The Collapsing Atheist Escape Hatch

Modern day atheism is built on a simple claim – There is no evidence that God exists.  But how does the atheist know this?  It’s one thing to claim, “I don’t see any evidence for God” or “What you consider evidence for God is not what I consider evidence for God.”  But to proclaim “There is no evidence for God” is to make a truth claim about all of objective reality – wherever you look, whoever you are, how ever hard you look, you will not find any evidence for God.  Because “there is no evidence” to be found.  And that’s supposed to be true for all of us.

Yet this is nothing more than empty posturing.  We’ve seen how easy it to completely neuter this claim – simply ask the atheist what would count as evidence for God.  After all, when the atheist insists “There is no evidence for God,” this question is a perfectly legitimate way to get the atheist to clarify what he is saying.

And what have we found?  First, many atheists will point to some miraculous event, perhaps writing in the stars.   In other words, some event that could not possibly be explained by natural causes; something that would present itself as a Gap in our current understanding by natural causes.  But if that is the case, those events could only be evidence if we agreed that the God of the Gaps approach is a valid and legitimate way of determining whether God exists.  If we are to count a Gap as evidence, we necessarily assume the validity of the God of the Gaps logic.  Yet atheists everywhere have insisted that the God of the Gaps approach is NOT a valid approach.  Thus, all these examples of miracles that would supposedly count as evidence for God truly would not count as evidence for God as far as the atheist is concerned.  The atheist is engaged in deceptive hand-waving.

The honest approach is for the atheist to admit that nothing would count as evidence for the existence of God.  But then the atheist is simply admitting his/her closed mind and the pronouncement that “There is no evidence for God” becomes vacuous.  If nothing can count as evidence for the existence of God, then of course the atheist is going to believe there is no evidence for God.  How could it be otherwise?

Not wanting to be seen as closed-minded dogmatists, some atheists have been looking for an escape hatch.  Atheist activist Matt Dillahunty offers up one such attempt that I have seen elsewhere.  Since he takes over 27 minutes to make a two minute point, I’ll focus you to 26:16 in the video:

Intellectual Elites Who Embraced Pedophilia

As we proceed into the terrain of the post-Christian world, it has become more obvious to me that our “intellectual elites” would be better described as our “intellectual freaks.”  If one doubts me, explain why the intellectual elites in France so willing embraced pedophilia.

From the NYT:

The French writer Gabriel Matzneff never hid the fact that he engaged in sex with girls and boys in their early teens or even younger. He wrote countless books detailing his insatiable pursuits and appeared on television boasting about them. “Under 16 Years Old,” was the title of an early book that left no ambiguity.

Still, he never spent a day in jail for his actions or suffered any repercussion. Instead, he won acclaim again and again. Much of France’s literary and journalism elite celebrated him and his work for decades. Now 83, Mr. Matzneff was awarded a major literary prize in 2013 and, just two months ago, one of France’s most prestigious publishing houses published his latest work.

But the publication, last Thursday, of an account by one of his victims, Vanessa Springora, has suddenly fueled an intense debate in France over its historically lax attitude toward sex with minors.

A known pedophile was long given awards and celebrated for writing about his sexual conquests of children.  You can’t make this up.

And it would be so “edgy”:

Caught now in the crosscurrents of France’s changing attitudes toward sex, Mr. Matzneff is the product and longtime beneficiary of France’s May 68 movement, the social revolution started in 1968 by students and unions against France’s old order.

With the slogan, “It’s forbidden to forbid,” the movement rebelled against authority and fought against imperialism, capitalism, racism, sexism and homophobia. Some also argued for abolishing age-of-consent laws, saying that doing so would liberate children from the domination of their parents and allow them to be full, sexual beings.

And check this out:

Trans Activist Murdered. But Was Transphobia to Blame?

A few days ago, the Globe and Mail reported on the following story:

Activist who raised awareness about transphobia murdered in Toronto

Here are some excerpts:

When Julie Berman came up to the open mic at the trans day of remembrance event on Nov. 20, 2017, she delivered a speech about transphobia in Toronto. She talked about a trans friend of hers that was murdered.

On Sunday, a little over two years later, the trans woman and activist was assaulted and murdered.

“It’s really heartbreaking … the same thing that she was trying to be vocal about happened to her,” said Davina Hader, a friend of the victim and a member of The 519, an organization that advocates for the inclusion of LGBTQ communities’ members and provides services for them.

And

Toronto police said they found Ms. Berman on Sunday suffering from head injuries in a residence in Toronto’s Brunswick Avenue and Harbord Street area. She was transported to hospital and pronounced dead. Police have charged Colin Harnack, 29, of Toronto, with second-degree murder.

The suspect is not a known member of the LGBTQ community, according to Ms. Hader.

