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一个很不错的词频统计程序,目前只支持英文,中文的本人正在修改中.改好后上传给大家分享

"Isn't the whole of life completely pointless to an atheist?"

Many atheists live a purposeful life.  They decide what they think gives
meaning to life, and they pursue those goals.  They try to make their lives
count, not by wishing for eternal life, but by having an influence on other
people who will live on.  For example, an atheist may dedicate his life to
political reform, in the hope of leaving his mark on history.

It is a natural human tendency to look for "meaning" or "purpose" in random
events.  However, it is by no means obvious that "life" is the sort of thing
that has a "meaning".

To put it another way, not everything which looks like a question is actually
a sensible thing to ask.  Some atheists believe that asking "What is the
meaning of life?" is as silly as asking "What is the meaning of a cup of
coffee?".  They believe that life has no purpose or meaning, it just is.

"So how do atheists find comfort in time of danger?"

There are many ways of obtaining comfort; from family, friends, or even pets.
Or on a less spiritual level, from food or drink or TV.

That may sound rather an empty and vulnerable way to face danger, but so
what?  Should individuals believe in things because they are comforting, or
should they face reality no matter how harsh it might be?

In the end, it's a decision for the individual concerned.  Most atheists are
unable to believe something they would not otherwise believe merely because
it makes them feel comfortable.  They put truth before comfort, and consider
that if searching for truth sometimes makes them feel unhappy, that's just
hard luck.

"Don't atheists worry that they might suddenly be shown to be wrong?"

The short answer is "No, do you?"

Many atheists have been atheists for years.  They have encountered many
arguments and much supposed evidence for the existence of God, but they have
found all of it to be invalid or inconclusive.

Thousands of years of religious belief haven't resulted in any good proof of
the existence of God.  Atheists therefore tend to feel that they are unlikely
to be proved wrong in the immediate future, and they stop worrying about it.

"So why should theists question their beliefs? Don't the same arguments
 apply?"

No, because the beliefs being questioned are not similar.  Weak atheism is
the sceptical "default position" to take; it asserts nothing.  Strong atheism
is a negative belief.  Theism is a very strong positive belief.

Atheists sometimes also argue that theists should question their beliefs
because of the very real harm they can cause -- not just to the believers,
but to everyone else.

"What sort of harm?"

Religion represents a huge financial and work burden on mankind.  It's not
just a matter of religious believers wasting their money on church buildings;
think of all the time and effort spent building churches, praying, and so on.
Imagine how that effort could be better spent.

Many theists believe in miracle healing.  There have been plenty of instances
of ill people being "healed" by a priest, ceasing to take the medicines
prescribed to them by doctors, and dying as a result.  Some theists have died
because they have refused blood transfusions on religious grounds.

It is arguable that the Catholic Church's opposition to birth control -- and
condoms in particular -- is increasing the problem of overpopulation in many
third-world countries and contributing to the spread of AIDS world-wide.

Religious believers have been known to murder their children rather than
allow their children to become atheists or marry someone of a different
religion.

"Those weren't REAL believers.  They just claimed to be believers as some
 sort of excuse."

What makes a real believer?  There are so many One True Religions it's hard
to tell.  Look at Christianity: there are many competing groups, all
convinced that they are the only true Christians.  Sometimes they even fight
and kill each other.  How is an atheist supposed to decide who's a REAL
Christian and who isn't, when even the major Christian churches like the
Catholic Church and the Church of England can't decide amongst themselves?

In the end, most atheists take a pragmatic view, and decide that anyone who
calls himself a Christian, and uses Christian belief or dogma to justify his
actions, should be considered a Christian.  Maybe some of those Christians
are just perverting Christian teaching for their own ends -- but surely if
the Bible can be so readily used to support un-Christian acts it can't be
much of a moral code? If the Bible is the word of God, why couldn't he have
made it less easy to misinterpret? And how do you know that your beliefs
aren't a perversion of what your God intended?

