From: nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu (David Nye)
Newsgroups: alt.atheism
Subject: Re: view from a searcher
Date: 21 Dec 92 03:28:40 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

[reply to Betty]
 
>Now I do appreciate those who want proof.  It is difficult to proceed,
>on what someone who is into the physical as the only reality, on what
>appears to be a suspention of mental capacity and explore non-physical
>reality.  However to dismiss as impossible the concept of a reality
>that is not manifest physically is to cut yourself off from any
>experience that would point in that direction.
 
Thanks for the reply.  Your argument is very familiar, one I had with
myself when I was where you are several years ago.  If it is of any
help, here is how I got to atheism from there.
 
If I may paraphrase your position, you are leaning toward empiricism
("into the physical as the only reality") yet hesitant to give up on the
supernatural ("a reality that is not manifest physically").  The first
thing you must do is come to a decision about how you know.  Will you
accept belief unsubstantiated by either physical evidence or logical
proof as a valid way of knowing?  I couldn't.  Nor in the end would I be
blackmailed into making believe by the threat of damnation.
 
I decided that the best and soundest way to acquire knowledge is by
application of the scientific method, going with the best theory that
fits the available evidence.  If new evidence contradicts it, out it
goes.  A crucial step was the realization that any valid theory must be
falsifiable.  A belief in God isn't (in other words, a believer doesn't
admit the possibility of any evidence which could invalidate his
belief).  The belief that there isn't a God is falsifiable, however,
thereby making it a better theory (God could show up and prove me
wrong).  Furthermore it is a simpler theory, satisfying Ockham's razor.
If God made the universe then who made God?  If the answer is that God
has always existed, I counter that it is simpler to believe that the
universe has always existed.
 
As an atheist, I don't dismiss the possibility that a god exists, I just
decline to believe in one in the absence of evidence.  Even most
theologians will agree that there is no physical evidence or logical
proof of God's existence.  To me, faith is making believe.
 
Once I concluded that these were good reasons not to believe in God and
threw him out, I had the interesting experience of many things in my
cognitive map clicking into place.  It is much the same experience I
have as a programmer when I stumble upon a simpler algorithm that all of
a sudden turns a kludgy piece of code elegant.   As a believer bothered
by inconsistancies in my religion, I felt uncomfortable when I thought
certain thoughts.  I was experiencing cognitive dissonance.  Now when I
test the bounds of my understanding, nothing rattles and no doubts
surface.  Because of this, I am happier and more at peace with myself as
an atheist than I was as a Christian.
 
The two books which I found most helpful were The Logic of Scientific
Discovery by Karl Popper and Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays
by Bertrand Russell.  The FAQ here is also very well done and worth
reading.  It was hard not having anyone I could discuss this with while
I was going through it.  It would have helped to have alt.atheism
available at the time.

David Nye
nyeda@cnsvax.uwec.edu