The Atheist Thirteen

I've been tagged.

Q1. How would you define “atheism”?

The absence of belief in an intelligent, “primary mover” entity that set the universe in motion or played any more direct role in the creation of reality as we know it. Atheism does not necessarily rule out metaphysics or the supernatural.

Q2. Was your upbringing religious? If so, what tradition?

Not at all. I never attended church. I did go to a couple of bar and bat mitzvahs in my day, and a really big-ass Mormon wedding. My most significant religious experiences were attending Chanukah menorah-lightings with my aunt’s family every holiday season. For some reason, despite coming from a Christian background, I was far more exposed to Judaism as a child. I’m pretty much the poster-child for the “but you didn’t grow up religious” somehow-that’s-a-counterargument from theists. My mother stopped attending church shortly after her mother died when she was a teen. My dad stopped going as a teenager as well, but appears to have a very quiet, personal belief in god. My family comes from a mainstream Protestant background and apparently my great-grandfather was one of those guys who refused to vote for JFK because he was Catholic. My mother’s extended family is primarily Mormon; I remember my father specifically telling me not to talk to my second cousins!

Q3. How would you describe “Intelligent Design”, using only one word?

Dishonest.

Q4. What scientific endeavor really excites you?

I don’t think this question relates to atheism. There seems to be, at least among the atheist circles I get exposed to, a sort of conceit that science is “necessarily” on the side of atheism. I don’t think that’s the case; I also don’t buy into Gould’s “non-overlapping magisteria” claptrap, either. I just don’t feel the case is all that clear-cut in either direction, and I wish “my side” would stop with all the scientific pretension.

That said, I”m extremely interested in autism and mental-illness related research, as well as social welfare statistics, for professional reasons.

Q5. If you could change one thing about the “atheist community”, what would it be and why?

I sometimes feel that we atheists have our targets wrong. I’m a cognitive behaviorist by inclination and training, so perhaps I’m just more naturally attuned to steps-based thinking and interventions, but I’ve often felt that our primary target should be the conceit of certainty theists have in their various scriptural tradition. When it comes down to it, it’s really hard to override someone’s certainty in having experienced a revelation; demonstrating how that experience of the divine has nothing to do with a specific iteration of theism is, in comparison, a lot easier. I’m not saying give up on the truth of atheism, just that a pragmatic concentration on the effects of certainty in the religious mind-set will be of far more utility to mankind. Think secularism, then atheism.

Q6. If your child came up to you and said “I’m joining the clergy”, what would be your first response?

“Okay. Talk any shit about your uncles Ron and Riche or Jack and Jonathon, or your aunts Jinni and Anne, and you’re out of the family. But do and believe as you need.”

The one thing I cannot abide in a religious person is homophobia.

Q7. What’s your favorite theistic argument, and how do you usually refute it?

The argument from morality, because it takes on so many different forms, all of which are flawed. If god is the source of all morality than morality is relative, not absolute. If morality is absolute and was simply set in motion by god, then it, and all other “laws,” exist independently of god and are therefore not proof of its existence if some other “primary mover” can be explicated. Since I can argue both sides of the coin, I tend to enjoy this discussion the most.

Q8. What’s your most “controversial” (as far as general attitudes amongst other atheists goes) viewpoint?

I’m a pragmatic appeaser. I can see the point in being just as confrontational with moderate theists as one is with fundamentalists, but I don’t think it solves anything. I also sometimes wonder if religion doesn’t fulfill a certain “noble lie” purpose that it would behoove us to distill and separate from the nonsense.

Q9. Of the “Four Horsemen” (Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Harris) who is your favourite, and why?

Well, I haven’t read much Dennett and no Dawkins, but I have read a lot of Hitchens and Harris. Dennett seems pretty smart. Hitchens is a brilliant writer but a sloppy thinker and an asshole. Harris is a terrible writer, a sloppy thinker, and an asshole. So, I’d have to go with Dennett for now.

The two thinkers who most inform my atheism and my personal philosophical development are Eric Hoffer and Friedrich Nietzsche.

Q10. If you could convince just one theistic person to abandon their beliefs, who would it be?

I do not feel it is my duty to evangelize or convince. I would like to convince my wife that she’s not going to Hell, something she at times seems to sincerely believe. Ultimately, I think that’s what led me to my atheism: my wife is the most wonderful person I’ve ever known. She is brilliant, kind, generous, sincere, and compassionate. She gives of herself selflessly to children in need. If she cannot be rewarded under her own belief system, then her belief system (Christianity, specifically Seventh Day Adventism) is evil.