Ask an Atheist

From our experience, most people with theistic or supernatural beliefs have some misconceptions about atheists. Many believe that they have never even met one. With so much misinformation floating around, we thought we should make an effort to set the record straight.

Here are some of the questions that we get asked most frequently, along with some answers provided by Boston Atheists members. If you think there are any important questions that we've left out, please let us know!

How do atheists know there isn't a god? Aren't they just being as dogmatic as believers?

Julie Arnold: (February 16, 2009)

I have humbly stated to folks in the past that of course we don't know anything, but based on the evidence, a higher power just doesn't seem possible.

Calvin Fisher: (March 30, 2009)

Philosopher Bertrand Russell responded to this notion with the analogy of the Celestial Teapot. If I were to tell you that there was a delicate china teapot -- one that was too small to detect with our most powerful telescopes -- orbiting the sun between the Earth and Mars, you would rightly think me crazy, even though you would not be able to prove me wrong. Things like gods and souls are no less ridiculous in the light of modern science than the Celestial Teapot. It's just that we're so used to hearing about them that most of us don't even stop to really question those ideas!

I think it's important to remember that there are degrees of certainty -- it's not an all-or-nothing affair -- and that nobody knows anything with absolute certainty, even that the sun will come up tomorrow. But there are some beliefs that rightly we hold with a high degree of confidence. For example, if I say I am quite sure that the Earth is approximately spherial, nobody will accuse me of being dogmatic or closed-minded. If someone gave me a good reason to believe that the Earth was flat, I would, just as with believing in gods.

When we atheists say that we believe there are no gods, we're not saying that we have some kind of special knowledge or that we're smarter than anyone. And we're certainly not saying that we have faith, or that we've made some unquestionable decision; atheists like being exposed to new ideas and new arguments. All we're saying is that we've looked at the world around us and found that supernatural ideas are inconsistent with it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Why are atheists moral without gods?

Ken Granderson: (November 7, 2007)

Before trying to answer this question, it is important to separate truth from fiction as far as the implied claim that non-atheists get their moral standards from their religious scriptures.

While it is true that religious people derive SOME of their moral standards from their scriptures, this is after some serious cherry-picking of the ones that happen to conform with the concept of civilized society that one lives in.

This is why followers of Judeo-Christian faiths conveniently ignore verses that command you to do things like kill people who work on the Sabbath day, while the edicts and mandates that better fit our current society are embraced. When scripture is used as the basis for morality without any cherry-picking, you end up with what people call religious fundamentalists or (when they have political power or weapons) extremists. The reality that religious scriptures contain instructions that range from the most benevolent to the most reprehensible is why everyone from pacifists to serial killers routinely use religious texts as the basis of their moral standards.

When we look at what is considered moral across many cultures, we tend to find very similar perspectives that are in line with the precept familiar to Western people as the Golden Rule. However, rather than being the result of religious teachings, many people have found evidence that suggests that this idea is a result of natural selection - that groups who do well by each other tend to survive better than those who are constantly trying to kill each other. Also, some experiments with chimpanzees suggest that moral behavior is not limited to the human species.

IF you are a person who can find these ideas reasonable, then the conclusion is that religion is not necessary at all for morality (an idea backed up by some statistics on violence and other social issues).

So, whether you are religious or not, almost all of us get our standards from the universally recognized principle of treating others in ways that you would like to be treated yourself.

Now, I believe that the application of this principle is directly linked to the degree of connectedness that you feel for the other. Thus, this principle is more likely to be practiced with your friends and family than strangers, more likely with humans than other species, and more likely with living things than inanimate objects.

I mention this because I often find an inverse correlation between religious people and the scope of creation that they feel they must act morally towards. I think that many religious people limit their moral behavior to other humans because from the perspective of their scriptures, only humans are important, but many non-religious people extend their moral behavior to animals and the environment, as their concept of connectedness is not defined by the mindsets of authors of thousands of years ago.

Finally, in addition to the aspect of morality that deals with how we treat others we encounter, there are issues around personal behavior choices that often get lumped under the banner of morality, but I believe that this is mostly because the dominant religions in this country mix the two concepts together.

I am firmly in the camp of those who believe that people's personal choices (or orientations) around their sexuality and forms of entertainment are not moral issues unless their actions cause harm (not inconvenience) to others. As with religious edicts pertaining to acts that impact others, the ideas that personal choices are a moral issue also results from very selective reading of religious texts that conveniently coincide with the perspectives of those who tend to promote them.

In the area of personal choices, if we are going to use texts like the bible to determine people's morality, then everyone except celibates, faithful married folks and male polygamists are all toast....

Zachary Bos: (November 7, 2007)

In "On Liberty," "Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals," and "Justice as Fairness: A Restatement", Mills, Kant and Rawls respectively propose a moral system that has no reference to religion whatsoever. Each author's proposal is perfectly progressive and unobjectionable.

How can atheists be happy or have any meaning in their lives?

Brett McCoy: (February 17, 2009)

I believe this question is one born out of fear. While many people have little to no faith in a god, they cannot bring themselves to move past agnosticism into actively denying the existence of god. The truth is, to admit to oneself that there is no god is a terrifying prospect. It means quite simply that all the stories that humanity has made up to comfort ourselves are untrue; there is no afterlife, when we die we cease to be and since there is no afterlife and no judging deity all the horrible people who have lived have no comuppance, no justice.

I can personally understand this fear. I grew up very religious but ironically after a year of bible college I went through a long period of questioning my faith, fearing that I would go to hell because I could not make myself believe what I now knew to be a lie. But fear of the truth is not an effective innoculation against the truth. There are many instances where recognition of the truth requires us to face our fears, but face the truth we must.

So to answer the question, how can I be happy without god? How can I live believing that when I die there is no afterlife where my friends and family will reunite with me and no hell where the Hitlers and Jeffrey Dahmers of the world get their just deserts? The answer is that knowledge or belief of an afterlife has very little to do with happiness. I find happiness in the same things other people do; I find happiness in my 8 month old son, in my wife and my family, in playing tennis and laughing with friends, reading a book and lying in the sun. Knowing that these things are not going to be forever makes me appreciate them even more; people create their own heaven or hell here on Earth. Furthermore, lack of a belief in god does not make me a hedonistic self-centered person. I am a politically active person with strong convictions about justice and a desire to make the world a better place; the lack of an afterlife only adds a greater urgency to these things.

I have found that happiness is a choice. One can despair about the state of the world or one can take pleasure in what the world has to offer and resolve to make it a better place for our children. Belief in god doesn't really have anything to do with this.

How does an atheist respond when someone says "God bless you" following a sneeze? What do they say instead?

Jim Perullo: (November 30, 2007)

"No thanks." (in jest)

"Thank you" is polite enough. I say "thank you" when my mother serves me mashed squash at Thanksgiving - and I hate squash.

Hillary Rettig: (November 30, 2007)

I don't say anything when someone sneezes, and no one has died yet from the omission.