Answering Michael Brown

In yesterday's link round-up, I linked to Bruce Gerencser's answers to Michael Brown's seven questions for atheists.  Since Brown says his goal is to "better understand your mindset as an atheist" rather than to argue and bicker, I thought I'd take a shot at answering them myself as well.

First, would you say that you are (or, were) an atheist based primarily on intellectual study or based on experience?  Or did you never believe in God at all?

I grew up without religion and never believed in God.  In the course of my almost 62 years, I've studied both science and various religions fairly extensively, and I've never found any reason to believe that any of the countless gods humans have invented at various times actually exist.  (My reason for studying religions is interest in the huge cultural and political impact they have, not any feeling that there might be truth or wisdom in them.)

Second, would you say that even as an atheist you still have a sense of purpose and destiny in your life, a feeling that you were put here for a reason and that you have a mission to accomplish?  Or is it primarily people of faith who feel like this, since we are simply the products of an unguided, random evolutionary process?

One of the best things about being an atheist is that I know my life is truly my own, not cluttered up by some "higher purpose" imposed by an external entity.  I was not "put here for a reason".  At various times I have pursued certain purposes and goals, but they were entirely of my own choosing.

As an aside (but an important one), it's wrong to speak of evolution as a "random process".  Mutation is indeed random, but natural selection, by definition, is not.  The world is full of natural processes which are not under any conscious guidance but don't operate randomly either.

Third, would you say that you are 100% sure there is no such being as God -- meaning, an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing being?  Or would you say that, for all practical purposes, you have concluded that this God does not exist, although it is impossible to prove such a negative with absolute certainty?

I would put the Biblical God (or Zeus or Brahma or whatever) in the same category with unicorns, vampires, Spider-Man, etc.  In some arid and abstract philosophical sense, one can't absolutely prove the non-existence of such entities, but they're so implausible that it's not worth spending any time or mental energy on the issue.

Fourth, do you believe that science can provide answers for many of the remaining mysteries of the universe, including how the universe began (including where matter came from and where the Big Bang derived its energy), the origin of life, and DNA coding?

We already have a solid scientific explanation for how the universe began.  For the origin of life (an issue distinct from evolution, as I hope Brown is aware), there are about a dozen plausible hypotheses, any of which could be true, but we'll probably never know for certain which one is true, since it happened so long ago and little relevant evidence survives to be studied.  Nothing suggests that anything supernatural was necessary for life to begin.  I'm not sure why Brown thinks DNA coding requires a special explanation.  Again, there are multiple hypotheses about certain details of how DNA originated (discussion here), but as far as I know it's not considered especially mysterious.

Fifth, have you had any experiences in life that caused you to question your atheism?  Has something happened to you that seemed genuinely supernatural or otherworldly?  Or have you been confronted with some information that shook your atheistic foundations, such as a scientific argument for intelligent design?  If so, how have you dealt with such doubts to your atheism?

I have experienced things that I would say aren't explainable by current scientific knowledge.  I don't take that as being evidence for anything supernatural.  The fact that there isn't currently a natural explanation for something doesn't mean there never will be.  (It could also be that my interpretation of my experiences was mistaken, a possibility which any open-minded skeptical person must acknowledge.)  There are no "scientific arguments for intelligent design", just a lot of intellectually-dishonest gobbledygook and confusion presented as a very poor imitation of science.

Sixth, are you completely materialistic in your mindset, meaning human beings are entirely physical, human consciousness is an illusion, and there is no spiritual realm of any kind?  Or are you superstitious, reading horoscopes or engaging in new age practices or the like?

I don't know whether reality is entirely "materialistic" (however defined) or not.  Nobody does.  I don't believe consciousness or free will are illusions (see here).  Again, the fact that there are aspects of reality we don't understand yet is not evidence for the supernatural.  A few centuries ago we didn't have scientific explanations for gravity or light or disease or many other things, but as our knowledge advanced, none of those things turned out to be supernatural.  Time will pass and we'll figure out the scientific explanations for things like consciousness and free will too.  A "spiritual realm" is a nebulous concept, but I see no evidence for the existence of any such thing as most people would understand the term.  Astrology is just stupid nonsense.  "New age practices" is a huge and vague category, but I don't believe in auras or healing crystals or any such thing.

Seventh, if you were convinced that God truly existed -- meaning the God of the Bible, who is perfect in every way, full of justice and mercy, our Creator and our Redeemer -- would that be good news or bad news?  And would you be willing to follow Him and honor Him if He were truly God?

This brief video expresses perfectly what I would say in response to that question.

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I haven't yet decided whether to send this to Michael Brown or not.