Real Atheology Answers Dr. Brown

Dr. Michael Brown recently posted a series of questions for current and former atheists. His stated intent is to learn more about the perspectives of atheists. If true, this is laudable and should be an endeavor more commonly pursued between people holding opposing viewpoints. Real Atheology is a group that seeks to promote elevated discussions in the philosophy of religion, so, as a member, I thought it appropriate to offer my own answers to his questions. Although I am part of the Real Atheology team, I do not claim to speak for everyone on the team. The answers given here reflect my own personal journey and current position.

Is Your Atheism Based on Study or Experience?

Both. For me, study and experience were mutually reinforcing factors that led to the demise of my faith. I’d say my doubts began with issues in various theological positions that didn’t seem to have satisfactory answers. The more I thought about Christian theology the less sense it made. Discrepancies between Christian belief and reality began to appear, and closer inspection of various objections left me dissatisfied with the replies of apologetics. I prayed fervently for God to confirm “His” existence to me, and to help me in my unbelief. There was only ever deafening silence. Eventually I realized that the most likely explanation for this is that God doesn’t exist. Further exposure to the problem of evil and divine hiddenness has strengthened this conclusion.

Do You Have Purpose and Destiny?

Based on my current beliefs, neither purpose nor destiny are things that exist or are assigned externally. Such things are primarily of our own making. I say “primarily” because there are relevant factors outside of our control that contribute to any sense of purpose or destiny we might have. For instance, I have a rather insatiable urge to understand things and enjoy learning, figuring things out, and solving “problems”. I am unusually fascinated by the grand or fundamental questions. I am good at things requiring analytical skills. But I’m also artistic in various ways. Such unchosen dispositions allow for purposes to naturally develop and lead to engaging in activities I find meaningful.

Does God Exist?

My understanding of atheism is that it is the position that no God or gods exist. Thus, an atheist is one who holds the belief that there is no such being as God or gods. Belief is roughly understood to be a propositional attitude. It is to take it that some proposition correctly reports on reality. Unlike truth, however, belief comes in degrees. One can have various levels of credence that can be represented by values in the interval . To believe a proposition is to assign a credence greater than 0.5. This means that an atheist does not need to be certain that God does not exist, only persuaded enough to “wager” in that direction. For myself, I would probably rate my credence at 0.6 that God does not exist. This, of course, regards theism in general. I am much more confident that certain forms of theism are false. For instance, I would assign a much higher credence to the beliefs that Islam and Christianity are false.

Can Science Explain the Origin of Life?

At this point I am confident that science can and will eventually explain the origin of life. Significant advances have been made in abiogenesis and it is a thriving research program.

Have You Questioned Your Atheism?

I think it is always important to remain open to worldview revision. So in one sense, I am always questioning my atheism. It isn’t a team I “play for”. There are myriad things I don’t understand, especially regarding the fundamental nature of reality. There are some very interesting and challenging arguments for theism, and while I’m not convinced they succeed, they do cause me to think deeply and maintain epistemic humility.

Are You Materialistic?

No. It is a common misconception that atheism is synonymous with reductive materialism. This doesn’t mean that I affirm anything “spiritual” or supernatural in the usual sense. I do, however, subscribe to some form of platonism in that I think abstract objects, like mathematics, are real in some robust sense.

Would You Be Willing to Follow God?

If I were to be convinced that God is real, then I believe I would follow God. What about the God of the Bible specifically? Would it be good or bad news to learn “He” is real? I suppose that would depend. If it turned out to be the version in which eternal conscious torment is real (i.e. Hell), that would be bad news to me. I can’t help but not want reality to be like that.