Silence Is Golden

Silence is golden.

“The universe,” wrote astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, “is under no obligation to make sense to you,” and, for the most part, it doesn’t, to anyone. Beyond the incomprehensibility of quantum mechanics—and our inability to reconcile the main branches of physics—we’ve only managed to discover, after 500 years of groping in the dark, a meager 5 percent of the observable universe. The other 95 percent, physicists tell us, is composed of imperceptible dark matter and dark energy, surmised to exist based only on its impact on the small sliver of reality that has managed to sift its way through our pitiable and corruptible senses.

Basing grand proclamations about the ultimate nature of the universe—including the existence or nonexistence of God—on this shaky and incomplete foundation is unjustifiable and, frankly, utterly foolish. Isn’t it clear, that we’re all, for want of a better phrase, just making shit up?

As long as your belief system allows my belief system to live, we can be friends.  However, if your belief system makes my belief system wrong or evil, I fear we will never walk this earth together in peace and harmony. 

The moment we step past what is immediately given and begin speculating about the “ultimate nature” of things, we invite agitation, disagreement, and distress. Better, then, to withhold judgment altogether.

 

I’ve got nothing else to say.

Do you have anything to say?

Be Good For Gods’ Sake

He posted a Pay It Forward story, and attached two Bible verses which said that God would reward us for doing so.  I asked
Why can’t we just cut out the imaginary middleman, and do good for the sake of doing good??  😮

The “imaginary middleman” is the reason we do the good things! There is within each of us a “desire” to do good! We can embrace it or we can suppress it! It is God within us! The Bible says, “…we are God’s creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them.”, Eph. 2:10. Jesus is the ultimate example who shows us how to do good!

Captain Kirk said, “What does God need with a starship?” Quoting the Bible will do you no good. I see that you accept what some other fallible, gullible men wrote, in a book that is no more reliable or believable than Harry Potter, but you’ve not presented any evidence that the existence of your rubber crutch is real. 

I would be willing to engage in an honest debate about the authenticity of the Bible if you like? 

No you wouldn’t, even if you honestly believe that you would.  Even your offer is linguistically, informationally, ridiculous.  Across a thousand pages, the Bible says a thousand different things – some of them observably true, some of them demonstrably false, many of them highly questionable.  It says a few soft, kind, loving things, and it says a bunch of disturbingly nasty stuff.  Even where it is wrong – it is authentically wrong!

Based on your writings, you don’t want to authenticate any part of the Bible; you want to convince me to agree with you, to justify your belief, which you continue to provide no evidence for.  Your entire argument is likely to be, “But I believe, and you just gotta have faith.”

What An Ordinary Atheist Looks Like

(Spoiler alert – It’s Boring)

If your mental picture of an atheist includes anger, black clothing, constant arguments, or a bookshelf organized alphabetically by anti-religious authors, I’m about to disappoint you.

An ordinary atheist looks like… me. And I am painfully average.

I don’t wake up every morning celebrating the absence of God. There’s no ritual. No moment of smug reflection. I don’t stand at the window whispering, “Still no gods today.” I mostly wake up thinking about orange juice , knees that creak more than they used to, and whatever appointment I forgot to put on the calendar.

I’m married. Have been for a long time. My marriage didn’t require divine oversight to function, just patience, compromise, humor, and the occasional strategic silence. We didn’t need shared belief—just shared values and a willingness to grow up when it mattered.

I have a son. He’s grown now, functional, kind, and not secretly plotting the downfall of civilization despite being raised without religious instruction. Turns out teaching empathy, accountability, and curiosity works just fine without invoking eternal consequences.

I care about people. I care about fairness. I care about not being a jerk when no one’s watching—which, inconveniently, turns out to matter even without cosmic surveillance. Morality didn’t disappear when belief did; it just stopped outsourcing responsibility.

I don’t have all the answers. That’s not a bug—it’s the feature. I’m comfortable saying “I don’t know” without rushing to fill the silence with certainty. Mystery didn’t vanish when belief left; it just stopped pretending to be solved.

And no, I’m not angry at God. That would require believing there is one. I’m occasionally frustrated with how belief is used—to control, to silence, to oversimplify—but that’s a human problem, not a supernatural one.

