Season’s Greetings
Whether you say “Merry Christmas”, “Happy Holidays”, or even “Happy Winter Solstice”, I wish you all the best for the day and the rest of the year. Whatever you plan to do today, whether habitually religious or full of militant secularism, I hope you have fun and get completely wasted (just don’t throw up your Xmas dinner!).
The only thing left to do, is wish you all a very Happy Jewish Zombie Birthday!
-Adrian Hayter
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Scale Of Belief, Knowledge, & Certainty
Ever since I came across Richard Dawkins’ scale of belief in The God Delusion, I disagreed with the way it was set out (I found it a rather too simplistic way of determining positions on an important question) . When I fully understood the true meaning of agnosticism, and how it is not a “on the fence” or “I’m not sure” position, I rejected Dawkins’ scale completely. Any scale concerning the belief in God that puts agnosticism as a dead centre position is completely misunderstanding agnosticism. Agnosticism isn’t concerned with the belief in God; it is concerned with knowledge. Namely, whether or not a god can be proven. Agnosticism and atheism are not mutually exclusive positions, as they are positions on different areas.
In my opinion, when considering the question of God there are three aspects that must be addressed: Belief - Whether or not you believe in God, Knowledge - Whether or not you claim absolute knowledge of the existence of God, or claim God can be proven in some way, Certainty - How certain you are of your beliefs (of disbeliefs). Although the three aspects are closely related, they are exclusive to one another. That is to say, one can believe in God, not claim absolute knowledge, and also be relatively uncertain of their belief.
The difference between knowledge and belief is subtle but explainable. Knowledge can best be seen as a subset of belief, and this can be demonstrated by the fact that someone can believe something that is provably wrong (such as someone claiming they believe 1 + 1 = 3), but they cannot know something and hold a disbelief in it. I cannot disbelieve that 1 + 1 = 2 because I know it to be true. Of course, one could argue that a person might lie, but this doesn’t change the fact that when answering truthfully they would admit belief. This argument also does not allow for people who are willingly ignorant for obvious reasons.
Once the difference between knowledge and belief is fully understood, the difference between knowledge and certainty should be quite easy to see. I have explained this to quite a few people when talking about my position on gods, and the best way I can explain it is with the following problem:
Suppose you are alone in a dark empty room. You can hear the pitter patter of raindrops on the ceiling above you. With this limited observation, (a) could you know that it is raining outside the room?, and (b) could you be certain it was raining outside the room?
Rational people would answer a definite “no” to (a), simply because there are an large number of explanations for the sound other than “it is raining outside”. Friends usually have some fun coming up with alternative explanations, such as a sound system, a mental delusion, a hallucination, etc. The answer to (b) really depends on the person, and answers vary along a large range. Most people come to the conclusion that they would be “pretty certain” it was raining outside, and that this decision is based on previous experience of listening to rain on a roof. If one were to plot a probability distribution of all the possible explanations, “it is raining” would be the highest bar. It is simply the most likely explanation for the sound. They key thing to remember about certainty and knowledge is that you can be 100% certain about something and still be wrong. I am 100% certain that I’ll be alive tomorrow, but that won’t stop a stray car or my heart suddenly having an attack.
The relationship between certainty and belief usually depends on the type of belief. For example, I’m a “believer” (not the best word) in the theory of Evolution, and I’m 100% certain that it is true. I’m also a “believer” in the Higg’s boson, but not as certain about it (although I’m certain enough to have a bet with a friend over it). Believers in God are usually quite certain, if not 100% certain about their beliefs. I’d say most atheists were also quite certain about their beliefs.
So, we have three aspects of a position on God to create a scale out of. Belief, defined through one’s atheism/theism, Knowledge, defined through one’s agnosticism/gnosticism, and Certainty, defined through “Strong”/”Weak”. I’ve used the Strong/Weak terms out of their original definition simply because they are good words to use for the aspect of certainty. To clarify, someone who is “strong atheist” in this scale would say they are 100% certain about their disbelief in gods, and a “weak atheist” would be someone who is not 100% certain.
The Scale
- Strong Gnostic Theist - Believes in God, holds God as provable (or proven) and is 100% certain about its existence.
- Strong Agnostic Theist - Believes in God, holds God as unprovable (or unproven) but is still 100% certain about its existence.
- Weak Agnostic Theist - Believes in God, holds God as unprovable (or unproven) and is uncertain about its existence.
- Apatheist - Could be described as 100% uncertain about their beliefs. Usually agnostic, and with a distinct sense of apathy on forming any opinion on the existence of God.
