As I sat down to write today, it was my full intention to write a post on the first pillar of atheism. However, as I was doing some research I came across an atheist’s blog in which I became immediately captivated and I just had to address it here. The blogger’s name is Marshall Brain and his blog is called godisimaginary.com. He posted a video to address the problem of a creation event without a creator. If you want to get yourself dizzy (due to his circular arguments, not a dizzying intellect. Trust me.), you can watch the video or read the transcript here.
The reason I felt the need to address this post today is because I felt that it’s a stellar illustration of how the subjective motives of the typical atheist (not all atheists, but it is common among those advocating atheism) serves them as a type of willful ignorance. Most atheists cannot stand the idea of God, much like I can’t stand the idea of infinity. This disdain for God blinds them, preventing them from seeing any perspectives that might include the possibility of the existence of God. The result of this blindness is that they won’t ever find reason to believe in the existence of God. Not because there isn’t a God or because they lack the capacity to understand it, but rather that they don’t want God to exist. This post is chock full of examples and I will break them down below (His statements in RED). Reader beware, this guy is a stereotypical, arrogant atheist advocate and, with his complete disregard of logic, he has been named a Nominee for Tool of the Month. Here we go:
“Where did our universe come from?” It is one of the most fascinating questions that we can tackle as a species. One thing that makes this question so interesting is the fact that there are only two possible answers: 1. God or Allah or some other god-like being created our universe. Or 2. A natural process created our universe.
But which is it? Did God or Nature create the universe that we live in?
Let’s start by setting the stage:
If you are a Christian or a Muslim, you believe that your god created the universe. And billions of people agree with you. More than half of the people living in the United States today believe that God created heaven and earth 6,000 years ago, just as the Bible says.”
Here Mr. Brain takes the “God is” or “God isn’t” debate to an all or nothing debate by reducing the opposing argument to a very finite view of God from the Creationist perspective. This tactic is very common. It is akin to saying “We’re going to have an argument about the existence of bacteria. I can use all the resources that I know in order to prove bacteria doesn’t exist, but you can only speak to the existence of Haemophilus influenza as it is the only bacteria I know.”
(Side note: I am not a Creationist. Nor am I a fundamentalist. I do, however, believe in Intelligent Design, but only because my own reasoning has lead me there.)
He continues:
The American Heritage dictionary defines God as:
A being conceived as the perfect, omnipotent, omniscient originator and ruler of the universe.
Merriam Webster (#2 Result on Google Search): God-The perfect and all-powerful spirit or being that is worshipped especially by Christians, Jews, and Muslims as the one who created and rules the universe.
Google (#1 Result on Google Search): God- (in Christianity and other monotheistic religions) the creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being.
I thought it prudent to quote a couple definitions of God from other dictionaries since it seemed that he sought out a definition to fit his argument. A quick google search for “Define: God” didn’t produce results for American Heritage Dictionary until… Well actually, after I got to page 5 of the Google search results, I gave up. I did happen to see that evildictionary.com made it on page 5 though… Good for them.
God created the universe. For people who believe in God and Allah, this is no-brainer. They will say things like…
“If God didn’t create the universe, then where did it come from? You can’t explain our universe except through faith in God.” Or: “It is impossible to create something out of nothing. God has always existed and he is all-powerful, so he created the universe” Or: “God created the universe. There is NO other explanation possible.” Or: “The existence of a Creator is so obvious, that every intelligent person should be able to see it.”
You might be thinking that science won’t ever explain it because it is impossible to create something out of nothing. But if you believe that, then you can’t believe in God either. In your explanation, God magically appears out of nothing, and then God magically creates the universe out of nothing. Religion has twice the problem that science has, plus religion has resorted to magic to explain it.
This is a circular argument. If you have to over simplify a position to refute it, then you actually have only refuted your own argument, not that of the targeted position. The argument he poses is that if I were to believe in the statement that it is impossible to create something out of nothing, then I could not believe in God because that is what God did. However, if I believe that it is possible to create something out of nothing then I must believe in science. This is circular reasoning at its finest. Never mind the fact that science is not in opposition of the existence of God. As a matter of fact, science by its very definition cannot be in opposition of anything. I digress, let me get back to his argument. Giving Mr. Brain the benefit of doubt, I will chalk up this weak argument to willful ignorance.
Let me rephrase (but not over simplify) his perceived thoughts of a theist to better reflect an actual argument to that point:
A theist would say that science won’t ever be able to explain the creation event without a creator because in the natural world it is impossible to create something out of nothing.
