An Atheist Sampler

By Don R. Bay

At the age of 22, Don Bay had a revelation—today's religions are a modern mythology no different than the mythologies of the ancient Greeks or Egyptians.

 

This sampler is taken from posts on Don Bay's blog, exploring the different facets of atheism, religious belief, and how religious beliefs inform politics. It asks you to think. Is God a myth? Is God good? Did humans create God? What lies behind religious belief? How does religion affect U.S. law?

 

An Atheist Sampler reflects on everything from the roots of religious belief to religion's effects on American politics. It offers a glimpse beyond familiar, unexamined beliefs to the vistas of freethinking.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flying Tiger Press
• Release date: Apr 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393957133

Don R. Bay

Don Bay received his B.A. from UCLA and his J. D. degree from Loyola Law School. He is a member of the California and federal bar associations. In addition to practicing law he has been a manual laborer, a photographer, served in the U.S. Army, was a TV censor, an executive in cable television and, before his retirement, a VP in Rupert Murdoch’s empire. He is also an accomplished potter. Leisure activities have included skiing, hang gliding, flying sailplanes, reading and travel. He resides in Sweden. Read Don Bay's blog at debaytable.com

Book preview

Part 1

Religious Belief vs. Atheism

Chapter 1 – The Making of an Atheist

Atheism as Philosophy

As a youth, I felt tent revivalism was ridiculous. My parents were purportedly Christians because my sister and I were taken to Sunday school. It was Methodist one Sunday, Presbyterian the next, Episcopal the next and when I was sent away to a boarding school, it was Catholic.

At 20, one of my army experiences was being marched to Sunday services. Ironically, several Jewish recruits were forced to attend the Christian services with the rest of us.

I was about 22 and a student at UCLA when I read Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian. However, until I had read about other belief systems, I remained an agnostic. Finally, I became an atheist. I remember my first wife crying when I announced I was an atheist.

By the way, I forgot to say that Bertrand Russell was a noted philosopher. He wrote several books on philosophy.

Hard and Soft Atheism

Until I met some Quaker draft counsellors, I believed I was a hard atheist. I suddenly realized that I wasn’t the hard atheist I believed I was. It dawned on me that I was in fact a soft atheist.

When I had dear friends who were devout Christians, I realized I was a soft atheist. Why? They selflessly volunteered their skills to improve the lives of strangers in other countries. Until I exchanged messages with him, the doctor – a man of science – confessed that he had become religious when he was under stress.

In later life I often referred to myself as a hard atheist, but I’ve since learned that I’m really a soft atheist.

Chapter 2 – Religious Faith and Logic

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

Epicurus (341 — 270 B.C.E.)

It has often been said that one should not discuss religion or politics at a family reunion. Not being one who pays much attention to social policy at this point in my life, I am giving fair warning that unless you want to do some serious thinking that might affect your peace of mind, you should stop reading now.

Assuming you are at least curious if you’ve gotten this far, please get a blank piece of paper and a pen and write down your answers to the following questions. These are not trick questions. They are so you will be on record—at least to yourself—as to what you believe.

1. Do you consider yourself a logical person (Yes or No)?

2. Do you believe in God (Allah, Yahveh or the equivalent)?

3. Is God good?

4. Is God omniscient, that is, does he see and know all?

5. Is God omnipotent, that is, is he all powerful?

6. Is your holy book the direct word of God?

These are enough questions for now. Based on your comments, I will respond accordingly to anyone who cares to comment.

Question #1: Are you using logic when you answer the questions that follow?

Here comes the part that might cause you to think over your position and possibly disturb your peace of mind

Question #2: Do you believe in God or the deity of your particular religion?

This question will establish whether you actually believe in your deity while the questions that follow it will show how much or how little that belief is actually logical.

Question #3: Is God good?

If your deity is good, then logic dictates that what that deity has created must be good. Yet we see all around us that there is evil, pain, disease, death and evidence that good is in short supply. Thus, logically, God created things that are not good.

According to the Bible, we see that God created the angels. Satan, or Lucifer as he is sometimes called, was an angel. He was cast out of heaven and is said to be the source of all the bad stuff that has afflicted the planet through the eons. Yet God created the angels, at least one of which was evil. Logically, then, God created evil.

The unspoken alternative is that there are more supernatural beings than just God and that one of them created Satan and, thus, evil. If God is good, then from what source did evil come?

It should be noted in passing that the name Lucifer means roughly light-bringer. Could this be because the early church fathers thought that enlightenment was a danger to their belief?

Question #4: Is God omniscient? That is, does he see and know all?

If your deity knows all, then he knows when you or another person will think thoughts or act in such a way as to offend him or do wrong to another of his creatures. If you or another think or do wrong, logic says that God has acquiesced in that wrong.

To accept the premise that God has acquiesced in wrong and to allow yourself to get past this massive stumbling block in logic, you will have to lean on free will which will be discussed in a later posting. However, to dispel any suspense over the issue of free will, I will tell you that the evidence increasingly shows that free will is a myth useful primarily in theology and the law. But that’s a subject for another day.

Question #5: Is God omnipotent? That is, is he all-powerful?

According to at least the Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism and Islam, God is omnipotent. After all, he is alleged to have created the universe, and that’s no small feat. If we accept one of the current scientific theories, ours may be just one of a multitude of universes, suggesting that feat could be even more impressive.

However, looking at the universe we can see, we know that galaxies have collided presumably causing no small amount of destruction. Yet God could have prevented that destruction. Does this suggest omnipotence?

Here closer to home, tornadoes, hurricanes and tsunamis take thousands of lives and leave pain and destruction in their wake.  Humans and animals suffer the ravages of cancer and other painful diseases. Were they evil and deserved suffering or death?