Questions for Atheists

[Atheon]

The sun and distance we are away from it is perfect!

"The hole happens to be perfectly shaped to fit me!" says the puddle.

[PopeyesPappy]

The sun and distance we are away from it is perfect!

"The hole happens to be perfectly shaped to fit me!" says the puddle.

"Therefore Jesus died for my sins. I'm going to heaven, and you're going to hell. Pbbth!" continued the puddle.

[josephpalazzo]

The sun and distance we are away from it is perfect!

"The hole happens to be perfectly shaped to fit me!" says the puddle.

"A banana fits perfectly into the human hand. Therefore God," said a nameless asshole from New-Zealand.

[Seantzizl]

1)"-How do you explain the high degree of design and order in the universe if there is no God? "

I disagree with the premise of the question.  I don't see a high degree of design and order in the universe.  The universe is chaotic and will eventually freeze itself to death.   If it really has a designer I must say the designer is pretty shitty.  

2)"- Why is there something instead of nothing?"

I have no idea.  

3)" What caused the universe to exist?"
Whoever can answer this question deserves a Noble prize.

4) "What do you think caused the Big Bang?"
See answer to question #3

5)"on what basis can we make moral judgments? How do we know right from wrong?"
I suppose it all starts with our ability to empathize.  Reason also dictates that it's beneficial for ones well being not to be a dick to other people.

6)"Why do human beings matter?"
Because we think we do.

7)"How do we account for the almost universal belief in the supernatural? "
People are irrational.  

8) "how do we account for the origin of 116 distinct language families?"
No clue,but I know you can find a lot of information about things like this at library.

9) "Would you agree with me that just because we cannot see something with our eyes- such as our mind, gravity, magnetism, the wind- that does not mean it doesn't exist?"

Sure, there are plenty of things that our eyes can't pick up on.  That is why we build tools or conjure up experiments to detect what we can't see.

10)"would you also agree that just because we cannot see God with our eyes does not necessarily mean he doesn't exist?"

Yup

11)"If there is no God, we don't make sense, so how do we explain human longings and desire for the transcendent? "

I disagree with the statement that "if there is no god, we don't make sense", but the actual question, which is "how do we explain human longings and desire for the transcendet?' I already answered in question number 7.  

12)" How do we even explain human questions for meaning and purpose, or inner thoughts like, why do I fell unfulfilled or empty?"

We explain this by application of social sciences and understanding of human evolution.  


13)"Why do we hunger for the spiritual, and how do we explain these longings if nothing can exist beyond the material world?"

See answer to question 7 and 12.

[SGOS]

3)" What caused the universe to exist?"
Whoever can answer this question deserves a Noble prize.

Pat Robertson? :-D

[Shol'va]

Morality, to a pretty good degree, is also learned. Think about raising kids. Sure, most parents use Jesus as the invisible baby sitter but the fact is a good bit of moral values are inherited from earlier generations.
The roots of morality rest in the fact that suffering and happiness are objective and we have the capacity to empathize and reciprocate.
But of course, religious fundies are never interested in an actual dialogue about this, all they are looking for is a "gotcha" moment.

[Jason78]

List of many questions.
...

Seriously dude.  Five minutes on Google...

[Jutter]

Ususally I leave moot-point-filled-trick-questions like this alone, but every now and then I'll bite.

-How do you explain the high degree of design and order in the universe if there is no God?

Properly or not all. "I don't know (yet)" can't be replaced with "I don't know, so I'll just pretend that I know it to be magic"
I needn't matter if I can't answer that question. Sucking at biology is no excuse to resort to theism.

-How do you account for the vast archaeological documentation of Biblical stories, places, and people?

New York is a real place. Doesn't mean Spider-Man exists. I've read a comic where Superman fights Mohammed Ali, which doesn't make Superman real. But even then...
Even IF you could prove that you can preform miracles, the moment where you'd go of on a tangent about being "the way and the light" would STILL be where I'd say "sorry buddy; that's where you lost me". And exceptions for a certain Jesus from a certain book won't be made.

