Well, I’m going to give this guy his continued 15 minutes of fame. Shockofgod on YouTube has asked, albeit a long long time ago, for atheists to show “proof and evidence that atheism is accurate and correct”, and I’m going to give it to him.
I know it feeds his ego, but the insanity of the question, and the number of people that think it’s a good question compel me to respond.
First of all, I am not responding to something that has received no acknowledgment for all this time. The original video was out about a year ago, but the hype about it has just recently come to a head because someone pretended to be shockofgod and caused some drama about the video. Since that happened, all sorts of believers, especially Christians, are assuming that he has some sort of point. They actually believe that atheists can’t show evidence that atheism is correct. I will show that they are all wrong too.
Now, there is the standard answer that shows that his question is foolish. For instance, show me that not collecting stamps is accurate and correct. Show me that not believing in leprechauns is accurate and correct. Nobody would think these are questions worth dealing with whatsoever, yet atheism is held to a different standard despite it being fundamentally no different than not believing in leprechauns.
Even if it were a belief, it would be a nonsense question to ask, “Can you give me proof and evidence that theism is accurate and correct?” How is belief in God accurate and correct. I would be just as much of a moron by asking that question.
Why Asking the Question is Nonsense
It’s not the belief that can be called accurate or correct, because if you believe in God, obviously it is accurate and correct to call yourself a theist, but saying that belief in God is accurate or correct is a nonsense statement, since the only possible question you could be addressing with it is whether or not you believe, not whether or not what you believe is true.
I believe in my brother. Can I say that is accurate and correct? The statement, “I believe in my brother” is accurate and correct, because that reflects my belief, but that statement says nothing about the belief itself.
Do I actually have a brother? That is a different thing completely. Let’s say for a moment that I don’t have a brother, does that make the belief in my brother not accurate and correct? I do have a brother though, and I can produce him and he will tell you that he is my brother. He can show you his birth certificate showing that his parents are the same as my parents. My mother and father are still alive, and can attest to being the parents of both of us, so does that make whether or not I believe in him accurate and correct? No! It makes no difference.
Saying that I believe in my brother is totally different than whether or not my brother exists. I could be insane, and believe in a brother I never had, but the fact would remain that I still believe he exists, so saying that I believe in my brother would be accurate and correct, and the evidence would be that I tell you that’s what I believe. On the other hand, if I were to say to you that my brother does exist, that is a claim that I could show evidence for.
Atheism Requires no Evidence
I could tell you I don’t believe in God, and I would be an atheist right there. I don’t have to believe in evolution. I don’t have to believe the universe is billions of years old. I could believe that the earth is 6-10 thousand years old like young earth creationists do, and I could still be an atheist.
Atheism doesn’t say that God doesn’t exist. Atheism says, “I don’t believe in God.” If I were to say I am an atheist, and God doesn’t exist, you could then tell me to provide proof and evidence.
Similarly, theism, on its own, doesn’t require evidence. Theism just says that you believe in God, not that God exists. If you were to say that you’re a theist and God does exist, that’s when I could tell you to provide proof and evidence.
So, your question to atheists is only valid if they are saying that God doesn’t exist, but not if they are saying that they have not found any reason to believe that God does exist.
The Elusive Proof and Evidence that Atheism is Accurate and Correct
Now, considering the question, and how it’s framed, I can only imagine that you mean one thing. You don’t believe that I don’t believe in God. Since that’s the only way your question makes any sense, here it is.
I deny the holy spirit!
That should be good enough to show I don’t believe in your god. If I thought that your god existed, that line alone would damn me to hell for eternity. I’ve heard about hell. It doesn’t sound pleasant.
As for all the other possible gods that have been created by men over the years, even though none of their followers would admit they were made by men either, I deny them too. I don’t believe in any single one of them, and I have no reason to believe that they are any more likely to be true than the flying spaghetti monster.
That is your evidence that my lack of belief is genuine. I don’t know how better to show it to you.