Atheism 1 - First Things First

 Hi, everyone (or no one, as the case may be)!

I've never written a blog before, and I rather doubt this one will go very well.  The reason I'm posting at all is because I had made a comment that "I could prove the existence of God in a court of law" on a friend's Facebook page, which intrigued a number of my atheist friends.  That's not a surprise; I spent many years considering myself atheist, and I would have viewed a statement like that as a challenge.  While I hoped to be as accommodating as possible to my atheist brothers and sisters, I didn't wish to take up my friend's Facebook space on what is undoubtedly a very lengthy explanation. Thus, this blog.

And I should begin that explanation by mentioning that my statement is not intended as a challenge to anyone, regardless of belief (or lack thereof).  As my poor, unfortunate children have heard their entire lives, I really don't care what anyone's personal philosophy and beliefs might be.  That is, as just defined, personal, and I'm all for leaving it that way.  I've never believed that an adherent to any philosophy has a monopoly on truth or ethics or morality or whatever other purpose philosophy might serve.  My interest and intrigue is entirely on why a person believes what he/she does.  As we go along, you'll find that I don't save my barbs for non-believers or other-believers.  I'll toss a few nettles into some fellow Christians' gardens as well.  Not that I necessarily disagree with their beliefs, but because I find fallacy in why they believe it.

As far as that goes, I don't mind others questioning my "whys," either.  I'm as susceptible to human failings as anyone else, and try as I might, I sometimes fall victim to cognitive biases myself.  If that happens, I love to have it pointed out.  Having one's philosophy questioned can sometimes be painful - even resentful - but it's the best way to learn something new, and learning new things is the bedrock of my belief system.

All that having been said, let me lay out a few ground rules for this blog:

(1) Be kind.

I probably won't field dialog for some time.  I don't intend to work on this blog every day, and I want to present my case in its entirety before opening the floor to discussion (a trick I learned in my years teaching at university).  When I do, though, let's be gentle with one another.  This blog will ultimately be intended for intellectual discourse. If someone runs afoul of a cognitive bias, then by all means point it out.  But if you can't express your point without personal attacks, I'll say here and now on page one that the Internet is overflowing with platforms for that sort of thing.  Personal attacks here will shut down this blog in a New York minute.  I simply do not wish to be a party to such vitriol, nor do I wish to create space for it.  At the first acrimonious attack, I'm gone.  It's just not that important to me.

(2) Keep an open mind.  A really open mind.

My next post will delve into my own background as a basis for how I came to believe as I do.  In short, I spent my childhood as a Christian, my adolescence as an atheist and my adulthood as a questioner.  In both of my earlier incarnations, I considered myself "open-minded."  I finally reached my state of questioning by realizing that I had previously been merely humoring myself.  If I wasn't willing to research the subject on its own merits and let the evidence take me wherever it will, even if I vehemently disliked it, even if the conclusions required I break down my entire philosophical position, I wasn't really being as open minded as I told myself I was.  In short, I had to accept the distinction between objective proof and subjective persuasion.

And, finally, a rule for myself:

(3) Allow all their dignity.

I will be basing many of my arguments on the principles of logic as defined by Socrates and refined by Plato and Aristotle.  The most basic tenet therein is that the same evidence can lead to multiple valid conclusions.  If we get to the end of this thing (and, yes, there is a definite end) and you still believe whatever you do now, that's great.  Perhaps you will have discovered a few new things to help reinforce your beliefs.  Maybe you'll have found a few new "whys."  If so, this blog will have done all it was intended to do.

Pax