Questions About Stealing from God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case

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can an intellectual argument turn an atheist to God, or a believer from God?

Daniel How do you define an "intellectual argument"? Every argument is an appeal to someone's intellect, if we define "intellect" broadly enough to include a…moreHow do you define an "intellectual argument"? Every argument is an appeal to someone's intellect, if we define "intellect" broadly enough to include all human mental activity. For example, many arguments are fallacious, but they are in a sense just as "intellectual" as valid arguments, since humans process fallacious arguments with their intellects just as they process valid arguments with their intellects. Faulty reasoning, after all, is an intellectual process. For example, if a man convinces himself that his wife is not cheating on him, he has to use his intellect to do that. He has to expend intellectual energy to rationalize away any clues he might detect that conflict with what he wants to believe.

In contrast, if you define "intellectual argument" more narrowly, such as in keeping with critical thinking, then it becomes quite a bit harder to come up with intellectual arguments for the existence of any particular God or gods. That's little problem for the lucrative religion industry, since the vast majority of people know little or nothing of critical thinking. Most cannot even name five fallacies, much less recognize them in ordinary discourse, where fallacies often come heavily disguised. Few people understand the difference between a fact and a mere belief and honestly maintain the distinction. They talk about God in a matter-of-fact way, much as they would talk about the height of Mount Everest, when those are two completely different types of claims.

One easy way to understand this is to try coming up with intellectual arguments for the existence of Zeus (or Thor, or Santa Claus, or Bigfoot, etc.). Just take all the standard arguments for God and substitute "Zeus" for "God" throughout. Do you find the arguments convincing then? Will you dedicate your life to Zeus and sing his praises every day? Probably not. For most people, it takes a lot more than mere arguments to believe in something for which there is no evidence. And what is that something more? Simple: it's childhood brainwashing. Most people who believe a religion believe the religion they were taught as children. When people are young they are highly susceptible to believing whatever they are taught by their trusted authority figures (parents and other adults they are told to trust). Most people are then not smart enough to overcome their childhood brainwashing when they become adults. It's even hard for most people to become aware of their brainwashing.

You probably weren't brainwashed as a child to believe in Zeus, so you could probably spot the problems with any argument for the existence of Zeus. Even if you could not spot the problem, you'd know there had to be a problem hiding in there somewhere. But if you grew up in a majority Christian nation, with Christian parents, you probably absorbed a huge amount of brainwashing as a child which makes the Christian God seem far more plausible to you as an adult. Similarly, if you had been raised in Saudi Arabia by Muslim parents, and gone to Muslim schools, you'd probably find Muslim doctrine to be the most plausible.

Of all the academic disciplines, the one with the highest rate of atheism among professors is anthropology. As you may know, anthropologists study the diversity of human culture, and they learn firsthand how every human culture develops its own mix of practical, real-world knowledge along with an astounding body of nonsensical beliefs. Seeing how seriously other peoples take their nonsense makes it easier for anthropologists to question their own received nonsense.(less)

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