‘Atheists Must Believe X’

Often times I will open up my e-mail in the morning and see some incoherent rant from some anonymous religious believer. One of the more common rants I get informs me that as a “materialistic atheist” I must believe X. The authors usually go on to show that X is immoral, ridiculous, or faith-based.

These e-mails are always amusing because X is almost always a non-sequitur. For example, the latest theist claimed that as a “materialistic atheist” (as if that was some denomination of atheism or something), I must believe that I am a “quantum computer with quantum encryption.” I’m not even sure what that means or how me not believing religious bullshit relates at all to quantum computers or quantum encryptions.

Here is the bottom line on these types of arguments. As an atheist, I don’t have to believe anything. I just have to be skeptical of religious bullshit. In other words, I just have to be able to say, “That whole God thing doesn’t seem to match up with reality; do you have any evidence?”

Okay, I lied. I don’t even have to be that “in your face” to be an atheist. Some atheists might not have ever heard or considered the concept of God at all. They aren’t even asking for evidence because they might not have even heard the ridiculous story yet.

As for me, I have heard the stories and I once even believed one of them. I certainly considered a few of them at various times in my life, but in the end every one of these religions are ridiculous and I am more than just a little skeptical. In fact, I’m reasonably certain they are all bullshit. Not all atheists have to believe that, but for me, I believe religions are all bullshit and no gods exist. I remain open to any evidence that might convince me otherwise, but I am not expecting any religious believer will provide any evidence at all.