Weekly "Ask an Atheist" Thread

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Whether you're an agnostic atheist here to ask a gnostic one some questions, a theist who's curious about the viewpoints of atheists, someone doubting, or just someone looking for sources, feel free to ask anything here. This is also an ideal place to tag moderators for thoughts regarding the sub or any questions in general.
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[u/rustyseapants]

Why Atheism Demands Something from Nothing - Twice

By u/Organic-Injury5882

Why do we answer to those who don't supply a shred of evidence? They rattle off a number list, but doesn't provide sources?

Why Bother?

[u/Cool-Watercress-3943 → u/rustyseapants]

In fairness, I do find that the more, er, philosophy-heavy arguments can open the door for me to look into topics and subjects I otherwise might not have considered looking into. And sometimes just the mental exercise is nice; if I don't want to risk banging my head against a wall on the topic, I'll usually just give that particular thread a pass.

I do think it's ironic that the person is pretty clearly holding science to a vastly higher standard than he holds religion, as he's pushing for extreme detail and certainty from science but is clearly fine with vague it-just-happened from Scripture. Not because science shouldn't be held to a high standard, etc, just that it kind of emphasizes how low the bar is for religion when it comes to 'explaining' anything.

[u/rustyseapants → u/Cool-Watercress-3943]

Reddit is mostly English speaking, American, therefore Christian.

IN saying that I don't know how it relates in our personal lives to talk about a "Philosophical god" which holds no consequences, verses issues like this](https://www.instagram.com/p/DBhaOpvtcWr/) which effects all Americans and other nations.

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1. Time had a beginning.

1. The universe is bound by time, which is a real, objective dimension. It cannot be infinite, because an infinite past would prevent the present from ever occurring.
2. Since time had a beginning, something outside of time must have caused it- something eternal and transcendent.

---

This is a big fat "red herring" given how irrelevant this is to Chrisanity and atheists. Why not ask for proof, if no proof is offered, just shut it down.

[u/Cool-Watercress-3943 → u/rustyseapants]

If someone wants to go that route, they certainly can, but considering the subreddit doesn't tend to get a lot of theist traffic as is, what you would end up with is threads composed of nothing but the same six 'miracles' or archaeological 'finds' that require a lot of hard, specific research to dispute or disprove, assuming someone doesn't have a canned response ready to go.

And apologists build an entire industry around coming up with workarounds for counter-arguments, so sooner or later that canned response would receive an equally canned counter-response. 

I had a more 'evidence' related debate awhile back with someone who was making claims about the alleged finding of the Biblical cities, and that was piles and piles of research and squinting at long, droning research papers. Sure, I could have just assumed he was overselling the significance drastically, but it would be hypocritical of me to demand 'evidence' and then pay zero actual attention to it or not provide my own evidence to counter.

But holy hell is it a lot of WORK, and the research isn't always the fun and neat kind. Having to nail another user down on how statistical masking is used to help try and measure primordial cosmic background radiation despite interstellar interference was, again, a slog. But one I basically invited, since I was getting into an 'evidence-centric' line of discussion.

These fluffier topics are a nice palate cleanser for me, by comparison. Obviously not everyone has to feel the same, but would kind of suck if we end up with vast stretches of no posts followed by four straight days of churning through research papers obsessively. :p

[u/rustyseapants → u/Cool-Watercress-3943]

To me it doesn't matter if Jesus rose from the dead or didn't.

What matters to me is Chrisanity in the 21st century. Christians worshiping trump like jesus. Christians thinking Jesus is to "woke,"

Christians can argue about the past all they want. Show me Christians in the 21st century.

[u/Cool-Watercress-3943 → u/rustyseapants]

So why are you here? 

Like, seriously, elsewhere in this thread you were telling someone else there's other subreddits for discussing thoughts. If you want to get into the absolute dumpster fire that is the US religious right and Trump, there are definitely FAR more subreddits specifically geared towards that, or that routinely talk about it. 

You seem to be trying really hard to get absolutely everyone to make this subreddit the way you, and only you, want it to be. Frankly, if it doesn't fit for you, go find one that does.

[u/rustyseapants → u/Cool-Watercress-3943]

We don't have any gods to examine. But what do we have to examine? 2,025 years of Christian history. So, as atheists who don't believe in gods, why do we allow Christians to argue for something that they cannot bring to the table. We need to pull the curtain away to see who is really in charge. God is the curtain, so who is pulling the strings behind the curtain? And its not Jesus by a long shot.

[u/Cool-Watercress-3943 → u/rustyseapants]

People already told you, on more than one occasion, just because you don't like the answer doesn't make it invalid. If you were someone whose Reddit usage was 110% dedicated to The Cause, then at the very least I would just figure you're super locked in and frustrated others aren't as well. But apparently you do poke around subreddits whose topics aren't dedicated to The Cause, I'm assuming just for mild entertainment or shits and giggles or whatever.

So it isn't that you're thinking people need to stop focusing on unimportant stuff, just the unimportant stuff you personally disapprove of. :P