Atheism

Niklas Jansson's adaptation of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam depicts the Flying Spaghetti Monster in its typical guise as a clump of tangled spaghetti with two eyestalks, two meatballs, and many "noodly appendages". Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Atheism is the disbelief in the existence of God or deities.

"In Western culture, where monotheism has been the dominant mode of religious belief, atheism has generally referred to the denial of the existence of a transcendent, perfect, personal creator of the universe. " -Van A. Harvey

Everyone is born an atheist. We’re not born as Muslims, Christians, or Flying Spaghetti Monsterians. It isn't until we're indoctrinated into religion, usually by acceptance of a deity, do we become religious. Atheists aren't required to be nonreligious. There are religions that don't require the acceptance of a deity such as Buddhism.

Modern Humanism is based on the premise that human morality can exist independent of any religious belief system. Many modern atheists believe that religion results in a break-down of humanism. Without religion we would just have evil people doing evil things and good people doing good things. "It takes religion to get good people to do bad things," according to some atheist.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution is often linked to atheism because it gives a rational explantion for the orgins of life without the need for a divine creator.

Today, Darwin's theory of evolution, backed by another 150 years of scientific evidence, lies at the very heart of modern biology. The study of biology has lead to many advances in modern medicine, agriculture, ecology and computer science.

There is a lot of scientific evidence that proves the Theory of Evolution is true. What we don't yet know is if the mechanisms in place to drive evolution are by design or by chance.

I was inspired to write about this from watching Richard Dawkin's video on The God Delusion and by reading this article on atheism by Van A. Harvey.

I'm somewhere between an agnostic and a believer. For me, it's likely that there is a God but I can offer no proof of his existence. Gaining a better understanding of the natural world, so that we can advance science, is more important than religious traditions.

Atheists are a fine group of people that deserve our utmost respect.