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Is your faith merely a product of your location and culture? |
Here’s a conceit that atheists allow themselves that would be amusing if it weren’t so utterly false and insulting to everyone who’s not an atheist. It goes something like this:
If you believe in God, you’re a slave to beliefs imposed upon you in your youth. You’re a slave to the beliefs from the area of the world and culture you grew up with. On the other hand if you’re an atheist, you’re not subject to such imposition, and have freed yourself of such beliefs. Of course they don’t put it that way, they usually phrase it something like this:
Dear theists: If you were born in India you’d be Hindu if you were born in Iraq you’d be Muslim if you were born… I’d still be an atheist
— Atheist World (@AtheistWorld)
August 29, 2013
Did you catch the conceit? Apparently, atheists believe they are somehow superior and they and only they have the power to choose what they believe. They thereby implicitly state that theists are weak and ignorant; and explicitly state theists are slaves to whatever belief was imposed upon them while they were growing up. What remains unanswered is for atheists who grew up in a family with theistic beliefs, why they too didn’t remain a slave to such beliefs?
Others1 have addressed this topic, but let me try to succinctly add some glaring issues with this argument:
First off it’s logically fallacious, falling to the logical fallacy of Special Pleading -where the arguer finds fault with a particular proposition or situation; yet they themselves fit the proposition or situation. Nonetheless they believe their conclusion does not apply to them – and provide no reason for believing themselves to be the exception. This is a classic case of irrational special pleading.
Secondly, many atheists continue to believe that Continue Reading