1) Atheists Believe Everything
Came From Nothing
Many theists believe there was once nothing,
and then there was something—the universe—
created by their god. And so they ask, “But if
there is no god then how can something come
from nothing?”
This question has been asked for thousands of
years, but now Quantum physics has provided a
basis for some atheists, such as Lawrence
Krauss, to indeed believe the universe comes
from “nothing.” But Krauss doesn’t speak for all
atheists and he speaks of a very different kind
of “nothing,” the kind where virtual particles are
created from borrowed energy inside a vacuum.
This is not even remotely close to what theists
mean by the term “nothing.”
When asked about the universe, most atheists
simply stop somewhere along the lines of “the
evidence suggests the universe began expanding
approximately 13.77 billion years ago.” Beyond
that I’m fine with “I don’t know.” I don’t need
to know. I do not believe the universe came
from “nothing” in the way theists use the word
or in the way Krauss uses the word. I don‘t
think there’s enough evidence to reach a
conclusion yet and I‘m fine with that. I’ve never
met an atheist who believed everything comes
from “nothing“ in the way theists use the word
and in my experience, only a minority subscribe
to the theory Krauss puts forward. Theists may
believe the universe sprang from nothing, but
they then have the burden of proving there was
ever “nothing” and that “something” requires
any gods at all.


2) Atheists Have No Morals
Humans are social beings, and as such we have
morals. Some theists say atheists have no
reason to be moral since we don’t believe in a
god to instruct or punish us. This claim seems
rather disingenuous when one considers that
most theists who say this wouldn’t become
immoral deviants overnight if they suddenly
stopped believing in a god.
Studies have shown our morals are a product of
multiple factors . The Milgram experiment
shows authority plays a major role. The Stanford
prison experiment showed the same, but also
displayed the role of social hierarchy. The “good
or evil” puppet test for babies suggests we are
all born with a basic sense of fairness, justice,
and unfortunately, bigotry. Human morality is
too complex to be explained by religion or lack
of it.
Millions of atheists across the globe live moral
lives every day. Some don’t. Neither do some
believers. There are atheist charities and atheist
criminals. There are religious charities and
religious hate groups. Religious people and
atheists can both behave morally or immorally
because of—or wholly independent of—their
religious beliefs. One doesn’t necessarily lead to
the other. Studies have shown the basis of
human morality is present even before we’re
exposed to religion.


3) Atheists Have No Meaning of Life
Even if humanity survives the next 5 billion
years on this planet, the sun will balloon into a
red giant, boil and possibly devour the earth
before exploding and blasting out through the
cosmos. The universe will continue to expand at
an increasing rate, and eventually the force of
gravity will be too weak for any new stars or
planets to form. The universe will whither and
die.
Some theists consider this and think without
belief in an afterlife, nothing really matters in
this life. Believing in an afterlife can influence
one’s meaning of life, but a meaning of life
doesn’t require belief in an afterlife. Some
theists refer to Nietzsche’s nihilism as if
Nietzsche were the be-all and end-all of
existentialist philosophy. But humans generally
define our meaning in the moments we enjoy
and the goals we set. This was probably best
articulated by Albert Camus in The Myth of
Sisyphus.
I enjoy every moment I spend with my
daughter, and one of my goals is to be a good
father. I enjoy art, and one of my goals is to
read, hear and see more of it. I like a large, hot
cup of coffee while watching the dim glow of
morning just before dawn. I love the serenity of
canoeing on a sunny day and the soft crunch of
fresh snow beneath my feet. I enjoy my friends
and my family. Atheism does give life meaning
because as an atheist, I understand this is the
only life I’ve got.


4) There Are No Atheists in
Foxholes
Yes there are. They even have a website .
Nonetheless there persists among some this
belief that atheism is generally disingenuous and
that everyone cries out to “God” in times of
need. This claim highlights a conflicting
epistemology between the theist who is basing
beliefs in part on fear and need, and the those
of us who determine beliefs based on facts and
evidence.
Their assumption also implies that when a theist
cries out “Oh God,” they are literally trying to
talk to “God.” I have several religious family and
friends who say “Oh God” in all sorts of
scenarios but are rarely actually trying to carry
on a conversation with The Almighty. Even a
theist saying “Oh God” in a foxhole is most likely
not actually expecting divine intervention. The
phrase is generally used in the same way as “Oh
Shit,” which generally doesn’t involve any
reference to actual shit. Even so, there are
millions of people who’ve encountered life
threatening situations and didn’t cry out about
god, shit or anything else.


5) Atheists Just Hate God
About as much as we hate unicorns. Theists
tend to make this claim when atheists assert
moral opinions about supposed deeds of their
deity. “How can you have opinions about
something you don’t believe in?” The same way
we form opinions about Darth Vader, Willy
Wonka or the Wicked Witch of the West—
according to their role within the story. It
doesn’t matter if the story involves a Sith killing
all the Jedi kids or a god killing a nation’s first
born.
Just repeating the claim back usually gets the
point across. Do Christians “hate” Allah? Do
Muslims “hate” Jesus? Do Jews “hate” the FSM?
Not believing in a particular religion is not
dependent on a negative opinion of that
religion’s deity or messiah figure. It’s simply the
result of not being convinced because the
burden of proof has not been met. I personally
think Buddha and Lao Tzu both had great things
to say, but I’m not a Buddhist or a Taoist.


6) Atheists Just Don’t Want to
Submit to God
Well, one would first need to provide reason for
believing there is anything to submit to. Lacking
belief in deities doesn’t mean one doesn’t want
to submit to what they don’t believe in. Like
number 5, the point can be made rather easily
by simply repeating this back to the theist. Does
the Christian lack belief in Allah just because she
doesn’t want to wear a hijab? Do non Catholics
lack belief in Catholicism simply because they
don’t want to submit to the Pope? Do Muslims
lack belief Jesus was the embodiment of “God”
simply because they want to continue justifying
child marriages with the actions of their so-
called prophet?


7) Atheists Are Angry
There once was a time when challenging religion
was considered taboo. Some would like to hold
on to that standard to save their religion from
scrutiny. Those days are over, but that doesn‘t
mean being skeptical of religion means skeptics
are angry.
Being confrontational does not equate to anger.
If someone told you Elvis was spotted buying T-
shirts at K-Mart, their claims would be analyzed,
scrutinized, debunked and in most cases,
outright laughed at. I see no reason why it
should be any different for religious claims.


Atheists Are Responsible for the
Worst Atrocities in History
Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao were all atheists, so
atheism must be responsible for the mass
executions during said reigns—or so the
accusation goes. This statement is usually a
retort to blaming Christianity for the Crusades or
Islam for terrorism. The fact of the matter is
there have been Christians, atheists, Muslims
and many others of different beliefs and non
beliefs who have committed multiple atrocities
throughout history. But there have also been
some of the kindest deeds in history performed
by people of all kinds of belief and non belief.
Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao did not execute people
in the name of atheism, but rather for simply
not submitting to them as if they were gods
themselves. There is a long list of atheist
politicians who never committed atrocities.
Claiming atheism would lead to disastrous
atrocities like those witnessed in the early Soviet
Union is a hasty generalization fallacy which
ignores all the good deeds of decent atheist
politicians throughout time.