1. Atheism isn't the final word

Comment #33353 by ricb on April 19, 2007 at 11:57 pm

Mr Feder would be ecstatic to browse the bookshops here in Australia. The Popular Science sections as full to the brim with books expounding the 'God in the Universe' and the 'failings of evolution' with very little science to be found.

The problem that this leads to is that society will begin to fail as knowledge is replaced by belief. The standards of science has fallen in America so much that the Bush administration has set up a committee to try to return America to the days of Feynman, Sagan et al, when America was a scientific force in the world (at least there was talk of this some years ago). The reason America, like Australia, is failing in its scientific endeavours is that there is too much religion in schools and in society at large, at the expense of knowledge.

Mr Feder seems to think that a 'moral' code by which we can live by can only be formulated using religious principles. Look hard enough at the animal kingdom and one could arrive at the ten commandments without Moses, Abraham or Jesus. Evolution will, in the long run, punish those that do only for themselves and not for their species. Isn't this morality without God???

Even if one is to accept that some ideas that society has embraced have strictly religious origins, does this mean that these ideas and values are the exclusive property of believers. To quote an Aussie band, "This Is Serious, Mum"; 'I might agree with Jesus but I got no religious belief.'

Murder is reviled by both atheists and theists. A point which Mr Feder doesn't seem to properly understand. Compare the witch-hunts, inquistions and wars,and see how many people were killed in the name of God with those killed by so-called proponents of atheism. How many murderers and peadophiles are deeply religious, compared to those that are atheist?

When all is said and done, the atheist ideal may (and in my opinion, will) lead to a more caring and just society than a religiously based society.

2. Where Is Atheism When Bad Things Happen?

Comment #33303 by ricb on April 19, 2007 at 8:12 pm

It is interesting that people like D'Souza love to exhibit an astounding lack of knowledge for the scientific principles involved. Anyone who has a mild understanding of biochemistry and/or may suffer (or intimately knows someone who suffers) from disorders such as dipolar disorder or ADD/ADHD can easily understand how molecules work on other molecules to produce certain effects including how some idiots think that they are God or doing God's work.

Also it seems that some people believe that there is an inherent idea called evil. Remember that this is just a human constructed label which we attach to things we intensely dislike and has no real corresponding element outside our emotions.

Furthermore, if there is such a benevolent God as many claim, why did he not act to stop this event from happening? An omnipotent god could quite easily have caused an accident whereby this gun-toting idiot would have met his demise before killing 32 innocent people. What excuses does D'Souza et al have for the inexcusable inactions of their omnipotent and benevolent god???