Those who profess to favor freedom, yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
Frederick Douglass, American Abolitionist, Letter to an associate, 1849

February 24th, 2007

A word on arrogance

posted by Shinka in Freethought | No Comments

A common misconception or accusation against atheists is that we are arrogant. Many theists believe that for atheists to claim that absolutely no god exists would be for us to claim to have all of the knowledge in the universe (omnipotence), which we do not have. Despite the fact that I know of no atheist who actually claims such a thing, let’s look at this from the other point-of-view.

Many Christians claim that they know God personally. They know the likes and dislikes of the creator of all that exists. The creator of a billion billion stars and planets actually listens to them talking to themselves and then intervenes in the natural course of human affairs if he thinks their suggestion is worthy. They even know which political party he supports.

And the ones who simply ask for a little bit of evidence before believing all of these claims? Apparently we’re the arrogant ones.

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