Atheism Clarified

One of the points my dad has made during our never-ending debates on the existence (or not) of God is apparently one that many others feel too. Julian Baggini expresses that view perfectly in an interview:

“Atheism (is) parasitic on what it denies. People say ‘Look, it’s even in the name itself: ‘a-theism’.”

I always felt there was something wrong with the point but could never nail it. Until I read Baggini’s response to it:

“That’s just historical accident. It just so happens that western civilisation has, for many centuries, been predominantly religious, and so the alternative worldview ended up being defined in contrast to that.”

More importantly, Baggini points out that an atheist subscribes to a “physics-based explanation of the universe”. And once you see that, what he says next follows:

“If people say that atheism is parasitic on religion, ‘What would happen if no one believed in God any more? Would that mean there were no atheists?’ Of course not. It would mean that everyone would be an atheist and perhaps, in that situation, there wouldn’t be a special name for it, because there would be no need.”

Besides, points out Baggini:

“We understand in all normal circumstances that to believe that something exists in the absence any good reason that it does exist is irrational. They get it the wrong way round. It’s not that you need to prove that something doesn’t exist. It’s rather that if you show there’s an absence of reasons to think it does exist, then you have no use for that hypothesis.”

And as physics and biology explain more and more things in the physical universe, it sidelines the deity to be a God of the Gaps. That, of course, leaves the space within in its entirety to the realm of the Gods.

But the simplistic belief that anyone who believes that death is the end would just maximize pleasures in life at any and all costs is just that: too simplistic. Because, that same belief that this life is all there is can spur one to action:

“Issues of social justice, inequality and fairness have become more important. When refugees wash up dead on the shores of Europe, you can’t have that reassurance in the back of your mind that they’ve now entered the bosom of their creator, and everything is going to be all right. Far from it: theirs were lives that were hard, and difficult, and were ended prematurely. All we can do is try and stop other people having to live and die in that way in the future.”

Of course, I am sure this isn’t the last word in this debate.