- Weak Agnostic Atheist - Disbelieves in God, holds God as unprovable (and unproven), but is still uncertain about its non-existence.
- Strong Agnostic Atheist - Disbelieves in God, holds God as unprovable (and unproven), but is 100% certain about its non-existence.
- Strong Gnostic Atheist - Disbelieves in God, holds God’s non-existence as provable (or provable), and is 100% certain about its non-existence.
Note that there are no places for Weak Gnostic Theism or Weak Gnostic Atheism, since to “know” something immediately nulls any form of uncertainty on it.
In case any of you were wondering, I rank myself a 6 on this scale. Any comments concerning my arguments on the philosophy of knowledge are most welcome. I know (at least in the non-absolute sense) this is a well debated problem amongst philosophers.
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Christmas Plans
I had originally planned to sit down with my laptop over the Christmas period and write quite a few articles, perhaps respond to some other atheist blogs, and generally have a fun time. However, yesterday morning my laptop’s GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) suddenly decided to give up and die. I am therefore stuck without my trusty operating system, my feeds, my email client (luckily I still have Gmail’s awesome web interface), and all of my other programs I generally use from day to day. I’m currently forced to use the “family computer” which is running Windows XP and cannot handle most of the “Linux only” programs I like to use, including my *gaaaah* feedreader.
My Christmas plans have changed then, and on some of them I might need some help.
1) The “Big Fat Atheist Quiz Of The Year” relied heavily on my feedreader being active so I could read through a years worth of feeds. The interface shouldn’t be that hard to put together for it, so all I need are a load of good questions for it. Please please please if you have any questions you can think of involving atheism within the last year, use the submission form and send them to me. If every single one of my ~500 feedburner subscribers submit just one question, I should have (gets out calculator) 500 questions to choose from! Of course that’s not going to happen, but any questions at all would be good :D
2) On 29th December I’m flying out to Athens in Georgia (USA) where I will be until 11th January. I was hoping to bring my laptop, but the chances of that are quite remote now. As such, if anyone wants to write something for the holiday period and send it in, you will be most welcome. Contact details are here. I’ll also be asking people at my forums, so hopefully some content will be put together and scheduled before I leave. The problem with being abroad and without a laptop is that I am completely unsure how often I will get to use the internet.
3) I still have a few spotify invites if anyone wants t0 have some great music for the holiday period. I’m happy to say that 22 people have accepted invites I’ve sent, but 8 people have still to accept them. If I run out of invites I will be re-sending these ones since you haven’t accepted them yet (sorry, but holding onto them for weeks isn’t very fair).
Hopefully I’ll get some response from my plea for help (both quiz-wise and article-wise), but I will try to post things up until I leave.
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I Have A Life! (Just)
Chicken Girl recently posted this meme on her blog. Out of 219 movies in a list, if you have watched more than 85 of them, you have no life. She had watched 37 of the movies, and so was pretty safe. Unfortunately for me, going through the list was a bit of an embarrassment; I had no idea how many crappy movies I’ve watched in my time…
( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
( ) Blazing Saddles
( ) Universal Soldier
(x) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
(x) Along Came Polly
( ) Joe Dirt
(x) KING KONG
(x) A Cinderella Story
(x) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
(x) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
(x) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving -MAS
(x) Flubber (Orignial)
( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
( ) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
(x) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
( ) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
(x) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
( ) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
(x) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
(x) Bad Boys
(x) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Sleven
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
( ) Ocean’s Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremacy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog
( ) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bron Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
( ) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
( ) Rush Hour
(x) Rush Hour 2
( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
( ) She’s All That
(x) Calendar Girls
( ) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
( ) Event Horizon
( ) Ever After
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
( ) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
( ) The Terminator 2
( ) The Terminator 3
(x) x-Men
(x) x2
(x) x-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
( ) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Kippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old-virgin
(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
( ) Baseketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
( ) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History
( ) Three
( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook
(x) Chronicle Of Narnia The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
(x) Kill Bill vol 1
() Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) the Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatri
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
(x) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
(x) Battle Royale
(x) Battle Royale 2
( ) Brazil
(x) Contact
( ) Cube
( ) Dr. Strangelove
( ) Enlightenment Guaranteed
( ) Four Rooms
( ) Memento
( ) Pi
(x) Requiem for a Dream
( ) Pulp Fiction
( ) Reservoir Dogs
( ) Run Lola Run
( ) Russian Ark
(x) Serenity
( ) Sin City
( ) Snatch
( ) Spider
(x) The Sixth Sense
(x) The Village
( ) Waking Life
( ) Zatoichi
( ) Ikiru
( ) The Seven Samurai
( ) Brick
( ) Akira
Total: 77
So I have a life (just about). Of course, it probably doesn’t help that I’ve watched many many more movies than the ones on the list.
