Let’s Stop Calling New Atheism, “Atheism,” and Start Calling it What it is: Anti-Theism

[wickerwoman]

174. Let's look at two assertions:

1. Earthquakes are caused by plate tectonics.
2. Earthquakes are God's punishment for gay people.

Assertion 1 is supported by observable geological phenomena such as rock stratification on cliffs. We know where the boundaries of the plates are and earthquakes and related phenomena can be predicted to be of higher frequency along the edges of those plates, such as the Pacific Ring of Fire. We understand different types of movements along those plates and the different types of phenomena they produce. We can predict flow-on effects such as aftershocks.

Assertion 2 is supported by the say-so of some people based on a 2000 year old book saying that homosexuality is an abomination and that God has the power to cause natural phenomena, such as floods, to punish human beings for wickedness. But if God has the power to create people, why create them to be wicked? Why not just stop them from being wicked? Why not just kill the wicked people instead of thousands of innocents? Why don't earthquakes happen all the time? People are gay all the time but earthquakes happen infrequently and not necessarily directly in places with high gay populations (like New York). If God made gay people to test their free will, why do animals also engage in homosexual acts? Is God interested in the agency of sheep and geckos? That's certainly not what the Bible seems to say when it gives man dominion over the beasts.

So there is evidence for both assertions but I think the evidence for 1 is strong and the evidence for 2 is weak. It is not useless to discuss it because accepting assertion 2 perpetuates discrimination against gay people and hinders research into earthquake prediction and mitigation which could save literally hundreds of thousands of lives.

"We will never know" and "it's useless to discuss it" is a cop-out and is morally negligent. And I thought you said before that you opposed shutting down the questioning and testing process. But rather than actually address any of the evidence which has been presented to you, you fall straight back into those old chestnuts: "I just believe it so leave me alone" and "It's impossible to know anything so why even try?" And those attitudes cause demonstrable harm to our society which is why I am anti-theist.