My First God Debate

2010-09-14

I’ll be speaking at my first debate on the topic of religion Thursday night. It’s hosted by a Muslim organization that I get the impression is trying to put on a good face for Islam in society more than it’s trying to actually debate. Kind of a happy feel-good everyone say what they care about sort of deal, but nevertheless it is called a debate, with the title “Existence of God: Fact or Fiction?”, and I asked to be allowed to present alongside a Catholic, Muslim, Sikh, and… some sort of very small-time aboriginal faith.

So, I’m not going to be too confrontational about this one. The title of the debate encourages it, but the spirit of the group of people there doesn’t, and they certainly won’t be too combative either. I find that the things holding most people back from atheism are actually less about the facts and more about an inability to relate to anything in life once the foundation they were told to base everything on for so long is removed.

I’ve got a few basic talking points that I was hoping you’d be interested in looking over. Circlejerk if you must, but I’d really like to see some attempts at objections the religious might bring up. I get the impression there might even be a couple of religious lurkers around, so by all means jump in!

My arguments against religion in general (not Christian-specific!):

The spirit/soul: everything points to the brain being responsible for the mind. Psychologists and neuroscientists today certainly expect to answer the remaining mysteries in their fields by studying the brain. Not only can I damage your memory with a hit to the head, I can influence your personality with truth serums and lobotomies, so it’s not just an antenna relaying an external personality, it really IS the personality.

Origins: God doesn’t solve first cause. Fine-tuning? God is supposed to be PERFECTLY tuned. Infinite, eternal properties may lie at the foundation of the universe, but an infinity of big bangs can work without God, for example.

Religious content: it all reads like bronze age myth to me. You’d think God’s would undeniably stand out.

My explanations of purpose of life, morality without God:

The obvious: if you were wrong about God, the things you credited God with don’t disappear with him. We still have friends, family, love, forgiveness, sunrises…

Morality: moral principles are the pieces of a framework we try and build to direct our actions in a way that corresponds with the values we evolved with. These values aren’t arbitrary — they worked, after all — but they are debatable. Actions can be called wrong when they are incorrectly assumed to promote values they really don’t.

Relationship with God: never had one, but I imagine it to be analogous to a romantic relationship: unique, intimate, pervasive, personal, passionate. It’s an abusive relationship! “You’re ungrateful, You never do anything right, but don’t leave, I love you!”

The debate itself is on my channel: Existence of God Debate. Related: my Kitimat debate notes.