Being an atheist didn’t turn me into something exotic or dangerous. It made me quieter. More cautious with claims. More appreciative of time. More aware that this life—messy, finite, unrepeatable—isn’t a rehearsal.

So if you’re looking for outrage, you won’t find it here.

If you’re looking for certainty, I can’t offer that either.

But if you’re curious what a normal, peaceful, belief-free life actually looks like—welcome. This is it.

***

I could have written this myself – if I had a smidgen more ability.  Instead, I stole researched it wholesale from What an Ordinary Atheist Looks Like ‹ No Santa to No Gods ‹ Reader — WordPress.com

Lack Of Proof And Proof Of Lack

SHOULD CHRISTIANS FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE, WHEREVER IT LEADS?

Is there any evidence of the Jews being held in slavery in Egypt?
Is there any evidence of the Jews escaping their slavery – The Exodus?
Is there any evidence of them wandering in the desert for 40 years?
Is there any evidence that the Earth is ten thousand years old?
Is there any evidence of a global flood?
Is there any evidence of the Jews conquering the Promised Land?

In order, the answers are
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO, and
Other than unsubstantiated Biblical claims, there is no evidence that ANY God ever promised any land to the Jews.  The cities that the Israelites took over were financially, socially, and militarily failed mini-kingdoms, where the populace welcomed new, more efficient, less corrupt administrators.

I agree that there is no good evidence for these Biblical events. I have learned that Christianity is not an evidence based faith, as some like to claim. Rather, Christianity is a spiritual experience based faith. When one encounters God through the reading of Scripture, then the Lord imparts that necessary knowledge of himself. Christians know these things happened, not because of the evidence, but because God has revealed it in his word. The Divinely self-authenticating Scriptures are all the evidence we need.

But then, why don’t we find the evidence for these things? My conclusion is that God is testing us, to see if we really love him, to see if we are willing to trust what he says in the face of doubts and contrary evidence.

So, you don’t actually follow the evidence.  You follow delusion, desperation, and pre-supposition.  You frantically try to make facts fit fiction, fantasy, and Faith.

If you go looking for something that you expect to find – that you’ve been told, over and over and over, that you will find – that you want to find – that you need to find….  You will probably find it – whether it exists or not!

’25 A To Z Challenge – U

We have all met a few (hopefully) of those pushy, nosy, bullies who work so hard to make any of your business, any of their business – police, co-workers, relatives – in-laws and outlaws.  I have a (very) little, grudging respect for the arrogant, egotistical assholes who just come right out and do it.  At least they have the conviction of their beliefs.

The worst ones – the ones who irritate me the most – are the

UNCTUOUS

Oily, having an oily feel
characterized by excessive piousness or moralistic fervor, especially in an affected manner; excessively smooth, suave, or smug.

ones – the ones who Shakespeare described as, How like a fawning publican he looks.  The ones who hide behind a fake smile – a shit-eating grin, and still want you to give up your information, your rights, your freedom.

I’m your friend.
I don’t really want to give you a ticket.  I am just following orders.
If you just obey me, it will be much easier for you.

The Danger Of Believing In Nothing

My title, above, was his title, I presume as some sort of ‘gotcha’ Christian argument.  In his post, it changed to The Danger Of Belief In Nothing – Atheist Quotes.  I responded,

The Danger Of Believing That Atheists Believe In Nothing

and the debate was on.  In a 1000-word blogpost, he never actually described or explained what the danger was.

Hi Archon, thank you for the commenting. Feel free to share here. The floor is always open for discussion. Do you feel that Atheists believe in something and that the faith of no faith has faith?

Naah….  Despite my warning, you’re still couching your questions and statements in your belief in unverified assumptions.  Atheists believe in pretty much the same things that Christians believe, except the existence of an incoherent, ill-defined, unprovable, supernatural entity, which is the creator and ruler of the Cosmos.  Atheists, generally, have no faith.  Faith is the excuse that people give for believing something for which they have no good reason.  If they had a good reason, they would give that.  Atheists have reasonable expectations, based on inquiry, research, and previously-observed history.

His Atheist quotes included, Julian Barnes (Atheist novelist)
“I don’t believe in God, but I miss Him.”
and
Jean-Paul Sartre
“That God does not exist, I cannot deny. That my whole being cries out for God, I cannot forget.”