Hopefully that is a much more concise (but still accurate) argument that I can properly address as follows:
Since God is supernatural, then by definition He is outside nature and therefore is outside the laws of nature. This is almost comical. I hope you can see how he shifts the position of his opposition, to fit his weakly structured arguments. He is definitely the type of guy who thinks that the one argues loudest wins.
I do want to acknowledge one statement above that is valid. In the last sentence in the above excerpt, he says “religion has twice the problem science has, plus religion has resorted to magic to explain it.” That statement is true. Religion does have twice the problem as science. From an empirical evidence point of view (if that were to matter to a theist), religion has to over come not only that a God created something out of nothing, but also that God was created out of nothing. Where he fails here is in his assumption that religion has had to resort to magic as some type of bridge from two incompatible lines of logic. Though, if he were to be objective here, he would acknowledge that term magic is used when conventional understanding cannot explain how something happened. This has been the case for millennia and even science resorts to using magic as an explanation, but of course scientific theory doesn’t allow for use that term. However, you can see evidence of it everywhere; it’s in the space between the acknowledgement of a “yet to be explained” cause for an event and the desired conclusion by the scientist. If A was an empty universe and Z was the existence of human life, somewhere from B to Y would be “magic”.
He continues:
So let’s give science a chance. Science has a great track record. Science has explained all kinds of things that were once mysterious.
The goal of this short video is to help you open your mind to the world of science.
Ok… Here comes the KICKER!
Let’s start with the obvious question: if nature created the universe rather than God, then why doesn’t science have an equation to explain it? It is a valid question.
Wait for it… Wait For it.
Right now, scientists do not know where the universe came from. However, this “not knowing” is completely normal for science.
Wait… WHAT??
Science is all about discovery, and, obviously, science has not discovered everything yet. It may be several decades before we completely understand the origin of our universe. However, science will understand it eventually. That is certain.
So it is okay for science to not have answers for the origin of the universe, but since he is confident in the potential of science to explain it in the future then that is just as good. Yet theists are delusional for having faith in something that they cannot see or prove to others?
How do we know that it is certain? Because we can look at the history of science.
He then proceeds to discuss all the discoveries of science and technology over the past 100 years. Again, dumbed down for his audience of 5 year olds. Here is another link if you’d like to read the transcript for yourself.
The origin of the universe = God did it. You are being silly. But it is more than silly. It is absurd. Neither science nor nature work that way, and we all know it. There is not a single scientific example anywhere showing that any “god” has any effect on our universe. The idea that suddenly we will start writing scientific equations that include a “god” is ridiculous.
What he doesn’t state here is that there is not a single scientific example anywhere showing that any “god” has NOT had any effect on our universe. If he were to acknowledge that his perspectives require as much faith as those of a theist, then there could be a productive conversation. However, he tries to label philosophy as fact and theories as laws. Whenever you compromise the integrity of truth in any part of an argument, the entire argument then becomes invalid.
The third thing to realize is that People have been ascribing wonderful powers to their gods for thousands of years. Just think about human history. People once had no idea why the sun rises or sets. So they invented imaginary sun gods to explain it. Today scientists understand why the sun rises and sets. It has to do with the scientific principles of our planet’s rotation, as well as the planet’s orbit around the sun. It all makes perfect sense, and has nothing to do with any “god”. People once had no idea where the rain comes from. So they created imaginary rain gods. They did rain dances for their rain gods. They sacrificed virgins to their rain gods. Today we know where the rain comes from. If rain doesn’t fall when and where we want it, we build lakes and pipelines and we pump water where we need it. People once had no idea where babies come from. So they created imaginary fertility gods. They prayed to their gods, and made burnt offerings. Today scientists understand where babies come from. Couples now go to a fertility center rather than praying to a fertility god.
Today, people have no idea where the universe came from. So they have created their imaginary gods to explain it.
In this case, the belief in the potential for science to answer the question of creation without a creator requires as much faith as believing in an Omnipotent God.
But science will figure this question out in the same way that it has figured out all of the others. The fact is, your imaginary God or your imaginary Allah are just as imaginary as all the rain gods, the sun gods and the fertility gods that people once worshipped. Nature created the universe, just like nature created our sun, our solar system, our planet, our planet’s weather, and all of the life on our planet. Your “god” had nothing to do with it, because your “god” is completely imaginary.
