Making a Case for Atheism
A theist by his or her very 'unnatural' nature, holds onto the concept of God and often all the mystical 'excess baggage' that comes with their religion, such as Heaven and Hell, belief in miracles, belief in the virgin birth, water turning into wine, Jesus walking on water, the parting of the Red Seas etc - they hold onto these beliefs, without even thinking that they have to make a case for their position. If you hold a more childlike belief in religion, then if your a Christian as just one example, you may even believe in Noah's Ark. If you can believe something, purely on faith, why would you have to make a case for it? - Indeed, the religious never or rarely ever try to defend their position.
But lets begin with the starting premise of attempting to make a case for atheism. Well, atheism is not, as some theists like to claim, 'just another religion' ...atheism in objective terms, simply means the none acceptance of the God concept; that's it. Now on what basis would one have to make a case for it. I would say the opposite, if someone disagrees with the atheist position, let them make a case against it. But it will have to be more convincing than, 'I'm not an atheist because I believe in God'.
The fact is, that in criticizing atheism, that is just about the best a theist can do. They can only criticize atheism through defending the concept of God. The fact is, this is a none starter; before you can defend a position and indeed, disprove the opposite proposition, you first have to produce, at least a modicum of evidence...
The above, is why the 'atheist position' does not have to prove its case. The atheist is not trying to prove anything. An atheist, is not holding the atheist position as a system of believes. The atheist position is simply the non-acceptance of God, and that's it.
As an atheist I do not have to go round thinking: 'I really have to work hard at my atheism today, I'm losing my atheist faith'. It is something most atheists never or hardly ever think about. Atheism is as natural to an atheist, as breathing air. But theism is something totally different. Unlike atheism which is just a 'negative' proposition to counter a claim made in the positive, religion on the other hand is a 'positive' set of beliefs. Religion is something individuals tend to work at, to stay 'holy' ...There must be an awful lot of sore knees in the World, from taking up servile postures on prayer mats.
If I was going to attempt to put a case forward for atheism, then I would simply say, look at the track record. Now it may well be true that atheists have done some heinous things in the World, but let us exclude one of the favorite, but erroneous arguments put forward by theists to denounce and 'blacken' atheism, trying to make a synonymous connection of atheism with Stalinism and Nazism. This is of course a 'red herring' argument against atheism, that is usually brought up, as the theists very 'low-bandwidth' level of attack. They have little to defend their religious position, so their only form of defense is attack, but when you cannot produce evidence for your position, then the best that is available is the odd non sequitur.
The one case that is put forth against atheism, which I grant is a little stronger than the Nazi/Stalin non sequitur, is the claim that without religion, we would not have causal link that acts as a catalyst, to bring people together... without religion, there would be no community. Now it may well be true that religious organizations have led to communities coming together and created social cohesion. But on the other-hand, one could argue that the only reason atheistic communities have not been aloud to grow, is because religion has held the monopoly of control.
But of course, the so called social and communal spirit created through religious 'harmony' is really not as blessed as the claims made for it. Northern Ireland is just one example of where religion did not lead to community, but hostility another example is the The Israeli Gaza Strip. But even if it were true that one could show, that religion does in some respect, create a community spirit (at least when it's not behaving to badly), that in itself does not make any of its beliefs true. I suspect, a society totally and utterly free of religion, would more naturally lead to a more harmonious community than one with it.
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