"There's no such thing as an Atheist!"

I thought this would provoke an interesting discussion. This is a claim we don't necessarily hear often, but the people who claim it seem to be adamant about it. There's no such thing as an Atheist! What do you think?

source: http://www.christiananswers.net/evangelism/beliefs/atheism.html#doe...

There can be no such things as an atheist. This is why: Let's imagine that you are a professing atheist. Here are two questions for you to answer: First, do
you know the combined weight of all the sand on all the beaches of
Hawaii? We can safely assume that you don't. This brings us to the
second question: Do you know how many hairs are on the back of a
fully-grown male Tibetan yak?

Yaks. Illustration copyrighted. Probably not. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that there are some things that you don't know. It is important to ask these questions because there are some people who think
they know everything.

Let's say that you know an incredible one percent of all the knowledge in the universe. To know 100 percent, you would have to know everything. There wouldn't be a rock in the universe that you would
not be intimately familiar with, or a grain of sand that you would not
be aware of. You would know everything that has happened in history,
from that which is common knowledge to the minor details of the secret
love life of Napoleon's great-grandmother's black cat's fleas. You would
know every hair of every head, and every thought of every heart. All
history would be laid out before you, because you would be omniscient
(all-knowing).

Bear in mind that one of the greatest scientists who ever lived, Thomas Edison, said, "We do not know a millionth of one percent about anything." Let me repeat: Let's say that you have an incredible
one percent of all the knowledge in the universe. Would it be possible,
in the ninety-nine percent of the knowledge that you haven't yet come
across, that there might be ample evidence to prove the existence of
God? If you are reasonable, you will be forced to admit that it is
possible. Somewhere, in the knowledge you haven't yet discovered, there
could be enough evidence to prove that God does exist.

Gold in China. Illustration copyrighted. Let's look at the same thought from another angle. If I were to make an absolute statement such as, "There is no gold in China," what is needed
for that statement to be proven true? I need absolute or total
knowledge. I need to have information that there is no gold in any rock,
in any river, in the ground, in any store, in any ring, or in any mouth
(gold filling) in China. If there is one speck of gold in China, then
my statement is false and I have no basis for it. I need absolute
knowledge before I can make an absolute statement of that nature.
Conversely, for me to say, "There is gold in China," I don't need to
have all knowledge. I just need to have seen a speck of gold in the
country, and the statement is then true.

To say categorically, "There is no God," is to make an absolute statement. For the statement to be true, I must know for certain that there is no God in the entire universe. No human being has
all knowledge. Therefore, none of us is able to truthfully make this
assertion.

If you insist upon disbelief in God, what you must say is, "Having the limited knowledge I have at present, I believe that there is no God." Owing to a lack of knowledge on your part, you don't
know if God exists. So, in the strict sense of the word, you cannot be
an atheist. The only true qualifier for the title is the One who has
absolute knowledge, and why on earth would God want to deny His own
existence?

The professing atheist is what is commonly known as an “agnostic” - one who claims he “doesn't know” if God exists. It is interesting to note that the Latin equivalent for the Greek word is
“ignoramus.” The Bible tells us that this ignorance is “willful” (Psalm 10:4).
It's not that a person can't find God, but that he won't. It has been
rightly said that the “atheist” can't find God for the same reason a
thief can't find a policeman. He knows that if he admits that there is a
God, he is admitting that he is ultimately responsible to Him. This is
not a pleasant thought for some.

It is said that Mussolini (the Italian dictator), once stood on a pinnacle and cried, "God, if you are there, strike me dead!" When God didn't immediately bow to his dictates, Mussolini then
concluded that there was no God. However, his prayer was answered some
time later.

Excerpted from God Doesn't Believe in Atheists by Ray Comfort

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Matt Coulthurst on October 12, 2010 at 2:35am

I call shenannigans!

What an awful lot of tripe - Comfort is deliberately making a strawman argument.

While it might be true that some few atheists would claim to have absolute knowledge that there is no deity (and I would call them out just as fast), they are few and far between. He is misrepresenting what the term atheist means.

Let's not forget that Ray Comfort is also the ignoramus (see what I did there?) who made that imbecilic banana video with Kirk Cameron.

Permalink Reply by Ava Wilson on October 12, 2010 at 3:08am

Good observations. Although I don't claim to have 'absolute knowledge' that there is no God, as if I'm pushing it onto people, I personally believe that God is a 100% impossibility and there isn't even a microscopic thread of doubt in my head that he isn't even an issue or consideration in my life because I don't regard the potential of him even existing. But I did think his argument is as silly as the "banana: atheists' worst nightmare!" argument. Let's keep in mind that his flaw in logic in that example is also gaping: the banana is man-made for man. Plantains are not nearly as well shaped or delicious or nice to look at as a banana, and that's why we invented them. Haha. If anything, the banana shows an example of mutations that occur that make evolution possible (and true).