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Short Story: An Atheist On Judgment Day
A member of my forums, Dotard, has found an imaginative story about an atheist on judgement day, written by Adrian Barnett. It does beg the often asked question, “What would you do if you met God once you had died?”.
At the head of the we find a young Christian, wearing an expression of awe and joy. Behind him, an atheist, looking slightly astonished, examining a leaf she has picked from a nearby bush, trying to decide if it is real or not. Heaven, she thinks, should be whiter, with more dry ice swirling about; not look like a Welsh hillside on a hot day.
The Christian steps forward for judgment.
“Hello Martin”. God’s voice is calm and gentle as He speaks.
“Erm.. Hello. Lord”. Martin’s voice is nervous, as a dozen emotions fight for room in his mind at once.
“This is it. This is where I decide what shall happen to you, Martin. In life, you were a Christian”. It was a statement, not a question.
“I was, Lord. I still am. I have been all my life. I have dedicated myself to your service.”
“Tell me, Martin. Why were you a Christian? Why did you believe in me?”
“Why? Well… Because you are God! I’ve always believed in you.”
“That is not what I want to know. Why did you believe?”
“Because I knew it was true. You were always there for me. You helped me through the bad times. You answered my prayers. You gave me the strength and courage to get through life. I could feel your presence with me all the time.”
“No.”
“Pardon, Lord?”
“I said no, Martin. I have never helped you. You seemed to be doing perfectly alright by yourself. I heard your prayers, but never answered a single one. Your belief in me definitely helped you on occasion, but I have never intervened in your life. Certainly, you gave me credit for all the good times, but they were your own doing, not mine. You did not feel my presence, because it cannot be felt. The only actual proof you have that I exist at all is here and now. Again, tell me why you believed.”
“I.. I had faith, Lord. Since I was a child I have been to church, prayed and sang every Sunday. My faith in you never wavered. Even when my mother died, I had faith that it was your will, that it was a blessing from you that she passed peacefully. I was raised to believe in you, and as I grew I read the Bible for myself, and learnt of your miracles, and all the saints and martyrs, and the good done in your name. I read the works of great philosophers and they merely strengthened my faith. I knew it was true. ”
“No, Martin. Your mother died of natural causes, and she died peacefully because of the actions of the hospital. I watched and saw, but that is all. As for the rest - the saints, martyrs and philosophers had similar reasons for their belief in me, just as dictators and murderers have had. People have done great good and great harm in my name, and in the names of a thousand false gods. The Bible was written about me, not by me, and was written by people who had similar reasons as you for their belief, just as a thousand other Holy Books have been written about the false gods, or different versions of myself. I ask for the third and final time. Why did you believe in me?”
Martin looked shocked and ashen, but pulled himself together. His Lord was testing him, and he had lived his entire life for this moment.
“I believed because I could feel in my heart it was true. You sent your son to die for us, and I gladly accepted Him as my saviour. I.. I just knew it was true, and now that I see you, my faith has been vindicated. I no longer need to believe - I can see for myself the truth and majesty of my religion.”
Quietly, God spoke again. “Martin, you have impressed me”. He paused.
“But… not enough. You believe because you were taught to believe. You believe because you mistakenly attribute to me anything positive that has happened in your life, and discount anything negative. You believe because it is comforting to believe, and because you are frightened of the consequences of my not existing. You believe because… you believe. I’m sorry, Martin, but there is no place for you here.”
God gestured briefly with his fingers, and Martin vanished. His shadow lingered where he had stood, fading rapidly to nothingness.
The atheist, somewhat shaken by what she had just seen, stepped forward.
“Hello Eve. I like that name.”
“Ah. Hello, God. Thanks”, said Eve, not entirely sure how to address a being she had, until now, considered fictional.
“Yes, you may call me God. Eve, in life you were an atheist. You doubted my existence, even objecting to the very concept”. Again, a statement, not a question.
“Yes, I did. Clearly, I was mistaken.”
“Clearly. Tell me, are you still an atheist?”
“I suppose not. I’m not a Christian, Jew or anything else. I guess I’d have to be called an involuntary theist. Ah ha ha”, Eve laughed nervously, hoping the very real and solid-looking deity before her had a good sense of humour.
