high ground...atheists have no counter argument, right? Well, they're wrong.  As usual. Now, to be fair, it is, as I said, a bit tricky.  They claim to have the Creator of the Universe as their authority and the source of their morality.  What could atheists possibly have to counter that?  To answer that, let's completely forget morality for a moment and talk about something else.  Let's talk about your appendix.  And, before you ask, no, this isn't an argument about evolution and vestigial organs... Let's imagine that you wake up one day feeling like crap.  Just run down, achy, maybe a slight fever. What do you do?  Let's further imagine that you have great health insurance, so you call the nurse help line and speak with one of the nurses.  In ...

I'm sure I'm not alone in this...having a friendly debate with a Christian...arguments going back and forth...finally, when it seems that we are at an impasse, they say "well what if you're wrong? What if there is a god?" Of course, we know what this is...it's Pascal's Wager. It may not always be framed or worded the same, but the reasoning is always basically the same...set aside all arguments for or against god and consider the risks vs rewards.  In case anyone isn't familiar with it, it goes something like this: If there is a god and you believe in him, you get an infinitely good reward. If there is no god, but you believe anyway, at the very least you have lived a good life and haven't lost anything. If there is no god and you don't believe, you neither gain nor lose anything. If there is a god, but you don't believe, you suffer infinite pain and torment as a punishment. With all in mind, the choice is easy, right? ...

I was thinking about this blog over the last few days, since my school pace has slowed.  I realized that while I've discussed some general atheist/theist/religious stuff, I haven't written much regarding the actual theme of this blog. I am, in fact, an atheist living in the Deep South.  Right now, I am having a temporary change of scenery.  Still an atheist, of course, but I guess I'm now more "out West" than "Deep South".  Work/school has brought me to Texas.  Culturally similar, in many ways, to my Georgia home, but the reputation Texas has for being unique is also well earned. In the religious context, yes, there are still a lot of Christians running about.  I still see Jesus themed billboards while driving down the highway.  Its easy to find Christian radio any time of day, every day of the week.  I've not explored too many of the local churches to see which denominations dominate, but I supposed I shouldn't be surprised to see the Ca...

School has been taking a lot of my time lately, but the pace has slowed a bit. I will get some new content posted up this weekend. Just a preview, I've been working on a couple of posts about Pascal's Wager and some more discussion on morality.