By now it should be very clear to anyone who has read even just a few comment threads, whether in a forum or social media website, that by the simple virtue of being an atheist you can claim intellectual superiority. Yes, it is just that simple.
By being an atheist you can make yourself smarter (or at least smarter than those religious nuts who claim to be virtuous just because they are religious). But don’t take my word for it—read a few comment threads on Digg or Facebook, and the subject of God and atheism will inevitably come up, and as anyone with half a brain can notice, every single atheist is mentally superior to every other person of faith (who is in turn morally superior). They say so themselves. And if their word is not enough, why just look at their eloquently written references to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and other philosophical weapons that they so deftly deploy.
So if you want to be smart, become an atheist. Also, it’s a very good weapon for guarding against anyone who tries to point out that you have no other intellectually redeeming qualities.
I wouldn’t say smarter. More rational, less prone to whimsy and silly supernaturalism, for sure. But smarter, not so much.
Thank you for proving the point of this article
Oh my goodness. You realize this is sarcasm, right? He’s not actually saying atheists are smarter.
if you really want to get into that, I am one of the few that can disprove atheism as whimsical
haha I’m glad that I’m not the only one who notices such things.
“I don’t believe in God so I own you,” gets really old. But I mean won’t the religious people get the last laugh so to speak?
Personally I would much rather go to heaven or paradise whatever one believes as opposed to just rotting in the ground when I die.
well if you were rotting in the ground dead you wouldn’t know it so there isn’t really a comparison there
Just because you want it to be true doesn’t mean that it is true.
I think your missing the whole point of religion vs intelectualism. Its not about “choosing” whats right. The mere act of believing in one of the 2 groups doesnt make it right. Were you to start believing in santa he wouldnt magically appear until youd done a considerable ammount of hemp.
Too bad if you like the idea of flying away on Baby Jesus’ magical carpet to a safe place in the sky – you too will be fodder for insects and fire.
Make no mistake – go rob a few graves if you need evidence of many the Lords’ “sheep” simply rotting away in the earth…
Why must one assume that religious people can’t be intellectual? Sure, there are people who just believe because that is what their parents taught them, but many other people have done research and asked questions, and they have come to an intelligent conclusion that what they believe is true. Religion does not automatically equal stupidity.
Well if you actually knew what the purpose of the Flying Spaghetti Monster theory was, maybe you’d have a valid argument. But there, you just proved why non-atheists ARE dumb. Good job! How paradoxical of you.
What’s the difference between declaring piety for a flying spaghetti monster and an invisible man in the sky? Sure, you’d ridicule someone who believed in levitating pasta, but why can’t I ridicule someone who believes in a whimsical guy who recruits people to Neverland? Sounds just as stupid to me. God is no more probable, and is definitely a weaker argument. At least we know spaghetti and flying exist. The Flying Spaghetti Monster theory is used by atheists to show the religious community how inane their own theory is!
Read the post again, and pay attention this time. :)
You are only helping to prove the point. I am an atheist, and while I do consider myself rather smart, these two things are not related. Just because someone has faith doesn’t “logically” make them stupid. The two concepts are entirely separate traits, as are virtuosity or morality and a belief in a higher being. I know plenty of stupid atheists and plenty of highly religious people that are some of the smartest people I know.
To be honest Steve, you are right about both spaghetti and flying to exist.
However, both whimsy and Neverland exist, in some way. I think what you are trying to say is that Michael Jackson was the God you were banking on and now that he’s been dead for more than three days you’ve given up altogether.
All my bets are on Orthodox Judism, baby. In other words, I’m all in with a pair of sixes.
This is perfect. And every atheist who has responded has MISSED THE POINT.
LIGHTEN UP, PEOPLE!!
“This is perfect. And every atheist who has responded has MISSED THE POINT. ”
So if an Atheist responds -at all-, they suddenly become smarter-than-thou and intellectually superior?
This seems to be the rhetoric here:
“Atheists think they’re so much smarter than believers, its disgusting.”
“I’m an atheist and I don’t think we’re smarter, I just believe my personal viewpoint makes more sense to me.”
“OH MY GOD HAHA YOU JUST PROVED MY POINT. DAMN GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE HAHA RETARDED ATHEIST!!!!!”
Skepticism doesn’t preclude stupidity, unfortunately.
um – it’s the other way around. You’re confusing cause and effect. If one is intelligent, one is more likely to follow the course of rationality and be an atheist.
So in your crude wording – if you’re smart, you’re more likely to be an atheist. If you’re dumb, you’ll swallow the lies of religion. Unfortunately some smart people get fooled as well.