If there is no single unambiguous interpretation of the Bible, then why
should an atheist take one interpretation over another just on your say-so?
Sorry, but if someone claims that he believes in Jesus and that he murdered
others because Jesus and the Bible told him to do so, we must call him a
Christian.

"Obviously those extreme sorts of beliefs should be questioned.  But since
 nobody has ever proved that God does not exist, it must be very unlikely
 that more basic religious beliefs, shared by all faiths, are nonsense."

That does not hold, because as was pointed out at the start of this dialogue,
positive assertions concerning the existence of entities are inherently much
harder to disprove than negative ones.  Nobody has ever proved that unicorns
don't exist, but that doesn't make it unlikely that they are myths.

It is therefore much more valid to hold a negative assertion by default than
it is to hold a positive assertion by default.  Of course, "weak" atheists
would argue that asserting nothing is better still.

"Well, if atheism's so great, why are there so many theists?"

Unfortunately, the popularity of a belief has little to do with how "correct"
it is, or whether it "works"; consider how many people believe in astrology,
graphology, and other pseudo-sciences.

Many atheists feel that it is simply a human weakness to want to believe in
gods.  Certainly in many primitive human societies, religion allows the
people to deal with phenomena that they do not adequately understand.

Of course, there's more to religion than that.  In the industrialized world,
we find people believing in religious explanations of phenomena even when
there are perfectly adequate natural explanations.  Religion may have started
as a means of attempting to explain the world, but nowadays it serves other
purposes as well.

"But so many cultures have developed religions.  Surely that must say
 something?"

Not really.  Most religions are only superficially similar; for example, it's
worth remembering that religions such as Buddhism and Taoism lack any sort of
concept of God in the Christian sense.

Of course, most religions are quick to denounce competing religions, so it's
rather odd to use one religion to try and justify another.

"What about all the famous scientists and philosophers who have concluded
 that God exists?"

For every scientist or philosopher who believes in a god, there is one who
does not.  Besides, as has already been pointed out, the truth of a belief is
not determined by how many people believe it.  Also, it is important to
realize that atheists do not view famous scientists or philosophers in the
same way that theists view their religious leaders.

A famous scientist is only human; she may be an expert in some fields, but
when she talks about other matters her words carry no special weight.  Many
respected scientists have made themselves look foolish by speaking on
subjects which lie outside their fields of expertise.

"So are you really saying that widespread belief in religion indicates
 nothing?"

Not entirely.  It certainly indicates that the religion in question has
properties which have helped it so spread so far.

The theory of memetics talks of "memes" -- sets of ideas which can propagate
themselves between human minds, by analogy with genes.  Some atheists view
religions as sets of particularly successful parasitic memes, which spread by
encouraging their hosts to convert others.  Some memes avoid destruction by
discouraging believers from questioning doctrine, or by using peer pressure
to keep one-time believers from admitting that they were mistaken.  Some
religious memes even encourage their hosts to destroy hosts controlled by
other memes.

Of course, in the memetic view there is no particular virtue associated with
successful propagation of a meme.  Religion is not a good thing because of
the number of people who believe it, any more than a disease is a good thing
because of the number of people who have caught it.

"Even if religion is not entirely true, at least it puts across important
 messages.  What are the fundamental messages of atheism?"

There are many important ideas atheists promote.  The following are just a
few of them; don't be surprised to see ideas which are also present in some
religions.

   There is more to moral behaviour than mindlessly following rules.

   Be especially sceptical of positive claims.

   If you want your life to have some sort of meaning, it's up to you to
   find it.

   Search for what is true, even if it makes you uncomfortable.

   Make the most of your life, as it's probably the only one you'll have.

   It's no good relying on some external power to change you; you must change
   yourself.

   Just because something's popular doesn't mean it's good.

   If you must assume something, assume something it's easy to test.

   Don't believe things just because you want them to be true.

and finally (and most importantly):

   All beliefs should be open to question.

Thanks for taking the time to read this article.


mathew

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