And

According to a study published in 2015 by Trans PULSE project that is led by professors in different universities in Ontario, trans people are targets of specifically directed violence. The study states that 20 per cent of Ontario’s trans people had been physically or sexually assaulted for being trans and another 34 per cent had been verbally threatened or harassed but not assaulted.

And

Ms. Nuamah considers the Sunday murder to be an alarming incident that should remind everyone about the high rates of violence the trans community experiences.

Ms. Berman was a lovely person who was committed to the political issues that are facing her community, Ms. Nuamah said. “She will be well missed.”

Because of  Trans Power in the media, this story was reported pretty much as is in multiple publications.  But pay close attention.  The story says Berman was murdered, they’ve got the suspect, and then it launches into various activist talking points about transphobia and violence against transgender people.

But something is always missing in the various stories –  None of them actually offer any evidence that transphobia was the cause of the murder.  Unless one is prepared to argue that all crimes against transgender people must be caused by transphobia, I need evidence.

So I did some digging and found this article from a site called, “The Post Millenial.”  The title of their article says it all:

Social media history of Julie Berman’s alleged killer paints a complicated picture

Atheists and Evidence 2020. Some things never change.

Since a new year is coming, yet the same old problems with atheism remain, why not start the new year with some problems that continue to plague atheism?

Back in 2009, someone at the web site “Ask the Atheist” (ATA) addressed the issue of evidence and atheism.  More specifically, they were replying to the following question:

What is the proof or evidence that atheism is accurate and correct?

Let’s look at ATA’s answer.  First, we have this:

The question is hard to answer as is because atheism itself is the absence of a certain type of belief, not the presence of an equivalent belief. It feels wrong to advance the lack of a belief as correct, let alone proven.

While this might be true for some atheists, it is clearly not true for all atheists.  For example, as we have seen year after year, mainstream atheist organizations declare “there are no gods” as a protest against Christmas celebrations.  For a large number of atheists, atheism is indeed “the presence of an equivalent belief.”  It is the belief that “there are no gods.”  They publicly declare it.   Or, as Sam Harris said, “There is No God (And You Know It).

ATA continues:

What we need to sort out beforehand is the position of atheists (or at least the majority of them) on the existence of gods and the truth merit of religions. This can be defended, as “what atheists think”, far less awkwardly.

This attempt is probably not definitive, but here goes: the atheist position is that there is no available, substantive evidence for the existence of any god. Therefore it’s likely that there isn’t one.

There is no evidence this is the majority view for atheists.  If it was the majority view, can someone provide a link to where a public figure in the atheist movement has criticized the FFRF during the last dozen years for declaring there are no gods?

Also, consider the popularity of Richard Dawkins book, The God Delusion.  Has any public atheist ever criticized the title of the book?  I don’t think so.  And that is significant.  If one is going to declare that theists are delusional, they’ll need to do it from a position where one believes “there are no gods.”  The much weaker and more timid  “lack of available, substantive evidence for the existence of any god” doesn’t have what it takes to justify accusations of delusions.  Let me demonstrate.

An Atheist Ritual

A couple of years ago, I wrote:

What we’re probably witnessing is a transition stage.  The hardcore naturalistic atheism that blurs into scientism is largely favored by the old atheists who are soon to pass away.  Think of it as dinosaur atheism.  In contrast, more and more of this new and upcoming generation of atheists embrace The Satanic Temple and its rituals (which clearly blurs the distinction between secular and religious), is more likely to incorporate some elements of astrology into their life, and more likely to speak favorably of witchcraft and other forms of the occult.

Well, a few days ago, the popular Friendly Atheist site posted a blog entry entitled, “A Satanic Yule Goat Has Been Put Up Outside the Michigan State Capitol.”  The blog gleefully reports on a ritual of The Satanic Temple in Michigan.  They even post a video of parts of the ritual, warning people it is NSFW.  That’s because the video is mostly naked women smearing fake blood all over themselves (for some reason, it’s all naked women).  And remember, The Satanic Temple is supposed to be made up of atheists.

 

Atheism as Subjective Opinion

In one his speeches given in May 2012, Peter Boghossian defines atheists:

The overwhelming majority of atheists don’t claim there is no god. They just claim there is not sufficient evidence to warrant belief in God.

Yet multiple atheists activists do indeed claim there is no god.  So it’s not clear if Boghossian is telling the truth or is simply expressing a common talking point.  Let’s be charitable and assume the former. This would mean such atheists really need to come to grips with what this means. If it is true “they just claim there is not sufficient evidence to warrant belief in God,” then they need to be honest with themselves and others and acknowledge their atheism is a personal, subjective opinion.