This is quite exactly the way it works. Its no coincidense that poorly educated people flock to supernatural beliefs while those who have been properly versed can see religion for the control matrix it is.
Please educate yourself before arguing. Thank you.
And Caitlin, that is called Pascal’s wager. And no, it is not a win-win situation; that is so ignorant of you! You think your best bet is believing, but what if you’re wrong, and your ‘God’ is not the right one? What if you are a Christian who assumes she must believe in God, but it turns out that Allah was the real God all along? Well, it looks like you’re fucked. You just lost your gamble.
Just a clarification…this really annoys the crap out of me. ‘Allah’ is just the Arabic word for God–it’s not a different God.
You’re right that if she’s chosen the wrong god she loses here wager anyways, but the essence of her argument is still very much right. After all, if she goes the path of atheism and some form of god (and subsequent heaven and hell) does exist, she’s screwed. And of all the theorized gods, she can really only worship one (religious pluralism is something that almost every religion specifically precludes), so she’s still taking a pretty big wager no matter what. But if it turns out there is a heaven, and worship of the appropriate god gets her in, she still does better than an atheist who denies the existence of that god.
Now all that aside, I think most religious scholars would tell you that this argument (Pascal’s Wager) is not a very strong testament of your faith, and not in spirit with most major religions. The point of Christianity isn’t to avoid death (or hell), but to acknowledge one’s wrong-doings (Of course, there is a LOT more to Christian theology than that).
in theory Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God…
To those who believe that Allah and the Christian God are the same; you are misinformed. The Christian God is a triune God (God the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ) They are the Trinity. They are three persons in one. It actually is much deeper than this but I don’t have the time to go into depth. The Muslim God (Allah) is not. The Muslim faith only see Jesus Christ as a great man “prophet” the do not recognize him as one of the God-head. So, they are NOT the same God.
so it’s 1/3 of the muslim & jewish god?
The smartest are the ones who know they can’t decide either way. In the respect that no one knows for certain whether there is or isn’t a god, Atheism is as limited as any type of religion…
You sir, are the only so far in this thread, or any other thread ive read on the subject that actually gets it… was begininng to wonder if i was the only one.
Not really … sure its POSSIBLE that there is a god, but it is rather more likely that there is not. There could be fairies at the bottom of the ocean, but we cannot prove it either way. Does that mean we should be agnostic in terms of fairies, too? And to the invisible monkey flying over my head?
Thank you Anne. It’s nice to see that there are other intelligent people out there who have not been brainwashed by fanciful things like religion, which, of course, is a primitive concept that early man used for security.
Mr Steve, you are a classic example of what the user is talking about. Atheism is not more valid or ’smart’ than any other belief – your experiences and point of view are not logical. To disbelieve something just because you haven’t seen it with your own eyes is no more logical than believing something just because you’ve been told it. What seems preposterous to you may not seem preposterous to others. To assume that your view is the most intelligence is gross arrogance at best and dangerous delusion at worst. The only TRULY rational view is that of admitting uncertainty. Anything else is a leap of faith. Even now, you behave as a zealot unbwilling to listen to others’ or be dissuaded from his point of view despite evidence to the contrary. As a reminder, Newton, Da Vinci, Einstein, and Darwin were all Christians.
Einstein. Was. Not. A. Christian. He wasn’t even a theist. And if he WERE to have a religion, it would most likely have been Jewish, since he was a Jew. His quotes contain the word ‘God’, but as a proper name for the Cosmos and its mysteries and laws. He stated multiple times that he was an atheist. Those are just simple facts, and I have no idea why people keep dropping his name when talking about intellectual believers.
Same thing with Darwin. Definitely not a Christian. He thought that the suffering of the world proved that a personal, merciful Christian God could not exist. He called himself agnostic and didn’t think evolutionism was in any way compatible with traditional theism. Once again, FACTS. Stop throwing names of historical figures around to prove your point.
Disregard my using the word ‘atheist’ to describe Einstein. He actually claimed to be agnostic.
Actually, Darwin was an anglican who considered himself agnostic after 1851.
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/sciencefaith.html#sfb8rkk06riH
enough said
the site listed albert einstein as one who believed in god. this is of course complete bullshit. albert einstein has long been proved to use the word “God” poetically rather than literally. he didn’t mean a specifc god , rather the mysteries that are yet to be solved.
Wow, I hate that site. I don’t know for sure about all of those scientists, but Einstein believed in God as much as he believed in the Cosmos. That is, Einsteins “God” was a very impersonal, cosmic force consisting of physical laws. He just used the word God to simplify his viewpoint, and I think at one point he even acknowledged how confusing his wording was to religious onlookers. He stated openly that he was an atheist, multiple times.
