Atheism, Agnosticism & Humanism

Atheism: denies God and speaks against religion.

Teachings Since God does not exist, there is no ultimate, intelligent Mind and no absolute moral code for life. Man is the highest evolved animal and the creator of moral law under the dialectical force (thesis vs. antithesis or two opposite classes or forces) of matter or production in a society.

Problems Atheism is a theory, not practical: ◦ How could a random evolutionary material evolve mankind to become a creator of moral law?  Evolution must be the force and cause of evolution but not of creation!

Problems ◦ Attributing creation to mankind means that he has a free will to choose and an authority to put his free will into practice.  Free will creates desire, determination, anticipation and causes people to write programs and principles which are all non- evolutionary and incompatible with the theory of atheism.

Problems ◦ If an atheist practices free will, he will not be atheist anymore.  An atheist is not even free to teach about his belief, since teaching needs a designed set of words based on past experiences or external moral values that are shared in order to create anticipated result(s).

Problems Even morality is random in Atheism. ◦ If this is the case, then opposition to the established moral laws must be accepted as a new evolutionary moral law and part of a random and constant change. If this is the case, then why atheists killed their oppositions?  Marxist China 65 million  Marxist USSR 20 million  Marxist North Korea 2 million  Marxist Cambodia 2 million  Marxist Afghanistan 1.5 million  Marxist Vietnam 1 million

Problems If morality is random and relative, what can then hold a family or society stable? ◦ What should hinder parents of not marrying their children? ◦ What could keep an spouse committed to his/her spouse? ◦ What could convince children to follow the order of their parents? ◦ What could convince a person to respect the rights of others and care for them?

Agnosticism: the true values of certain claims (about the existence or non- existence of any deity or any metaphysical being) are unknown and unknowable.

Who Is an Agnostic? An Agnostic is a person who neither believes nor disbelieves in the existence of God. He does not currently have the essential knowledge to provide sufficient reasons to prove that God (god) exists or not. He is independent in thinking and does not rely on external reasons to prove the existence of God, as for him the external beings have relative reasons to prove God.

From One Extreme to the Other Agnostic Atheism: The view of those who do not believe in the existence of any deity, but do not claim to know if a deity does or does not exist (Bertrand Russell). Agnostic Theism: The view of those who do not claim to know of the existence of any deity, but still believe in such an existence.

Agnosticism: Old & New Rig Veda in its 15 th chapter says: nobody knows who created this world and when it was created. Buddha was a Hindu but never spoke about gods. Some Greek philosophers (including Socrates to some degree) taught the impossibility of certainty. Søren Kierkegaard (1844) says: For if God does not exist it would of course be impossible to prove it; and if he does exist it would be folly to attempt it. Richard Dawkins ranks himself 6 in a scale from 1 – 7 and says, “I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there”.

Some Reasons to Reject God’s Existence Common agnostic complains today: ◦ You are just pretending God exists. If God exists, why then people are suffering in Africa? Why people are slaughtering each other and God is not stopping them? ◦ In this kind of agnosticism, the ‘freedom of choice’ is normally forgotten or ignored because of random philosophy. ◦ Also, it is usually coupled with individual (either conscious or unconscious) comfort, pride, over consumption, and self-criticism is also ignored or forgotten.

Problems Agnosticism is disregarding the capacity of mind in discovering the reality other than materialism. ◦ Human intelligence is spiritual in itself and non-material. ◦ Unable to see a thing or have some specific reasons for its existence does not mean that it does not exist.

Problems Agnosticism is also a disrespect to the personal experiences of those who saw God face to face. ◦ Why should the expression of a person, who see’s an apple falling down, be accepted but the witness of a person who personally sees God descend or ascend be rejected? ◦ On the other hand, if reality is what human sees, then what is the place of blind people among humanity according to Agnosticism?

Problems Agnostics believe that God, if he exists, is infinite compared to man who is finite. ◦ What kind of loss it is going to bring into their lives if they accept infinite God to lead their lives instead of their limited manhood? ◦ In mathematics infinite is ∞. Nobody knows how much it is, but accepts it as the leading figure in mathematic, even in economy and politics! ◦ God is also the leading infinite figure, though unknown to many, in life. Why he is not accepted?

HUMANISM: Contemporary humanism believes that man has infinite power and is able to get along without God.

Teachings It is not a supreme Mind (God) that created the world in an orderly fashion but a disorderly and mindless matter, which became subject to a random evolution. Matter precedes mind since everything began with mater. Mind is progressive too, and for this reason there is no difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and no expectation for accountability. Man has unlimited power since he was able to pull himself up from a primitive condition to a sophisticated level of civilization. The idea of God does not contribute anything of value for man’s betterment. ◦ God views man a sinner and frustrates man’s ability to permanently solve his problems.

Problems Contradictory and confusing: ◦ Man, as a progressive evolutionary product, is described someone who brought himself from a premature life to a civilized life.  How can man reach to a better life without planning, if the force of evolution supersedes his mind?  On one hand, man is given power and made the lord of his own life, but on the other hand he is believed to be passive and a product of matter.  Also, if there is no difference between ‘good’ and ‘bad’, how can a ‘civilized life’ be better than premature life?

Chaotic Results According to the theory of these beliefs, the contemporary mind is more advanced than the older minds and therefore can function better years ago, Jesus said “Do not kill.” Do humanists believe that the mind of Hitler or Stalin or Mao, who killed millions, functioned better than the mind of Jesus?

Chaotic Results Disastrous result of moral relativity: ◦ 2 conflicting options between 2 persons ◦ 6 conflicting options among 3 persons ◦ 24 conflicting options among 4 persons ◦ 120 conflicting options among 5 persons ◦ 720 conflicting options among 6 persons ◦ … ◦ 3,600,000 conflicting options among 10 persons ◦ 39,000,000 conflicting options among 11 persons Our Evangelism: Jesus is the answer for this chaos

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