A is for Atheism

Atheism (a = non; theism = god) can be either a belief that no gods exist (strong atheism) or a disbelief in god/s (weak atheism, also called agnosticism).

Atheism comes out of a naturalistic worldview where the belief is that the physical world is all there is, was, or ever will be. This leads to a denial of the immaterial world regarding such things as thoughts or mind, etc. So how does one, who claims to be an atheist, account for the immaterial concepts that seem to exist, such as morals, thoughts, other minds, emotions, etc.?

I recently read a couple of blog posts (here and here) and in the first post, towards the end, this gentlemen makes such a claim. He says,

“But to be perfectly honest, I’m not an agnostic, because I don’t believe in a spiritual world or a world that is beyond human perception. I believe that matter exists, and that’s all. No Heaven. No Hell. No platonic forms. No ghosts or spirits or chakras or auras.

And most importantly, no God.

My ‘little white agnostic’ lie quieted my mother. She sat back satisfied, albeit a bit relieved. She relaxed and said, ‘Oh, okay,’ which, though ostensibly innocuous, subtextually meant, ‘Thank God my son isn’t a Satanist pedophile. At least he believes in something greater than himself.’

She was right about the latter. I do believe in something greater than myself - I just don’t think that thing is God.”

So I am curious as to what that “something greater is.” I am guessing that it must be a physical thing since he has already ruled out all possibilities that are beyond human perception. For me I find these claims quite interesting, not because I think they are silly or fallacious, but because I am not clear how one only thinks that matter is all that exists when there is abundance evidence to the contrary. The best thing for me to do will be to ask him, which I plan to do, and hopefully we will end up having a gracious and civil dialog.

Richard Dawkins on Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report

Stephen Colbert interviewed (briefly) Dr. Richard Dawkins about his new book The God Delusion. While I like Colbert and think he typically does a pretty good job with his interviews by interjecting humor, I think this interview got away from him a little. Dawkins asks him the question, “And who just did God, then?” (meaning who created God) and Colbert, fumbling for a response, went a different direction. I think he tries to do a good job at defending his faith, I don’t think he did such a good job on this particular evening. As a result, Dr. Dawkins challenge comes off looking a little stronger than what I think it actually is.

To watch the video (there is one interview spread split over two videos) of the interview, watch them here:
1. Colbert interviews Dr. Dawkins - Part 1
2. Colbert interviews Dr. Dawkins - Part 2

If you have thoughts either for or against Dr. Dawkins position, please comment.

UPDATE: You can watch the entire video at this link via YouTube.com: Entire Colbert interview with Dr. Dawkins

Richard Dawkins on NRP’s Talk of the Nation

NPR runs a program on Friday’s titled Science Friday. This weeks guest is Richard Dawkins and he is talking about his new book The God Delusion. Dr. Dawkins book says fundamentalist religion “subverts science and saps the intellect.” Dawkins discusses religion, the teaching of evolution and creationism in science class, and his call for atheists to “out” themselves.

Dr. Dawkins website is here: The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason & Science

According to Dr. Dawkins website, his book is currently:
#1 - Amazon.co.uk (Britian)
#1 - Amazon.ca (Canada)
#5 - Amazon.com (US)

You can listen to the NPR interview by download an mp3 archived file. Go to this website: Science Friday - and look for Richard Dawkins posted October 6, 2006. It’s a 12.1 megabyte file so if you have dial-up, it will take a little while to download. If you can’t find the download link - then you can download it here.

UPDATE: You can now listen to a streaming archinved copy of the 30 minutes interview directly from NPR’s website. Follow this link and once you are there, click the Listen button above Dr. Richard Dawkins picture. Richard Dawkins on NPR’s Talk of the Nation

Let me know what you think after listening to him - I think he says some alarming things.