Historically, this was different as everyone used to be indoctrinated by
religion. It was the default ideology, quite some intellectual effort
was needed to see that it was all nonsense, at least in the sense that
you could't assume that what the Bible said was true.
When science started to be developed during the last few centuries,
religion always got the benefit of the doubt. By default, the Bible was
assumed to be true right until it became untenable. This process
therefore wasn't very scientific, it's only because the Bible is so
totally wrong when it comes to science that this worked at all.
Had the Bible been written by some evil alien with the intent of keeping
us dumb, then that alien would have easily succeeded by writing up a
text full of scientific half-truths instead of utter nonsense. If e.g.
the Bible contained algorithms for accurately computing the motion of
planets based on the equations of the post Newtonian approximation to
General Relativity but would explain that in terms of nonsensical
supernatural effects, deliberately getting the physics totally wrong,
then there would be no way that Newton could have gotten anywhere with
his theory. The Bible would get the benefit of the doubt and it's
predictions would be way more accurate than anything Newton (a fanatical
believer himself) could come up with.
So, physics would not have been developed with such a more accurate
Bible because of the improper benefit of the doubt it has always gotten.
Atheism, at least historically, has a lot to do with recognizing this
problem with giving the benefit if the doubt to unfalsifiable claims,
take e.g. Russell's teapot.
On 29-03-2017 00:50, Kim Jones wrote:
Atheists have no special function or any special beliefs. They are a
religion like any other. They believe in God's non-existence, that's
all. They reject the notion of an immaterial "prima materia" because
that appears to them self-contradictory and instead put a thing called
"Matter" on the same pedestal and worship that instead. It's merely a
fashionable alternative to the Abrahamic sky-fairy concept but has no
particular virtues I am aware of other than that
Kim
Saibal
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