Permalink Reply by Matt Coulthurst on October 12, 2010 at 3:18am

The other big flaw with his "No Atheist" argument is that it could also be used to show that there "cannot possibly be any such thing as a Christian" since, without being omniscient, they cannot possibly know that their notion of God isn't just an alien mind or a vast supercomputer.

Permalink Reply by Ava Wilson on October 12, 2010 at 3:43am

Or nonexistent entirely. The only point he made is that 'There is no such thing as an Atheist or a Christian, or any other religion, because none of us fucking know!', he just conveniently left out the rest of the list to suit his needs.

Permalink Reply by Tera on October 12, 2010 at 3:59am

I don't assume that I am 100% absolutely correct that God does not exist, but rather, based on what I know, I think God doesn't exist. However, I'm not willing to throw my time and energy into a religion just in case I happen to be wrong. First, I couldn't lie to myself that convincingly, and second, I'd feel like a great big faker.

As has been pointed out, what he's done here is reasoned out the fact that no one really knows anything, including Ray Comfort.

-Tera

Permalink Reply by Matt Coulthurst on October 12, 2010 at 6:56am

Especially Ray Comfort :P

Permalink Reply by Ava Wilson on October 12, 2010 at 2:34pm

It seems a lot of Christians favor Pascal's Wager of 'let's be religious JUST IN CASE, even if it sounds illogical!'

Permalink Reply by Emmy Ellison on November 25, 2010 at 10:52am

I see Atheism as the opposite of theism...

the·ism (th z m) n.
Belief in the existence of a god or gods, especially belief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world.
the ist n. the·is tic, the·is ti·cal adj. the·is ti·cal·ly adv.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009.

Therefore, I see Atheism as:

Lack of belief/disbelief in the existence of a god or gods, especially a lack of belief/disbelief in a personal God as creator and ruler of the world.

I don't think I've ever said "there is no god, no god exists". I generally tell people that I simply cannot fathom the existance of any god or gods. I've asked religious people, "What about Amon Ra?" They have no knowledge of what I'm talking about. I have the knowledge though, so he must be real according to this scenario. Amon Ra was known as the sun god until science discovered what the sun is. There used to be (and in some parts of the world, probably still are) gods for anything we couldn't explain. Sun, love, war, rain, etc. We now know why these things occur so those gods have essentially been phased out. As far as I've learned, we don't have 100% positive scientific proof of evolution as of yet... but the theory is pretty convincing to me from what evidence science currently has. I believe that some time in the future, science will prove evolution exists, and will eventually prove how this nifty little plant formed and how life on it began. Maybe this last god will then be phased out like all the rest.

Sorry for any horrible typos. I'm typing this from my phone.

Permalink Reply by Emmy Ellison on November 25, 2010 at 12:41pm

I've been Atheist since shortly before my 11th birthday in 1992. I'm currently 29. I didn't find what I believe or disbelieve in a book or from other people. I found it from my brain. I believe facts, not fiction. No one could give me good reasons why god was needed. Nobody could give me solid evidence of his/her/it's existance. I've gotten this far without a god so I apparently don't need one. I've still not been shown evidence of it's existance either. I can't fathom why people refuse to believe scientific fact (the earth is more than 6000 years old) but they so readily believe in something that IMO doesn't deserve to be believed. The Earth has worked hard to grow into what it's become. It's history is astounding. What has a god done? It hasn't left one tangible thread of evidence to show it's existance.

"Don't tell the kids the truth about Santa. It'll break their hearts.... " ah, humans leave proof of Santa's existance. They keep Santa alive. Humans also keep their god(s) alive.... at least children have proof of their Santa.

Permalink Reply by Sabio Lantz on November 25, 2010 at 10:53pm

Debates about definitions abound. Why fight over words. I think we all get the important issues.
I did a little post on how "Atheism" is a rather accidental title to me -- an epiphenomenon.

Permalink Reply by Atheist Exile on November 25, 2010 at 11:43pm

Her definition of atheist is more limited than any dictionary allows. Most atheists, like most scientists, don't claim certainty. They simply state that there is zero physical evidence of God: never has been and probably never will. Without evidence and without any other basis (logic, personal experience, etc.) to believe in God, many atheists simply DECIDE it's ridiculous to pay lip service to God and deny his existence based on the consistent and persistent lack of evidence.

Permalink Reply by Mario Rodgers on November 26, 2010 at 1:38am