People are shocked to hear this when I say it, but I genuinely do NOT care about question of God’s existence.
When I hear people arguing this question, it’s like listening to nerds getting into a heated argument over which fictional spaceship is faster: the Millenium Falcon or the Enterprise D?
It’s a nonsensical argument and I treat nonsense in the only sensical way: I ignore it.
Which leads me the ‘Atheist Experience’.
For the record, I agree with 99.99% with what this asshat, Matt Dillahunty, is saying. His logic holds up. But this is the #1 thing that drives me bonkers about YouTube atheists: logic is fetishized.
I’ll concede: maybe this is a ‘me’ problem. Perhaps I view logic, reasoning, science, and philosophy…and perhaps religion too…as a vehicle, not a destination. That may be too “Buddhist”, for a lack of a better word, way of thinking of these things but it has helped me “keep an eye on the ball” and not get hung up on the small stuff.
I mean, this is the purpose of life, right? To find meaning in a chaotic world? To love life, to enjoy company of others, to pass on our wisdom to the next generation? Life is about the sublime moments. When I’m trying to enjoy my short existence on this earth, I don’t really care what vehicle I drive to get to work.
I’ll always have respect for someone that channels their beliefs in a transformative way….way more than somebody that demands you follow the rules of logic. That being said, some atheists don’t need belief in a higher power to enjoy life to the fullest. I guess I’m one of them (I’m more agnostic. Or, more precisely, apathetic).
Matt Dillahunty is, however, just an asshole.
YouTube atheists aren’t alone in this phenomenon. Everyone is complicit is this internet “dunking” culture, where we try to make our perceived enemies look like idiots. It’s disgusting.
Dillahunty clearly had some bad experience with religion and is bitter because of it. I get it. This happened to me too. I’m sure it happened to all of us. But what are you trying to prove?
I think if the experience of the last few years have showed us anything, it’s that showing facts and logic is totally not persuasive. I mean, it CAN be…over time. But that absolutely cannot be done in a debate style format…especially when one of the participants is being a complete fucking dick.
I’m sure we’ve all been in a position where we find ourselves in a heated political argument where we know that we’re right, and THEY know that you’re right, yet strangely our interlocutor never says “you know, you’re right…you’ve changed my mind.” If this has happened to you then you’re a fucking liar.
There’s something deeply hidden in the human psyche that makes us believe things that are so patently false and absurd, that we just believe them. I think there’s a Latin phrase for it. I’m sure if we interrogate our own beliefs enough, we’ll find one. And when people call bullshit on it, we believe them even harder.
I think a helpful skill to learn, that when you find yourself in a heated argument over religion or politics…and you have your opponent on the ropes…make sure the joke’s on you. Don’t be so far up your own ass that you can’t make fun of yourself. In that case, you might’ve won the debate but you lost the war.
People’s minds don’t change over night.
What Dillahunty did was take his bad experience and project it onto ‘Brandon’. Now Brandon probably believes whatever nonsense he believes in that much harder. Nothing got solved.
Besides, what is an “Atheist Experience’?
Isn’t that just ‘Experience’?
The Internet Ruined Everything 
I was raised Catholic by parents who did not themselves practice the religion, but our mother required that my sister and I faithfully attend Sunday mass, and that I attend catechism until I was confirmed at the age of 14. My sister and I also attended vacation bible school at various Christian churches with some neighbor kids a couple of summers as a form of cheap babysitting. By my mid teens, my father had become increasingly cynical about religion, and we’d have long discussions that eventually led to me not only abandoning the Catholic church, but eschewing religion altogether. I’ve been an atheist since the age of 18.
To your point, though, I’ve never had the desire or interest to argue my position with anyone, or try to convert them to my way of thinking. People’s religious – and political – beliefs are so firmly held in most cases, and innate to their identity, that there’s simply no point in trying, nor being a pompous asshole about it.
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I had a similar experience, just switch out Catholicism with Evangelicalism (Because it was the South after all). Parents weren’t necessarily religious, but I had a strange mental crisis in my early teens which led me to being pulled from public schools. This private Bible thumping private school was probably the cheapest. This led me to have a “born again” experience. I attended this school until halfway through my senior year when I got into a fight…and got my ass kicked…by a teacher. Then I slowly became deprogrammed and lost interest in pursuing a deity all together….regardless if one actually exists.
But this kind of deprogramming takes time. I think a more important question to ask is why do people believe this stuff to begin with?
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It’s an age-old question, but I think it’s partly due to many peoples’ need to belong to or be a part of something, with a set of pre-determined values or rules to help them make their way through life.
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Yeah, that desire for connection and belonging is, I think, a prime human motivation. Without critical thinking, it’s difficult to realize that we don’t need a belief in a higher power to achieve that. But that’s only one step. Logic and reasoning is only the methods to achieve these desires. When we thumb our noses and laugh at those that use logic incorrectly, it helps nothing. And it’s kinda ignoring the larger desire.
Dillahunty is smart, but so what? He presents himself as a pedantic logic-lord, a la Ben Shapiro, and nobody likes that except for people that already agree with you. If his objective is to educate people, then he does himself a disservice.
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