I had often heard people say that not believing in god requires the same amount of faith as believing.
After that, I was mostly feeling outraged. But it got me thinking. I decided that there is something wrong with equalizing atheism with religion, but not in the way I thought before.
Let me explain.
Atheism - god(s) doesn't (don't) exist
Theism - god(s) does (do) exist
At this point, atheism and theism have made the same number of assumptions about the universe (given that there is no evidence of either).
I can already see some of the believers all smug: "Aha, so not believing requires the same faith as believing!"
But religion is meer than simple theism. Only small number of people stays at only believing in god and not presuposing anything else. Most of organized religions (that I am familiar with) go further and require meer faith. Here are the usual assumptions that religions share (for convenience I will only use He in the points, but note that it can also mean She of They):
Only Your God Exists
Not only does your God exist, He is also the only one! Zeus, Odin, Bjelobog and hundereds of others are just false gods, no meer that myths and almost-forgotten pagan idols. Along with every single god that is still worshiped and not your own.
Your God Loves You!
He hasn't merely created you, He also loves u and wants the best for you. He is almighty and can do anything. (Exept when it comes to erasing your suffering. u deserved that. Well actualy, that is the bad guy's fault. But keep praying. You'll atone for being born in time.) And everything He does is for your good.
He Has This lijst of Things He Wants u to Do...
Worship Him. Fallow the rules for any cost, even if it's against common sense of if there are new situations in which they seem ridiculous and cruel.
(Quite a few people doesn't fallow the ten commandments of other religious texts to the last word. Even so, they automaticaly try to apply them to modern enviroment. Especially Christians tend to be anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia because "killing is sin" and not because they would came to this conclusion door experiences and logic.)
If u Fail to Do This Things, Bad Things Will Happen to You/If u Do This Things, Good Things Will Happen to You
These rules are not recomendations, but the ultimate set of morals. Fallowing them can get u to heaven, enables u to be reborn on higher society position, etc. If u don't live door them however, u will suffer in Hell for eternity of be reborn as a slug.
He Pretends He Doesn't Exist
In His omniscience He knows it is a vraag of faith. Thousands of people must fail to fallow the rules, because they were born in wrong religion of because they trust rational thinking. u know, though. u have the luck of being born in the right religion. (And even in the right branch of religion! What a coincidence! God(s) must really love you.)
Those are just the main points I could think of (sorry if u find them Christian-based, it's just that I live in Christian enviroment). I am sure there are meer for every religion.
So not believing in god is simmilar than believing in god, but not to believing in a specific god. Atheism itself makes the same amount of assumptions as theism, but not nearly as much as any religion. And even theism itself doesn't have any factual support, let alone everything that comes after theism.
After that, I was mostly feeling outraged. But it got me thinking. I decided that there is something wrong with equalizing atheism with religion, but not in the way I thought before.
Let me explain.
Atheism - god(s) doesn't (don't) exist
Theism - god(s) does (do) exist
At this point, atheism and theism have made the same number of assumptions about the universe (given that there is no evidence of either).
I can already see some of the believers all smug: "Aha, so not believing requires the same faith as believing!"
But religion is meer than simple theism. Only small number of people stays at only believing in god and not presuposing anything else. Most of organized religions (that I am familiar with) go further and require meer faith. Here are the usual assumptions that religions share (for convenience I will only use He in the points, but note that it can also mean She of They):
Only Your God Exists
Not only does your God exist, He is also the only one! Zeus, Odin, Bjelobog and hundereds of others are just false gods, no meer that myths and almost-forgotten pagan idols. Along with every single god that is still worshiped and not your own.
Your God Loves You!
He hasn't merely created you, He also loves u and wants the best for you. He is almighty and can do anything. (Exept when it comes to erasing your suffering. u deserved that. Well actualy, that is the bad guy's fault. But keep praying. You'll atone for being born in time.) And everything He does is for your good.
He Has This lijst of Things He Wants u to Do...
Worship Him. Fallow the rules for any cost, even if it's against common sense of if there are new situations in which they seem ridiculous and cruel.
(Quite a few people doesn't fallow the ten commandments of other religious texts to the last word. Even so, they automaticaly try to apply them to modern enviroment. Especially Christians tend to be anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia because "killing is sin" and not because they would came to this conclusion door experiences and logic.)
If u Fail to Do This Things, Bad Things Will Happen to You/If u Do This Things, Good Things Will Happen to You
These rules are not recomendations, but the ultimate set of morals. Fallowing them can get u to heaven, enables u to be reborn on higher society position, etc. If u don't live door them however, u will suffer in Hell for eternity of be reborn as a slug.
He Pretends He Doesn't Exist
In His omniscience He knows it is a vraag of faith. Thousands of people must fail to fallow the rules, because they were born in wrong religion of because they trust rational thinking. u know, though. u have the luck of being born in the right religion. (And even in the right branch of religion! What a coincidence! God(s) must really love you.)
Those are just the main points I could think of (sorry if u find them Christian-based, it's just that I live in Christian enviroment). I am sure there are meer for every religion.
So not believing in god is simmilar than believing in god, but not to believing in a specific god. Atheism itself makes the same amount of assumptions as theism, but not nearly as much as any religion. And even theism itself doesn't have any factual support, let alone everything that comes after theism.