- Why is there something instead of nothing?

Is this "nothing" you speak of even a possible scenario? It's merely assumed and ever so casually.
Meanwhile everything around you, in spite of it already existing, is somehow deemed impossible thus a divine miracle, and with equal casualness I might add.
And why? Note this: being flabbergasted about existence won't make you disappear in a poof of flabbergass.
We all exist regardless of such understanding. We're here regardless of whether it's even sensible to ask "why?" in this context.
Nevermind why we're here... we ARE here, and perhaps that's the ball to keep your eye on, in stead of letting it meander off in search of some elusive 'why'.

- What caused the universe to exist?

- What do you think caused the Big Bang?

These questions are foolish to ask to people other than the one's who actually investigate such things: cosmologists.
Chances are, there's only so much they can tell on such subjects.
For the sake of theism it's a moot point though. No I'm not going to obey you unconditionally, unless I can answer certain questions, and no I won't make exceptions to that for the god-character in your book either.

- on what basis can we make moral judgments? How do we know right from wrong?

Using harm and benefit as decisive criteria seems to work well for us. For starters.
Does the plant thrive on rain and sunlight? Then we conclude that water and sunlight are GOOD for plants.
Of course judgements aren't always that easily made. And indeed in cases -for instance- where people have to make splitsecond decisions with grave consequeces, we paint grey areas where we tend to be more forgiving about bad outcomes. Either way the assumption that we, as a human species, are left morally emptyhanded unless some theistic dogma is accepted, is patently false.

- Why do human beings matter?

I'll refrase that into -Why should human beings matter to other human beings?- You weren't asking about why we should matter to the little birdies I suspect.
And that's the thing: if people don't look after mankind's prosperity, the little birdies aren't going to do it for us. It's that friggin' simple.
If you're not a theist, thus not inclined to believe a god will do it for us either, humanism becomes even more of a no-brainer.

- How do we account for the almost universal belief in the supernatural?

Bloody sectarian conflicts should make it obvious that there's nothing universal about superstitious beliefs. That is to say: a believer, who believes in what's universally accepted by all other believers, can't be found. Apart from that milions of people these days are not believers, and those numbers seem to be growing. To that I say: we live and learn.

- how do we account for the origin of 116 distinct language families?

By investigating old documents, for as far as we can. Either properly, or not at all.

- Would you agree with me that just because we cannot see something with our eyes- such as our mind, gravity, magnetism, the wind- that does not mean it doesn't exist?

Again moot point. Our naked eyes are not all we're limited to. You know we have measuringequipment for all kinds of thins these days. It's with the help of those that we learned more about the predictions we can make in nature.
That STILL won't make "I don't know, so I'll pretend to know that it's magic" a suitable alternative for investigation while admitting "I don't know yet".... and realizing that being flabbergasted still won't make anyone disappear in a poof of flabergass.

- would you also agree that just because we cannot see God with our eyes does not necessarily mean he doesn't exist?

Would you agree, that when you use the word "exist" in relation to God, you mean everything BUT what the word "exist" would otherwise mean? That is to say, it should be obvious why accepting the existence of things on the 'ususal terms', should not be conflated with the leap of faith that theism demands.

- If there is no God, we don't make sense, so how do we explain human longings and desire for the transcendent? How do we even explain human questions for meaning and purpose, or inner thoughts like, why do I fell unfulfilled or empty? Why do we hunger for the spiritual, and how do we explain these longings if nothing can exist beyond the material world?

In undiplomatic terms, I hear you ask "why do people believe in the bullshit they believe in?" and i must admit, you have me stumped. I don't know. And when I ask, if they don't object, they fail to give an intelligable answer. 'it's a matter of faith'. They can't explain why they DO believe.