And since they screwed Einstein up, they probably skewed the truth about a lot of the scientists on the list. Not a very reliable site whatsoever.
lol. No scientistist since 1955?
As an ex-Christian minister, I would not agree that being an atheist makes one smarter. However, I will concede that Atheists are easier to talk to regarding spiritual topics, and they also provide very reasonable feedback without taking the “moral superiority” road.
Pascal’s wager:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager
Finally someone figured it out.
Jesus Christ.
it’s called ‘the sarcamist’ for a reason, folks.
Now goodness, isn’t that a silly thing to say; just because we’re on the Sasrasmist doesn’t mean there’s any subtlety in this post… there’s nothing else being said here at all… none… not one bit… This is all absolutely serious… this time at least.
I guess the Sarcasmist wins.
ditto juan
they’re not attcking anyone they’re just making a joke about a very small minority
I’m NOT going to proclaim that being an atheist makes me or any other “smarter”, for that matter!….. but, with that being said, anybody whosoever exchanges one crutch for the next is quite obviously an idiot!…….. YES!, take action against injustices, but do so in a manner that those buried amongst the evolutionary-degenerates might understand and follow form……. I kinda thought that was what we were trying to do!… educate instead of hate???
Hey Fred,
Read The God Delusion. ENOUGH SAID. Stop reading unofficial blogs written by deluded idiots.
And also,
“I don’t try to imagine a personal God; it suffices to stand in awe at the structure of the world, insofar as it allows our inadequate senses to appreciate it.” – Einstein
Your dumb website took Einstein’s words out of context. He’s not a believer. But of course, dumb fundamentalists use what little support (even wrong support) to support their thin and erroneous beliefs.
Steve, I obviously don’t know you or your reasons for getting all worked up about the way other people express their opinions on the subject of God, religion & atheism. You’d think that common courtesy would keep you from calling other people names, such as “stupid” or “dumb.” Notice, I haven’t even given my belief system. I wonder what I’ll be called in retaliation.
Ohhhh no! I thought it was having glasses that made you smart! :p
Also, most religious people are “atheist” to other religions’ gods. Think about it. Also, consider the origin of the word “atheist/ism”. Does that mean errbody is a genius? Because, if you’ll take note, both sides of the coin claim superiority.
I don’t know why atheists pride themselves in being “more intellectual.” So because someone’s religious, that makes them completely inferior to you? And much less intelligent? That’s really arrogant. Yes you’re more rational, but rationality has its flaws. Sometimes, no matter how rational you can get, you can be wrong. Just look at the rational lawyer who loses in a court case; that’s a good comparison. The religious individual is not superior to the atheist, and the atheist is not superior to religious individual. I’m very religious and I graduated with a 4.2 GPA, so because I’m religious, does that say that I’m really stupid compared to an atheist?
Rational lawyers lose cases due to other irrational people. Igive you the jury of the O.J. Simpson trial.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager#Anti-Pascal_wager
This is funny; dead on, too.
I was an atheist for a while, and I feared that having some kind of faith would somehow impair my critical thinking skills. In fact it was the opposite. Faith has made me neither superior nor inferior to anyone on any level. But it has changed the way I respond to the world around me. I am now more open to different ways of experiencing the universe, and in turn more tolerant & respectful of others’ beliefs. I can do nothing but extend the same respect I ask from others. The central problem is not faith or lack thereof, but the belief that there is an absolute truth which all others must embrace.
So I’m dumb simply because I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why are atheists so quick to deny the possibility of the existence of a loving God?
loving god that murders people without hesitation?
There is no evidence of a loving god. If there is a god, s/he appears to be more on the malevolent and petty side.
Just the other day, someone brought up the stories in the Old Testament where God kills thousands people because they were a bad influence on or threats to Israel.
God massacred 24,000 people in just a single story. I wonder what the body count is for God throughout the bible. Maybe around a million? And a lot of the stories don’t say “and then God caused some bad stuff to happen and all the people died peacefully over a span of ten years.” They say “…and God killed them.”
How can such a murderous God be considered merciful? Why wasn’t human life as sacred back then as it is now? Did God change his mind? How can people protest a single abortion when their own God killed thousands on a whim?
According to Thomas Aquinas, the Muslims and Christians do NOT worship the same god. This is where the word “atheist” came form. Supposedly.
Muslims and Christians DO worship the same God. The only difference between muslims and christians besides the name for God is the fact that christians believe Jesus is the son of God and muslims do not.
If you’ld put the Bible and Quran next to eachother, you’ld find a lot of similarities. Muslims see the Quran as the completion of the bible and the thora.