It is this type unabashed arrogance that drives me nuts about these type of atheists. I consider myself a pretty open minded person, but even in situations where I encounter a perspective that I just can’t grasp, I don’t openly ridicule the person… Unless, that is, they have already become offensive and confrontational. This is one of those cases.
Now that you can see where the universe came from, let’s look at several common religious rebuttals. (Emphasis Added)
Okay, so after reading above you might be thinking I must not have included the part of his post where helps us to”see where the universe came from”. Actually, he was the one that forgot to include that part in his own post. Or maybe his statement that “Right now, scientists do not know where the universe came from” includes a secret riddle that exposes the origin of the universe and I lack the intellectual prowess to comprehend it.
If you are thinking, “I cannot imagine where the universe came from if God did not create it” then consider upgrading your imagination. Learn more about science and the scientific process. Science is far more interesting than your “faith” is, and science is real rather than imaginary.
This time he reduced his argument to “God is/Science Isn’t” or “Science Is/God Isn’t”. Last I checked, the two aren’t mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, they are complimentary to one another – if you have the capacity to allow for it. Mr. Brain states that the solution for not being able to imagine the origin of the universe without God is… upgrading your imagination. (Scratching my head)Huh? Yes, he stated that in order to understand how science could explain the origin of the universe without God you needed a better imagination. Then, in the same breath, states “Science is far more interesting than your “faith” is, and science is real rather than imaginary.” I…. uhh… Let me see how to say this.. ARE YOU FOR REAL MR. BRAIN??? IS THIS A JOKE? – Sorry. I am just baffled how anyone could post such contradictory statements without feeling some, if not an extreme, degree of shame. Basically he just said that you need better imagination to understand science, but yet “science is real rather than imaginary”. For someone who puts such an emphasis on intellect, he sure is lacks the intellect, or capacity of introspection, to realize how debilitating his own ignorance is.
If you are thinking, “It is impossible to create something out of nothing. Therefore, only God could create the universe” then, again, you should learn more about science. It was once impossible for humans to fly, but now there are millions of people doing it every day.
Did he really just compare the singularity of creation to the design of airplanes? I guess soon we will all be designing universes in our living rooms, like we design cities in Sim City.
If you are thinking, “Our universe is so perfectly designed, and only God could do that,” then simply think things through. If the universe was not set up the way it was, life would not exist, and we would not be here to talk about it. God had nothing to do with this. You are confusing causation with coincidence.
I am literally banging my head off the table here. Another circular argument! Let me restate the argument and rebuttal. A theist says, “only God could create a world so perfectly designed”. Mr. Ignoramus responds, “Duh! Of course the world is perfect dummy. If the universe was not set up… Err I mean, put in order… I mean… Uhhh… Well if wasn’t the way it is we couldn’t exist and therefore wouldn’t be here to talk about it. It’s all by coincidence, not by God.” Ignoramus mumbles to himself, “What an idiot.”
If you are thinking, “There are no other intelligent, conscious, talking species on earth, because God created us when he created the universe!” then please think this through as well. The reason we are the only intelligent species on the planet is because we are the first intelligent species on the planet. Someone had to be first. And since we are the first, we are the only one right now. God had nothing to do with this.
Okay… I give up! This guy is a tool and apparently his ignorance knows no bounds. I mean, if he can call me delusional for believing in God then I can call him a tool for his arrogant, illogical and contradictory statements. Right? On his site it states, that godisimaginary.com has had “Coverage in the New York Times.” Well, I guess his $50 ad in the classifieds counts as coverage… At least I hope that is as much coverage as he received.
Update: I was wrong. His coverage was not due to a classified ad. I included a hyperlink for Wiki article on Mr. Brain above. It appears that he is the creator of the website “HowStuffWorks.com”. I am a bit embarrassed that I did not originally do a Google search on him. I feel a bit better about this post knowing that I did not pick on an intellectually handicapped atheist, but at the same time I am appalled that a college professor came up with these pitiful arguments.
I know it might seem that I just read his post to light him up, but honestly when I read arguments from opposing viewpoints I try to leave with a new perspective. So as I read, I try to find the logic rather than get caught up with the content of the argument itself. However, there are times when I cannot hear the whispers of logic through the screams of their ignorance. This may be one of those times or it may be that the entire post lacked logic entirely. In either case, my mind is dizzy and I think I will go watch some SpongeBob Square Pants where I can find some common sense. Until next time…
Be Well,