And that's the thing. And here's my question to you:
BELIEVERS CAN'T EXPLAIN WHY THEY DO BELIEVE.
So why do I need to explain why I don't?

[Hijiri Byakuren]

I'm slightly disappointed he never actually answered any of us. I was ready for a full-on argument!

[Jason78]

911?   I'd like to report a drive-by posting.

[SGOS]

911?   I'd like to report a drive-by posting.

LOL

[Jason78]

I was ready for a full-on argument!

Ah yes, you want room 12A, Just along the corridor.

[Moriarty]

I'm slightly disappointed he never actually answered any of us. I was ready for a full-on argument!

A- "The Big Bang could not have happened, something cannot come from nothing!"

B- "Yea, where did your 'God' come from? They either just poofed into existence, proving your own thesis wrong, or they were created by something else meaning he isn't all powerful. Pick your poison."

A- "I better get out of here before they 'cripple' my faith."

Tends to get most of them on the run pretty quickly.

[Atheon]

I'm slightly disappointed he never actually answered any of us. I was ready for a full-on argument!

A- "The Big Bang could not have happened, something cannot come from nothing!"

B- "Yea, where did your 'God' come from? They either just poofed into existence, proving your own thesis wrong, or they were created by something else meaning he isn't all powerful. Pick your poison."

A- But but but GOD is SPECIAL! Sez so in the bibble!!

[SGOS]

"Yea, where did your 'God' come from?"

One of earliest memories was my first trip to a Baptist Sunday school.  I can't tell you my exact age, but I was a tyke.  My grandmother was a Baptist, uneducated, and dedicated to God.  In fact, she had been scaring the Hell out of me for a long time before then.  My mother was a Lutheran, and apparently didn't see eye to eye with my grandmother about nuances of doctrine.  But grandmother, being the most fervent, as Baptists tend to be, along with my father who she had completely brainwashed long before, had decided it was time for me to begin a more formal education in the Bible, and begin my journey of salvation.

Parents usually have a discussion with their children before sending them off into the world.  My mother was prepping me for my first morning at Sunday school so that I wouldn't be sent off into the unknown, a potentially frightening experience for anyone.  I can only remember one thing she said.  She told me to ask the teacher, "Who made God?"  I'm not sure why.  I know the question has always perplexed me, so maybe I had asked her before and she was just passing the task onto the Sunday School teacher, who by definition would naturally be an enlightened expert on the matter.

But I think it's more plausible that she just wanted to annoy those "crazy" Baptists at my Grandmother's whacky church.  Yes, I think that was her motivation, although I'll never know for sure, but it's something my mother would have done since she had a delightfully devilish quality about her.

The next thing I remember about the experience is that I'm sitting on the floor with a group of other wide eyed children and everyone is having a good time.  Now the teacher, not realizing I was in class on mission of sabotage planed by my diabolical mother/child of Satan, was going on with great authority about how God made everything that there was.

I recognized my opening and seized the moment.  I felt I was doing something wonderfully profound and following an important line of investigation that would unlock deeply troubling mysteries.  "I raised my hand and asked, "Who made God?"  Well, of course the teacher replied, "God had always been there," but I pressed on like a warrior in the quest of knowledge, "Yeah, but who made God?"... "Always been there."  This exchange may have gone on too long, as annoying children often demand such answers for pointless questions, or maybe there was just one repetition of the exchange, but the teacher got pissed off.

Oh my!  He was actually shaking with rage (or something), but only for a second or two.  I certainly didn't expect that, nor was it my intention.  He quickly regained his composure and went on to something else, while the rest of the kids sat listening in rapt attention.  However, I became lost in my own thoughts realizing that what I had done was to ask a question that had important implications.  It was a question with a stock answer that made no sense.  It was an important moment for me.

And indeed, the question still seems important, at least it should be to Christians.  As an atheist, I now realize that a question is irrelevant if the only reason for asking the question in the first place is based on a premise which has nothing to support it.