And yeah those terrorists kinda ruin everything the Quran stands for..
they both worship the God of Abraham… Yahweh.
They’re not the same god.
Tradition holds that the Christian god sent his son to redeem mankind. The Jewish god hasn’t. And the Muslim god never had a plan to send a son. These three characteristics cannot be held by the same entity.
God can’t have sent his son, never sent his son, and never planned to send his son all at the same time. Unless these three religions portray God in identical manners, with identical motives, thoughts, and action, they will never be the same God.
It’s possible there is a single God. But I don’t think the three religions are really on the same page about what they believe him to be like.
Nah, it is the other way around… the smarter, more educated one is the bigger the chances are for one to become an atheist. Ateism is usually the consequence, not the cause of being smart.
Just because you have a 4.2 GPA doesn’t mean you know how to reason. You may know how to read and such, but you can still be deluded. Also, what college did you graduate from? What did you major in? (Definitely not biology). There are too many variables.
I’m working on a biology major with a current 4.0 GPA and am a Christian so……..your point?
and just because someone’s conclusion differs from yours does not make them any less capable of reason than you,
Reason – ” to form conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.”
Arrogant – “making claims or pretensions to superior importance or rights; overbearingly assuming”
You are only proving the author’s point by claiming anyone believing something other than you is obviously not capable of the amazing powers of reason and logic that you are. Which, in my opinion, shows that you believe so arrogantly in your own “reasonable and logical” conclusion that the only way someone else could conclude something different than you is if they are incapable of reason completely.
Reason – ” to form conclusions, judgments, or inferences from FACTS or premises.”
Until God is scientifically proven to exist, you can’t use the word FACT to describe your belief.
The definition doesn’t say “to to form conclusions, judgments, or inferences from faith or belief.”
Until atheism is scientifically proven to exist, atheists cannot state their beliefs as fact, either.
Hey Steve. You’re kinda proving the author’s point here. You’re brilliant, if you do say so yourself. We bow to your superior intellect.
See, the thing is that this entry isn’t a religious argument. The author isn’t arguing the existence of a higher power or otherwise. The author is just pointing out that atheists tend to say things and post comments that are … well … pretty much exactly what you’ve been posting in here. Good job!
@Trish
Shhhhh! You are blowing my cover!
Thats just cause atheists tend to openly disagree with things that don’t make sense. Like a baseless accusations. Is it wrong to rebut things we don’t disagree with.
And yeah … we do have a little bit of reason to act superior when it comes to our beliefs. We actually have some EVIDENCE to support us.
I love how people will post walls of text in response to some of the stupidest comments in this thread, yet when one person gets what’s going on completely, it gets completely overlooked.
@avnick
“The smartest are the ones who know they can’t decide either way.”
No, agnosticism is not the superior form of wisdom its adherents would have us believe. The question of the existence or non-existence of god/gods is a simple yes or no question which by its very nature can permit of no middle ground. The agnostics’ scepticism is nothing more than a denial of the nature of the question at issue and a blunt refusal to look for evidence you might weigh up to help you decide one way or the other. An atheist my self, I have more respect for an honest believer than for this cheap evasion. ;)
I don’t really believe avnick is speaking of an evasion from belief or non-belief, but more so that it is impossible to tell as to whether there truly is a higher power or not. You say “a blunt refusal to look for evidence you might weigh up to help you decide one way or the other” but, in all actuality, there is the same amount of evidence proving and disproving a Supreme Being making for an even middle ground. Someone who decides that there is no way to tell the truth is still making a decision and is not necessarily holding themselves at an impasse. They are not superior or more wise, but, they are simply cautious.
Now, to Steve. Not only are you proving what the author is sarcastically saying in his article, but you are also proving that you’re no more smarter then, let’s say, a religious zealot. I am Christian. I say it proudly and may you ram me in the ass for it, I don’t care. But, I consider myself of high intellectual standing and I can rationalize, hell, I understand that logically, a merciful God cannot exist! But, that doesn’t stop my faith. You’ve yet to mention it, but I know you will, because it is the same damned unfounded argument every unintelligent atheist makes: The religious force their beliefs on people, blah, blah, blah… However look at what you’re doing. Look, at what many atheist do that many Christians and Catholics do: Try to prove they’re side is right by spewing annoying angles of their belief ((and yes, Atheism is a form of belief, sorry to tell you)) at one another. You have the religious trying to make you religious and the atheists trying to make you an atheist. You’re both not that damned different…
There is in no way any shred of evidence to state that the more intelligent among us are more likely to be intelligent, and, if I’m not mistaken, don’t Atheists hold evidence and logic in high standing?