2F: Issues relating to the rejection of religion: Atheism

Question 1

Ancient Greek atheism:

Answer 1

• Ancient Greece is often seen as the birthplace of philosophy. Several ancient Greeks were sceptical about the concept of God/religion.
• e.g. Protagoras: placed men, not Gods, at centre of value judgements. He was eventually banished from Athens, while his works were burnt
• e.g. Aristotle: did argue for existence of a divine being, however he was also sceptical and critical of more traditional ideas of gods.

Question 2

Atheism - Enlightenment Era:

Answer 2

• European philosophy and science radically changed during the course of the 19th century. This was due to a movement referred to as the ‘Enlightenment Era’ or ‘Age of Reason’
• questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational thought and change.
• saw the rejection of traditional ideas including those forwarded by religions.
• e.g. Jeremy Bentham and Stuart Mill created Utilitarianism as a rejection of traditional religious ethics. David Hume was also critical of traditional religious ideas such as miracles, CA and TA.

Question 3

Atheism - 1960s:

Answer 3

• saw a movement from within Christianity that many viewed as a rejection of belief in God
• claimed it was no longer acceptable to hold traditional view of God. Instead they argued that God is symbolic and has no objective or empirical existence.
• Bishop John Robinson argued that everyone needs to look inside themselves to find God and he was inspired by the work of Jung.

Question 4

21st century atheism:

Answer 4

• seen the development of a more militant/aggressive form of rejection of belief in God. This has been called ‘New Atheism’.
• even goes as far as claiming religion is not just out-dated but a threat to the survival of the whole human race

Question 5

What is atheism?

Answer 5

• basic note: ‘disbelief in the existence of God’
• Anthony Flew: “a psychological state: the state of not believing in the existence of God (or gods)”
• in his 1972 book ‘The Presumption of Atheism’ he introduced terms ‘wea’ and ‘strong’ atheism

Question 6

What are the types of atheism?

Answer 6

• weak atheism
• strong atheism
• protest atheism
• new atheism

Question 7

What is weak atheism?

Answer 7

• atheist states that they do not believe in Gid but do not argue that this position is true
• atheism is their default position
• ‘I don’t believe in God’

Question 8

What is strong atheism?

Answer 8

• the atheist would give reasons to defend their atheistic belief, however they would say ‘this is why I don’t believe in God

Question 9

What is protest atheism?

Answer 9

• complete rejection of the worthiness of the concept of God.
• refuses to accept that the concept of God is worthy of worship.
• Stephen Fry: even if God did exist, he would not want anything to do with Him due to justifying suffering of innocents is not worthy of worship

Question 10

What is new atheism?

Answer 10

• the belief that religion is a threat to their survival of the human race.

Question 11

What is agnosticism?

Answer 11

• the existence of God is not actually not knowable. This is because human knowledge is limited, and thus cannot know the ultimate truth about God’s existence.
• an acceptance of the lack of knowledge on the issue.

Question 12

What are the types of agnosticism?

Answer 12

• strong agnosticism
• weak agnosticism
• apathetic agnosticism

Question 13

What is strong agnosticism?

Answer 13

• question of existence or nonexistence of God is unknowable because of humanity’s natural limitations

Question 14

What is weak agnosticism?

Answer 14

• existence or nonexistence of God is currently unknown but will not necessarily be unknowable in the future

Question 15

What is apathetic agnosticism?

Answer 15

• no amount of debate can prove or disprove the existence of God, and if one or more deities exist, they do not appear concerned about the fate of humans
• existence has little to no impact on personal human affairs and should be of little interest

Question 16

The rise of new atheism:

Answer 16

• can be traced back to Bertrand Russell’s 1927 book ‘Why I Am Not a Christian’.
• termed was coined in 2006 by Gary Wolf
• modern-day atheists advocate the view that religion should not simply be academically debated but should be actively countered
• rise of New Atheism was undoubtedly helped by the rise of religious extremism - e.g. ISIS and the Westboro Baptism Church. Religious extremism has left to many people to associate the dangers of religious extremists with religion in general.
• New Atheism has many supporters: Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens. These four were known as ‘the Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse’

Question 17

What are the main criticisms to relgiion?

Answer 17

• non-thinking
• infantile worldview
• impedes scientific progress

Question 18

Non-thinking:

Answer 18

• faith is not a way of understanding the world but instead stands in fundamental opposition to modern science and the scientific method. Therefore it can be seen as dangerous
• Dawkins considers that faith is just blind trust, in the absence of evidence
• Dawkins is arguing that religious people are non-thinking, i.e. they claim to know without evidence.
• he uses the example of Lourdes. He claims pilgrims illustrate a sense of group solidarity that does not allow them to rationally think about the reality of what they are doing
• some new atheists have even claimed religious non-thinking’ has led some religious people into dangerous fanaticism

Question 19

Infantile worldview:

Answer 19

• Dawkins believes religion gives rise to an infantile worldview
• science is gradually unravelling the complexities of the universe with expert empirical analysis. Whilst religious people want to stick with one basic simplistic argument, e.g. the TA claim God designed all complexities of the universe.
• New Atheists claim that the kind of the universe, which religious people embrace, is meaningless in comparison to the way science is empirically illustrating the way the universe actually is.
• NA rejects the idea of religion of God, they claim such beliefs fail to do justice to the beautiful but randomly created ‘real’ world

Question 20

Impedes scientific progress:

Answer 20

• science develops and moves forward with every new discovery whilst religion makes a virtue out of not changing its traditions and dogmas - regardless of any evidence
• Dawkins argues that when a science theory is wrong, someone eventually discovers the mistake and it is corrected - therefore science moves forwards.
• however Dawkins claims this does not happen with holy books. This, according to Dawkins, is why religious faith is dangerous.

Question 21

What are religious responses to the challenge of New Atheism?

Answer 21

-Rejection by religious groups of New Atheist claims regarding incompatibility of science and religion
- Increase in fundamental religious activity relating to morality and community:
- increase in religious apologists in media

Question 22

Rejection by religious groups of New Atheist claims regarding incompatibility of science and religion:

Answer 22

• new atheism takes an extremist scientific view. They deny the possibility that science could be aided by religion in explaining the complexities of how and why the universe exists
• e.g. Tennant’s Anthropic and Aesthetic Principles. Both of these theories use a mixture of philosophy and science.

Question 23

Increase in fundamental religious activity relating to morality and community:

Answer 23

• New Atheism’s attacks on religion has led to an increase of religious fundamentalism. Religious fundamentalism can be defined as an unwavering attachment to a set of religious beliefs.
• society has moved away from religious beliefs, so many religious groups have become more fundamentalist in response to this. For example, they have become more active in promoting their belief systems.

Question 24

Increase in religious apologists in media:

Answer 24

• rise of New Atheism has led to an increase in religious apologists in the mass media. These are religious people who present rational and evidence-based arguments to justify their beliefs.