“Mmm… Tell me, Eve. Why did you not believe in me?”. God’s voice was kind and gentle once more.
“At one point I did. I was raised as a Christian, and often went to church, and prayed every night before bed. When I was feeling down I would read the Bible. The act of reading it seemed to comfort me, even though the words themselves didn’t seem much help. I think, like Martin, I believed because I believed.”
“And then you lost your faith? You decided I did not exist, and you knew better than those around you? You knew better than your pastor and family?” The voice was losing its kindly edge a little.
“That is one way of looking at it, yes. What I believed did not seem to fit with other things I knew. The Bible clearly could not be literally true, word for word. I knew from biology and paleontology that humans had evolved like all other life, and were not special creations. How life or the universe began, I still don’t know, but could not just merely accept ‘God did it’ as an explanation. I learned about other religions, and how they all claimed a monopoly on truth, happiness and morality. I saw the good done in your name, but I also saw the oppression, genocide and wars. I saw that if people were in need, it was up to us to deal with it, not to rely on heavenly aid.”. Eve felt a little braver, but was expecting the traditional thunderbolt any moment. The people behind her, now at the head of the queue, were slowly moving backwards, trying not to draw attention to themselves.
“Yet here you are, before your God, on the final Day of Judgment. Why should I allow you in - a heretic, a disbeliever, an infidel - when your predecessor, devout and faithful, full of love for me, was consigned to Oblivion? Tell me why. Justify your entry to my Paradise.”
Eve straightened up, looking God in the face. “Why should you let me in? Because I am better person than you.”
If Eve had looked round, she would have seen the entire line of souls, perfectly still and wide-eyed, staring at her in shock.
“What did you say?”, enquired God. His voice, though barely audible, caused tremors in the mountain.
Surprised at still being alive, her mouth dry, Eve continued. “I said, because I am a better person. You have shown it yourself already. You told Martin that you watched as his mother became ill and died. You destroyed him for believing for no good reason, when his whole life had been shaped by that belief. Your preachers on Earth encourage unquestioning faith, yet you do not tell us whether that is what you want. You give people no rational basis for belief, and then when they make up their own that is not good enough for you. You listen to our prayers, yet do not answer, leaving people to rationalise events for themselves. People kill and slaughter over trivial differences in doctrine, and you look on. In the churches and temples raised in your glory, children are mentally and physically abused - in your so-called House! All over the world, throughout history, people have murdered each other for believing the wrong thing about God, for believing in the wrong God, or for not believing in any God. The poorest and most helpless people are relentlessly targeted, being told to give what little they have now, for the promise of eternal bliss later. When a person is at his lowest ebb, that is when the smiling missionaries appear, knowing that his life will probably get better naturally and they can give you the credit. In your name, the ends justify the means as long as souls are saved”. Eve paused for breath, and continued.
“And you? All-powerful, all-loving, all-knowing? You just sit here and you watch it all… Any person in this line, had they your power, would show greater compassion and morality. You may be God, but you are far from Godliness.”
God smiled. “Are you finished? Good. Eve, you have impressed me”. He paused. Eve held her breath, shoulders tensing.
“You have impressed me a great deal. You may have believed in me for all the wrong reasons, but you disbelieved for the right reasons. You led a good life, and used the intelligence I give to everybody in the correct way. Even though you came to a conclusion about me that was hopelessly wrong, you came to it in a way that cannot be faulted. You may pass into paradise, Eve, with my blessing.”
Eve did not step forward. Instead, she spoke once more. “No, I will not”.
“No? You refuse Heaven? You defy my will?” The smile had left God’s face again.
“Do you think I would want to spend one more minute, let alone eternity, in your company? You allow people to suffer, sometimes for their entire lives, for no purpose, and then judge them on their reaction. You hide yourself from the world and allow your creations to persecute each other over differing interpretations of the lack of evidence. You see all the pain and ignorance caused in your name, and just sit there as this queue grows daily? And then you have the audacity to punish good people for believing in you ‘for the wrong reasons’?”
“Eve. Enough of this. The gates to Paradise are open to you. Be silent now, and enter.”
“No. If it is a choice between oblivion and an eternity with a monster like you, I gladly choose oblivion. I ask only one thing, before you destroy me.”
“And what is that?” asked God, getting impatient.
“That, if you can, you look me in the eyes as you do it.”
Shortly afterwards, the next person in the queue stepped towards the top of the mountain, and Judgment.
The story can be found here, along with a second story “Unwelcome Contact or In space, no-one can hear you preach” (No guesses on the setting for that one).
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