Category Archives: Atheism

Story highlights Atheists point to Internet as one reason some Americans are losing their faith For many atheists, the scariest thing about coming out is the loss of community, Greg Epstein says Biggest misconception about atheists is that they are a threat, says pastor

CNN's documentary, "Atheists: Inside the World of Non-Believers," tells the story of a number of people who put themselves in that group -- and the stigma they've faced.

"Stan Bennett" is a minister in a small town, but he no longer believes in God. He's actively searching for other employment so he can leave behind the job he's known for more than 30 years. He knows he's going to come out as an atheist one day, but he's not ready yet. (He is a closeted atheist, so CNN concealed his identity).

Jerry DeWitt knows how Stan feels. DeWitt spent 25 years as a Pentecostal preacher in the evangelical South, but a few years ago he lost his faith. He still preaches, but he now speaks before a congregation of atheists.

David Silverman is the firebrand head of American Atheists, a group formed in the early 1960s that now has more than 5,000 members. He wears his atheist badge with pride, and his "in your face" tactics have made him a legend in the atheist world.

Greg Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and author of the best-selling book, "Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe." He's also the executive director of The Humanist Hub, which connects nonreligious community programs in the Boston area and beyond.

After the documentary aired, CNN asked this group some of the tough follow-up questions about atheism. Their answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. The opinions expressed below are solely those of each speaker.

Bennett: Little by little, we are growing up. It's more difficult for people to stay in their religious cocoons away from the rest of the world. Higher education, travel and the Internet all contribute to our awareness of a bigger world with bigger concepts than the cultural superstitions in which we were raised.

DeWitt: One word: Google. The questions have always been at hand, but now the answers are within our grasp.

Silverman: Religion is factually wrong. As a result, religion lives on ignorance of facts. The reason people are giving up on mythology is the Internet, and the access to information it represents. When religion can exist in a bubble, the lies it pushes cannot be challenged. But when there is a wealth of information at the fingertips of every believer, those lies can be refuted easily, from multiple sources and multiple perspectives. This is why religion is waning, this is why it will continue to wane and this is why it is waning primarily in millennials who are most likely to spend lots of time on the Internet.

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What atheists want you to know

(CNN) -

Many Americans are leaving their faith behind. While fewer than 3% consider themselves atheists, about 20% of Americans don't identify with any religion, according to a Pew Study.

CNN's documentary, "Atheists: Inside the World of Non-Believers," tells the story of a number of people who put themselves in that group -- and the stigma they've faced.

"Stan Bennett" is a minister in a small town, but he no longer believes in God. He's actively searching for other employment so he can leave behind the job he's known for more than 30 years. He knows he's going to come out as an atheist one day, but he's not ready yet. (He is a closeted atheist, so CNN concealed his identity).

Jerry DeWitt knows how Stan feels. DeWitt spent 25 years as a Pentecostal preacher in the evangelical South, but a few years ago he lost his faith. He still preaches, but he now speaks before a congregation of atheists.

David Silverman is the firebrand head of American Atheists, a group formed in the early 1960s that now has more than 5,000 members. He wears his atheist badge with pride, and his "in your face" tactics have made him a legend in the atheist world.

Greg Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and author of the best-selling book, "Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe." He's also the executive director of The Humanist Hub, which connects nonreligious community programs in the Boston area and beyond.

After the documentary aired, CNN asked this group some of the tough follow-up questions about atheism. Their answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. The opinions expressed below are solely those of each speaker.

Why are Americans losing their faith?

Bennett: Little by little, we are growing up. It's more difficult for people to stay in their religious cocoons away from the rest of the world. Higher education, travel and the Internet all contribute to our awareness of a bigger world with bigger concepts than the cultural superstitions in which we were raised.

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Atheists open up: What they want you to know

Story highlights Atheists point to Internet as one reason some Americans are losing their faith For many atheists, the scariest thing about coming out is the loss of community, Greg Epstein says Biggest misconception about atheists is that they are a threat, says pastor

CNN's documentary, "Atheists: Inside the World of Non-Believers," tells the story of a number of people who put themselves in that group -- and the stigma they've faced.

"Stan Bennett" is a minister in a small town, but he no longer believes in God. He's actively searching for other employment so he can leave behind the job he's known for more than 30 years. He knows he's going to come out as an atheist one day, but he's not ready yet. (He is a closeted atheist, so CNN concealed his identity).

Jerry DeWitt knows how Stan feels. DeWitt spent 25 years as a Pentecostal preacher in the evangelical South, but a few years ago he lost his faith. He still preaches, but he now speaks before a congregation of atheists.

David Silverman is the firebrand head of American Atheists, a group formed in the early 1960s that now has more than 5,000 members. He wears his atheist badge with pride, and his "in your face" tactics have made him a legend in the atheist world.

Greg Epstein is the Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and author of the best-selling book, "Good Without God: What a Billion Nonreligious People Do Believe." He's also the executive director of The Humanist Hub, which connects nonreligious community programs in the Boston area and beyond.

After the documentary aired, CNN asked this group some of the tough follow-up questions about atheism. Their answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. The opinions expressed below are solely those of each speaker.

Bennett: Little by little, we are growing up. It's more difficult for people to stay in their religious cocoons away from the rest of the world. Higher education, travel and the Internet all contribute to our awareness of a bigger world with bigger concepts than the cultural superstitions in which we were raised.

DeWitt: One word: Google. The questions have always been at hand, but now the answers are within our grasp.

