Five Questions Every Intelligent Atheist Must Answer

It would be quite interesting to read your answers to these 5 questions. I'm sure there will be some good ones, I know ATS has many highly intelligent atheists. Thanks .

reply to post by Bigwhammy


While I am not an atheist, or a christian. Ill answer these,

Q1. Aren't you using "chance" the same way that believers use "god" to fill in the gaps?

A1. No, Chance is a theory of probabilities shown through mathematics how things can be and not through the magic of some deity.

Q2. Why should there be something, instead of nothing?

A2. This is an illegitimate question, there is obviously something, therefore nothing cannot exist.

Q3. Where do you get your morals from.

A3. My morals are my own based on my parents teachings, school teachings, the law, and my own opinion on right and wrong. No God needed there.

Q4. How did morals evolve?

A4. In Humans morals evolved over thousands of years of civilization. Our moral compass as it stands today is set by those that came before us and guided our ancestors. Morals however differ in all parts of the world, what is right and what is wrong is society inclusive.

Q5. Can nature generate complex organisms, in the sense of originating it, when previously there was none?

A5. Yes, I will explain this by using Fire as an example. When conditions are optimal, fire can exist. Fire needs three things in order to exist. It needs heat, fuel, and oxygen. Remove any one of those three things from fire and it cannot exist. However when there is all three at once we fire while previously not existent can spontaneously erupt.



[edit on 8/26/2008 by whatukno]

Q1. Aren't you using "chance" the same way that believers use "god" to fill in the gaps?

A1. No, I don't use anything to fill any gaps. I don't see any gaps. There are things that are unknown, but I am comfortable with unknowns in life. I don't have a need to have the answers to everything. I don't feel so uncomfortable with "not knowing" that I have to make something up to fill that unknown.

While I like science, it plays no role in my atheism.

Q2. Why should there be something, instead of nothing?

A2. The lead up to this question assumes that all atheists think alike in that "all this exists for no reason." That's an invalid assumption. I think there might be a reason, I'm just not sure there is and if there is, I'm not sure what it is and I'm OK not knowing.

Also, I believe we all carry within us... intelligence. In other words, if there is an "intelligent design", it comes from US, not an external force. WE are intelligence and carry intelligence within our brains, our minds, our body parts. But the answer to the question above is... I don't know.

Q3. Where do you get your morals from.

A3. Again, the lead up to this question assumes that atheist have a set of beliefs that they all agree on. The ONLY thing atheists agree on is that there is no God. The rest is up for opinion.

To answer the question, I got my morals from several places. My parents, teachers, etc, as I grew up. But more importantly, my morals come from me. I have learned how I feel when I lie. THAT feeling tells me it's wrong. I have COMPASSION. I can feel for a person whose loved one is killed. THAT feeling tells me that killing is wrong.

I always find it amusing that people who question atheists morals would be raping and killing people without their religion to tell them what's right and wrong.

Q4. How did morals evolve?

(I agree with whatukno completely, so I will steal their answer.)

A4. In Humans morals evolved over thousands of years of civilization. Our moral compass as it stands today is set by those that came before us and guided our ancestors. Morals however differ in all parts of the world, what is right and what is wrong is society inclusive.

Q5. Can nature generate complex organisms, in the sense of originating it, when previously there was none?

A5. Apparently. But it's a bit silly, though, to think that Earth is the only place in the Universe where life exists.

Religion is EXACTLY what the video describes as having an arrow in a wall and painting a bullseye around it.

At the end of the video, the speaker asks, "Is that what you want me to believe"? And my answer is, I don't care what YOU believe. Why are you so concerned with what I believe?

[edit on 26-8-2008 by Benevolent Heretic]

Wow only 1 intelligent atheist and whatever wukky is that he won't admit to - responded? Gee I figured this would get shredded as if by piranhas by now. Maybe that "intelligent" word reminded them of Intelligent Design and scared them away? Just kidding! But seriously thanks for responding.


1)The theory of evolution is quite dependent on random mutations and millions of years to fill in the fatal gaping holes.While evolution of one kind of animal to another hasn't been observed and "survival of the fittest" selection of chance mutations amounts to a tautology. The atheist creation myth is quite dependent on the "chance of the gaps" to fill in what has never been observed.

2)Well the law of causation requires that everything that begins to exist has a cause. And because of that we can reason something caused the uniformity of nature and the rational intelligibility of it as well. This was the single thing more than anything else that fueled Einsteins belief in a God.


3-4)Morals never evolved nor were they created by humans any more than the rules of logic were. They were discovered. Moral do not change or evolve only our perceptions of circumstances. For instance they used to burn witches however they believed hat witches cursed people and they died and crops were destroyed by black magic. We no longer believe they do that so we don't burn witches. Yet we still have a death penalty for murder and punishment for destruction of property. Moral did not change perception did.

5) There is no evidence that nature has never has never created life from non life. That is atheist mythology as well. Even all attempts to intelligently manipulate the circumstances to force it have also failed - so even that much more doubtful that the "chance of the gaps would ever do it" . The inside of a living cell is an oxygen free environment. Oxidation would prevent life from ever spontaneously occurring.

reply to post by Bigwhammy

Wow only 1 intelligent atheist and whatever wukky is that he won't admit to - responded?

sorry that just cracked me up.

reply to post by whatukno

Q. Aren't you using "chance" the same way that believers use "god" to fill in the gaps?

A. There are gaps? Let there be gaps. They will be filled in time.

Q. Why should there be something, instead of nothing?

A. Why should 'nothing', rather than 'something', be the default setting? Is there anything you see in nature that suggests this to you? Why shouldn't there be something? Indeed, why shouldn't there be anything?

Q. Where do you get your morals from?

A. They are derived from instinct.

Q. How did morals evolve?

A. They evolved in the usual way - via natural selection. The raw materials were, among other things, the instinctive altruism that is common among the higher animals, the instincts of hierachy, loyalty, obedience and recipocity humans share with other social species, and our built-in preference for being told the truth and being dealt fairly with by others, both of which are in turn derived from our age-old instinct for self-preservation.

Q. Can nature generate complex organisms, in the sense of originating it, when previously there was none?

A. How else do you explain the existence of complex organisms?

Originally posted by Bigwhammy
2)Well the law of causation requires that everything that begins to exist has a cause. And because of that we can reason something caused the uniformity of nature and the rational intelligibility of it as well. This was the single thing more than anything else that fueled Einsteins belief in a God.

I don't doubt something caused all this. But the jump to: "It must be God" is based on nothing but imagination. Just because we don't really know what caused it all, doesn't mean it must have been a giant man of some sort who knows the number of hairs in our head...

5) There is no evidence that nature has never has never created life from non life. That is atheist mythology as well.

And there is no evidence that "God" created life from non-life either. That is the religious mythology.

So we have 2 mythologies. It must be one or the other, huh?

Even all attempts to intelligently manipulate the circumstances to force it have also failed - so even that much more doubtful that the "chance of the gaps would ever do it" .

So... it MUST be God, huh? That's the only other possibility?

I believe in possibilities. Unknown, unknowable (in our current manifestation) and innumerable possibilities. And of all the possibilities to explain the essence of life that my feeble, physical brain can comprehend, some sort of omniscient being that created and cares for and will eventually judge us all, is FAR too constricting and is about the last possibility on the list.