None of his ‘Atheist Quotes’ prove the existence of God, or even give convincing evidence.  Several of them speak merely of ‘meaning, purpose, or spirituality.’  They are statements from intelligent, insightful writers who recognize the desperate desire of many believers to want and need a softer, kinder, New-Age, Woke, benevolent Cosmic Overlord, which cannot be shown to exist.  Even the Bible – which should be the sole font of all that is Christian, but often isn’t – only shows an improvement in their imaginary God, from a smiting, judgmental psychopath in the Old Testament, to merely a sociopath in the New Testament.

Religious Horseless Carriage

In order to attempt to justify their beliefs and faith, many Christian debaters make pre-suppositional claims that are the complete opposite of logic and observed reality.

With respect, his entire point on meaning is that Atheists cannot ground *their* sense of meaning in anything and therefore any sense of meaning is illusory. His argument is entirely that meaning must be grounded in something ultimate and, unless it is, it is ultimately meaningless. That strikes me as self-evidentially true and the Atheist must show how whatever subjective meaning they insist to be meaningful is, in fact, ultimately meaningful. There may be answers to that, but it is for Atheists to offer them. One cannot simply sneer one’s way out of answering.

“Meaning” doesn’t prove God. It would take the confirmed existence of a God, to prove meaning. My sense of meaning is grounded in what I think and feel. I can prove that I exist, and have opinions – which is more than the greatest winner of Hide and Seek can do. 

Nobody was arguing that the ability to provide subjective meaning proves God exists though the argument being made was that subjective meaning is not ultimately grounded and so it is ultimately meaningless. It requires something ultimate to ground ultimate meaning otherwise it isn’t ultimate. Everybody recognizes your subjective sense of meaning is grounded in what you think and feel.

This author has no evidence for his claims, and simply insists that meaning in one’s life has to be “objective” to be worth anything.  He has put the cart firmly before the horse, but sadly, I can still see the horse’s ass.  If God cannot be shown to exist then, no matter how much he wants and needs an ‘ultimate’ ground for (his) morality, my/our ‘subjective’ one is the best there is.

Businessman/philosopher Charlie Kirk went to college and university campuses to debate with students.  When he was discussing politics, education, or finance, his thoughts were clear and hard.  When a subject like abortion or transgender led him into his Christian beliefs, an eighth-grade student could embarrass him.

Archeology has never proved the Bible wrong.
In 1000 pages, the Bible says a thousand different things – some good, some bad, many irrelevant.  With the same degree of accuracy and truth, it could be said that Archeology has never proved Harry Potter wrong.  We found this magical castle/campus, but it’s not Hogwarts.  A negative cannot be proven.

I was in a bad place, but I gave myself to Jesus, and I turned my life around, and became a successful businessman.
No He Didn’t!!  He gave himself to the belief in Jesus, and the placebo effect.  He was told that if he did X, Y would occur.  He did X, and Y occurred, but the two were not related.  He was told that he needed a crutch, but never noticed that he accomplished it with his own strength and resolve, and never actually needed the crutch.

What’s In A Name?

A young Catholic couple took their new-born daughter to church to have the priest baptize and officially name her, after Mass.  When the time came to perform the deed, the Father asked the father, (because he owns her, doesn’t he?) “What shall I name this child?”  The husband replied, “Spindonna.”  The priest thought that was a sort of New-Agey name, but kinda cute.  He held the baby aloft, and in a loud and solemn voice, declared, “In the eyes of God, our Father, I name this child Spindonna.”

The mother immediately dissolved into tears, weeping and sobbing.  Totally confused, he asked her husband what was wrong.  Apparently, the child was to have been named Margaret.  To assure that, and to guarantee no mistakes or misunderstandings, she had used a black Magic Marker, and carefully printed the name MARGARET on a small piece of note-paper, which waS PINNED ON HER.

Now the priest had to move his hands and tongue in the opposite direction, un-cast the magic spell like it was real, and actually meant something, tell God that the kid wasn’t really called Spindonna, and start all over again.  I have a name for this – several actually!  Let’s start with superstitious nonsense.

Why Is Atheism Rising?