Silverman: Religion is factually wrong. As a result, religion lives on ignorance of facts. The reason people are giving up on mythology is the Internet, and the access to information it represents. When religion can exist in a bubble, the lies it pushes cannot be challenged. But when there is a wealth of information at the fingertips of every believer, those lies can be refuted easily, from multiple sources and multiple perspectives. This is why religion is waning, this is why it will continue to wane and this is why it is waning primarily in millennials who are most likely to spend lots of time on the Internet.

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Are Americans losing their religion?

Creationist Lenny Claims The Problem Of Evil Disproves Atheism
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Creationist Lenny Claims The Problem Of Evil Disproves Atheism - Video

How Not To Defend Atheism (original file 720p)
How Not To Defend Atheism.

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How Not To Defend Atheism (original file 720p) - Video

GodTVRadio Show - Adolf Hitler Loves Atheism
Brett Keane Website https://www.youtube.com/user/GodTvRadioShow Jdubs and Brett Keane GamesULove Video Games https://www.youtube.com/user/GamesULove GodTvRadio International ...

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GodTVRadio Show - Adolf Hitler Loves Atheism - Video

Theistic Evolutionists lean towards atheism
Proof that i both accepted and defended evolution https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r-eZhYAiPQ GULO gene supposed evidence for common ancestry debunked ...

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Theistic Evolutionists lean towards atheism - Video

Heina Dadabhoy | A-pasta-sy Ahoy!: Signs I Was Destined for Atheism
Freethought Festival 4 is a free annual conference hosted by the Atheists, Humanists, Agnostics of the University of Wisconsin Madison. For more information please email WiscAtheists@gmail.com...

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Heina Dadabhoy | A-pasta-sy Ahoy!: Signs I Was Destined for Atheism - Video

High tech leads to Atheism in Huxley #39;s "Brave New World [Order]"
See my other video, " Illuminati MK Ultra/Monarch trauma based mind control in Huxley #39;s Brave New World": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stW8_uZXU24 Learn more about atheism here: ...

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High tech leads to Atheism in Huxley's "Brave New World [Order]" - Video

THIS paper refutes claims made in the article Atheism no smarter than Christianity by Learnmore Zuze (hereinafter referred to as the author). Using logical arguments, research findings and facts; it shows that the article is demonstrably fallacious and highlights the dearth of knowledge concerning secularism and objective morality. For those who have not read the article by Learnmore Zuze, it is available here: http://www.newzimbabwe.com/columns-21370-Atheism+no+smarter+than+Christianity/columns.aspx

1) WITHOUT a Supreme Being (God) to account to, and in the absence of an ultimate authority in the universe, it logically follows that human beings are their own masters and a law unto themselves. In fact, more graphically, it translates to this: the wicked massacres of defence-less citizens by the wicked regimes of this world; the wanton rape; the abuse of the innocent; the senseless genocides and the numerous injustices witnessed over the centuries will be perfectly in place as there is no answerability and, consequently, no judgment.

This is a claim against objective morality, apropos, without a deity we would all be murderers and/rapists. However, religion is not a moral system or even a system based on justice. It is a system of authority. Whatever the god-figure decrees is correct, the moral repercussions notwithstanding. In no other sphere would an edict to stone a person to death or sacrifice ones own child in a sanguinary ritual be tolerated.

Religion justifies macabre acts using arguments from authority. We do not get our morality from religion; religion gets its morality from us. Nobody needs the Ten Commandments to know that killing is wrong. We have an innate sense of what is wrong and what is right which predates any born again experience. We know better than to stone people for working on the Sabbath or committing adultery even though religious texts demand it.

The absence of a divine supervisor does not preclude human compassion and empathy. In fact, the entire human understanding of law, justice and accountability is grounded in secular thinking. Objective morality is based on human desire for the highest attainable states of good. We make our own laws, draw up our own constitutions and enforce our own edicts; the era of the superstitious being the regulator of human conduct is far behind us.

However, as the author himself alludes to, the Old Testament of the Christian Bible is an orgy of macabre acts done because of and not in spite of religion. Religion does not prevent the morally repugnant. In fact, it often requires and justifies it; prompting talk-show host Bill Mahers dicta that the period in which religious thinking formulated public morality is still rightly referred to as the Dark Ages.

2) Atheism, by rejecting the existence of God, is nothing but a secreted way of propping up lawlessness, anarchy and transgression in the universe.

The author acknowledges that atheism is the rejection of the notion that a god exists then goes on to counter that claim by stating that it is a way of propping up lawlessness and anarchy. Atheism is just the rejection of one notion: theism. It says nothing about whether one is a pacifist, anarchist, environmentalist or any other such taxonomy.

However, as a response to that mistaken yet commonly held view, reference must be made to those countries where secularism has taken root and atheists are the vast majority of the population. The Scandinavian countries, Japan and Iceland are notable examples of countries in which secularism has taken root and religious people are in the minority. These countries are not synonymous with lawlessness and transgression as the author would seem to imply. In fact, they consistently rank amongst the top performers on scores of life expectancy, adult literacy, per capita income, educational attainment, gender equality, homicide rate, and infant mortality.

On the other hand, the bottom 50 countries on the Unites Nations Human Development Index are consistently and unwaveringly religious. This does not mean secularism leads to greater prosperity or even more sustainable development and this may well be correlation without causation. However, it does refute the outrageous claim that atheism is an appeal to lawlessness and transgression; a claim further compounded by data recently revealed by Google showing that the majority of countries in the top ten of porn-searching countries are religious states.

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Eyes wide shut: A response to Atheism no smarter than Christianity