Take evidence. While many mistakenly think evidence is equivalent to objective reality, it is not. Data, detected by our senses, represent objective reality. Once the data are sensed, they can then be transformed into evidence by the mind. It is the brain which interprets the data and assigns meaning to that data. And one form of meaning that can be assigned is to interpret the data as evidence. But the data does not become evidence without the input from the mind, which relies on other beliefs, experiences, memories, and assumptions to convert the data into evidence. In the end, evidence is a brain-dependent phenomenon. And this is what nicely explains the empirical fact that evidence rarely generates consensus. Even among the atheists themselves, there is no consensus on what data would count as evidence for God. Those of us who have asked atheists what type of evidence they need know that the answer you get is dependent on the atheist. In other words, what is considered evidence is a matter of taste.

But Boghossian makes it worse.

Maya Forstater’s Reasonable Approach Under Attack by Radicals

We have seen that a Judge (James Tayler) has ruled Maya Forstater’s views are “absolutist,” did ““not have the protected characteristic of philosophical belief” and is an “approach is not worthy of respect in a democratic society.” As such, the Judge has ruled it is okay to fire Forstater from her job for daring to express her views publicly. In the future, it is not difficult to envision an extremist like Judge James Taylor wanting to sentence her to jail for such thought crimes.

To get a feel for just how extreme this Judge is, let’s consider some of Forstater’s tweets:

Norwegian Government Mocks Religious Minority

Atheist activists Hemant Mehta and PZ Myers are whining about the same thing:

Mehta: In an amusing new ad for Norway’s postal service — one that you’d never see replicated in the United States — a mail carrier delivers a letter to the beautiful biblical Mary and then a “miracle” happens nine months later.

Myers: God works in mysterious ways, even in Norway.  I rather doubt that this ad would fly in the US, but apparently it’s just funny in Norway.

Poor babies.  They complain such a hilarious ad would not be played here in the US.

But think about the source of their sad faces:

Posten Norge or The Norwegian Post is the name of the Norwegian postal service. The company, owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications has a monopoly on distribution of letters weighing less than 50g throughout the country.

I see.  So the Norwegian government mocks the Christian faith.  What’s more, Hemant was recently doing a victory dance about something.  Oh, yeah, ..For the First Time, There Are More Atheists in Norway Than Believers.

So the Norwegian government mocks the faith of a religious minority.  And Hemant Mehta and PZ Myers whine that this doesn’t happen here.

The Raw Power of the Trans Activists

In response to the trans toxicity noted before, JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, tweeted:

Dress however you please.

Call yourself whatever you like.

Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.

Live your best life in peace and security.

But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019

Oh, oh.  You just knew this tweet would cause the trans community and allies to react with red-faced rage because this is, well, an outrage.

If you want to witness the raw power of the transactivist community, just go to Google and search “JK Rowling.”  When you click on the News tab, just about every mainstream media organization will pile on and become the mouthpiece for the transactivists.  Just consider the title  of these mainstream media articles and how they favor the trans position:

J.K. Rowling’s ‘transphobia’ tweet row spotlights a fight between equality campaigners and radical feminists – CNN

J.K. Rowling got it wrong – CNN

J.K. Rowling’s Maya Forstater tweets support hostile work environments, not free speech-NBC News

‘Harry Potter’ author J.K. Rowling roasted for supporting researcher who defended biological sex recognition-Fox News

J.K. Rowling’s transphobia is a product of British culture-Vox

How a Single Tweet Undermined J.K. Rowling’s Relationship With the LGBTQ Community-Slate

J.K. Rowling tried to make her work more inclusive. Then she tweeted support for an anti-trans researcher.-Washington Post

‘Harry Potter’ Helped Me Come Out as Trans, But J.K. Rowling Disappointed Me-NYT

GLAAD: J.K. Rowling’s Support of Anti-Trans Researcher ‘Puts Trans People at Risk’-Variety

Why can’t J.K. Rowling accept transgender people like me?-Washington Post

J.K. Rowling Comes Out As A TERF-Forbes

Wow.  And I left out the slightly more obscure media sites.

When the entire media effectively becomes your mouthpiece, I think it is time to acknowledge the power of the trans community and stop pretending they are helpless, delicate little victims.

Trans Toxicity

According to this article:

A researcher who lost her job at a thinktank after tweeting that transgender women cannot change their biological sex has lost a test case because her opinions were deemed to be “absolutist”.

What?  The transgender activists tell us that if a man believes he is a women, he is.  That is, she is.  Period.  Absolutely.  If there is any movement that is absolutist, the trans movement, which insists women have penises and must use the women’s public bathroom, is it.

In a keenly anticipated judgment that will stir up fresh debate over transgender issues, Judge James Tayler, an employment judge, ruled that Maya Forstater’s views did “not have the protected characteristic of philosophical belief”.

This Judge does not sound qualified to be a Judge.  So only certain philosophical beliefs deserve protection.  That is something an activist, biased, partisan “judge” would say.

But it gets worse.