It’s not that people woke up one day, and decided that they didn’t need gods; it’s that the reasons for needing them are quietly vanishing.  The stories that once made sense of the world are no longer enough.  And when something stops making sense, people stop holding on to it, no matter how sacred it once was.

The shift is quiet, but steady.  It doesn’t show up in protests, or revolutions, it shows up in the absence of prayer, and fewer people attending religious services, in younger people checking a different box on the census.  It shows up in a growing number of people saying they just don’t believe anymore, and don’t really miss it.

There’s a simple reason that Atheism is rising.  It’s not that people are getting angrier, it’s because they’re getting more curious.  Questions that were once dangerous, are now just normal, and questions that once silenced rooms, now don’t feel complete.  In the past, the structure of religions wasn’t just spiritual, it was practical.  It shaped laws, families, schools, and even the idea of morality itself.  But that structure only works when it remains unchallenged.

The moment something is questioned, it becomes something else entirely.  The Internet did something that religion never could.  It connected people, not through a shared belief, but through a shared doubt.  For the first time, someone sitting alone in a room in a deeply religious town could read the thoughts of someone who had walked away from it all, and hadn’t collapsed into chaos.

That exposure broke the illusion that belief was the only option.  Religions tend to thrive in isolation.  When a group is all you’ve ever known, its truths seem absolute.  But when you start seeing how many groups exist, and how each one believes something different, something starts to crack.  If they can’t all be correct, then perhaps they are all wrong.

Globalization didn’t just move products.  It moved ideas.  It exposed contradictions, and it made it harder to keep belief systems contained.  A young person raised is a strict religious home can now access scientific explanations, secular philosophy, and opposing viewpoints with a few taps on a screen.  That kind of exposure changes the mind’s chemistry.

There’s also the fact that religious institutions have not done a good job of protecting their own image.   Scandals, abuse, cover-ups, political involvement – these things don’t just shake individual faith.  They erode trust in the entire idea of religious belief.  When the people preaching morality are caught in deeply immoral ways, it doesn’t just damage reputations, it makes people rethink everything.

But the rise of Atheism isn’t just about disappointment, it’s about development.  There’s a direct correlation between education levels and religious belief.  Studies have shown that the more years of schooling people have, the less likely they are to believe in supernatural claims.

Confirmation, And Conformation, Bias

If you go looking for something that you expect to find – that you’ve been told, over and over and over, that you will find – that you want to find – that you need to find….  You will probably find it!  😮

Despite there being naturalistic explanations for almost every claim, Christian Apologists insist that “God” is responsible for everything – everything good that is.  If it’s bad, apparently we cause it.  I’m sure that the lady who wrote the following is very comforted by it, but I have some serious problems with her assumptions and definitions.

It really is a simple argument that, understanding God as the greatest conceivable being and our creator, seems to me irrefutable. Here it is in syllogism form:

  1. The moral law is founded on God’s nature, i.e. something is good if it aligns with who God is.
  2. Because God is the greatest conceivable being, all good qualities find their perfection in him and every expression of his goodness is much greater than any of us could ever express.
  3. Love is a good, moral virtue.
  4. Therefore, God loves and his expression of it is much greater than ours.

Morals do not prove God.  God proves morals.  Show me evidence of such an entity, and I will accept its right to assign “Morals.”  Until then, your morals are merely the mostly-agreed-on communal ethics of individuals, and a social species, attempting to survive and prosper.  The morals of the Biblical God align with slavery, genocide, rape, favoritism, and stoning independent children to death.

There is no indication that “the greatest conceivable being” exists, or needs to exist.  There is no indication that such a hypothetical entity would be ‘our creator.’  All indications are that any such theoretical being would not be the Christian God that she imagines.  I’m not moving the goalposts; I’m just trying to keep up with this argument as it flounders.

‘Love is a good moral virtue’ is a soft, sweet, mushy, marshmallow-type statement that even non-believers agree with.  Like ‘morals,’ it doesn’t prove God’s existence.  That requires something stronger and more rigid.

If you keep repeating the same, tired, inane statement often enough, sooner or later you will come to accept it as truth.  Government calls that brainwashing.  The Church calls it catechism.

Jesus loves me, this I know
‘Cause my pastor told me so
.

All the repetition, and desperate hope, and circular thinking, don’t make it true.