Asimov's Argument from the Bible for Atheism

Photo from New York World-Telegram & Sun, Public Domain

 

Earlier today, the "Thinking Atheist" tweeted a meme with a quotation attributed to the late Isaac Asimov:

Agree or disagree? pic.twitter.com/gkVf3fuLDo

— The Thinking Atheist (@ThinkingAtheist) January 6, 2023

Asimov's statement can be read in two ways. First, it could be an empirical claim: people who properly read the Bible tend to become atheists. Second, it could be a normative claim: people who "properly" read the Bible ought to become atheists. In my opinion, the word "properly" is doing a lot of work here; properly read, Asimov is making the normative claim.

But why believe the claim? 

On Twitter, one person replied to me and suggested that Asimov said "atheism" but really meant "the falsity of Judaism and Christianity." Maybe , but if so that's pretty embarrassing for Asimov. The distinction between "atheism" and "the falsity of Judaism and Christianity" is pretty basic. Even middle schoolers can understand it. 

Atheism, Morality, and the Difference between Consistency and Entailment.... Again

Trigger words: rape, childhood sexual abuse

In this post, I want to respond a blog post by Christian apologist Wintery Knight (WK) regarding atheist morality.

Reppert's Atheistic Argument for Violence

Victor Reppert recently posted the following blog post, which I quote in its entirety.

An atheistic argument for violence:
1) Atheism is true, and so obviously so that religious believers must be insane.
2) Insane people can do outrageous things.
3) The people who promulgate belief in God are putting other people's sanity in danger.
4) Even if we have to forcibly stop them from doing so, we can prevent them from leading other people on the road to insanity, and hence possibly outrageous actions.
5) Therefore, the use of force in the name of suppressing religion is justified.

By What Standard?

Standards by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free

 

Sometimes theists will ask atheists the following question.

(1) If you don't believe in God, then by what standard can you label actions (morally) right, wrong, or indifferent / neutral / permitted?