Religion:
Irrational Atheists

Atheists claim to be more rational than believers. They pride themselves on being more "scientific." But then they turn around and commit the same logical errors that they love to accuse Christians of.

For example, atheists have made much of the fact that atheism is rare in the general population but the rule rather than the exception among natural scientists. They claim that when scientists favor atheism, that proves that atheism is more scientific. It proves nothing of the kind. Maybe scientists are just biased against God.

To see what I mean by this bias, imagine a student who believes in Adam and Eve sitting in a public high school biology class. Would that student develop an interest in science when the teacher is spouting nonsense about evolution and maybe even dismissing the student's legitimate questions? No. That student would see that science isn't as "scientific" as it claims to be, and he's likely never to develop an interest in science. Not because he isn't smart or isn't rational, but because science is hostile territory for a believer.

Now imagine that the student likes science anyway and gets a degree in science. What happens when he applies for a job as a science professor in a college? Would they hire the believer? Of course not. They'd call him "unscientific" and "superstitious," and they'd laugh him out the door. Or they'd hire him but then taunt him mercilessly until he quit. Or they'd tell him to go apply at the religion department, if the college even has one.

And the end result of all this is that there aren't many believers among the natural scientists. First, the atheists make science a miserable place for any believer, and drive the believers away. Then they claim that the bias toward atheism among natural scientists is some kind of proof that atheism is smarter. Maybe it's just meaner.

Now here's a tangential question. Why, if atheists try to be so rational, do they wind up making the very logical mistakes of which they erroneously accuse believers in God? Maybe because they didn't become atheists on the strength of their reason in the first place. Instead, they use their reason to support their atheism, and they are atheists for personal, emotional reasons rather than rational ones.

—JoT
June 2002

Fru
     JoT

Peter, JoT

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