Answer to Questions about Atheism asked Frequently on CafeMom

Index by Part

• Atheism FAQ (01/23)
• Atheism FAQ (02/23)
• Atheism FAQ (03/23)
• Atheism FAQ (04/23)
• Atheism FAQ (05/23)
• Atheism FAQ (06/23)
• Atheism FAQ (07/23)
• Atheism FAQ (08/23)
• Atheism FAQ (09/23)
• Atheism FAQ (10/23)
• Atheism FAQ (11/23)
• Atheism FAQ (12/23)
• Atheism FAQ (13/23)
• Atheism FAQ (14/23)
• Atheism FAQ (15/23)
• Atheism FAQ (16/23)
• Atheism FAQ (17/23)
• Atheism FAQ (18/23)
• Atheism FAQ (19/23)
• Atheism FAQ (20/23)
• Atheism FAQ (21/23)
• Atheism FAQ (22/23)
• Atheism FAQ (23/23)

Index by Topic

Definitions

(01) : belief, rationalist, faith, skeptic, agnostic, atheist, anti-religious

(06) : fact, hypothesis, theory, predictive power, explanatory power, world-view, incommensurable

(07) : etiology, cosmology, eschatology, epistemology, philosophy, praxeology

(08) : reliability, science, published, scientific community

(09) : reciprocity, Golden Rule, Silver Rule, liberty, rights, social contract, secular

(21) : simplicity, complexity, black box, hidden complexity, ad hoc, Occam's Razor, faith, critical thinking

(22) : burden of proof

Resources

(03) : quotes by atheists, books by atheists, videos by atheists

Motives, Misunderstandings and Misconceptions

(02) : Are atheists witches, satanists, nazis, communists, stupid, immoral, part of an evil global conspiracy to indoctrinate your children or just nasty people that you are justified in worrying about?

(02) : What should I do if I am religious and my child has comes out to me as being an atheist?

(03) : What do others say about Atheism?

(04) : Why do Atheists post about Atheism?

(23) : Who wrote this FAQ?

(04) : Why did you write this FAQ?

(23) : Can I repost this FAQ elsehwere?

(04) : Why, rather than just talking about positive aspects of Atheism, does this FAQ also talk about negative aspect of religion, ra

(05) : Are you trying to convert me?

(06) : Then why ask me to entertain doubts?

World-views

Christian

(07) : etiology, cosmology, eschatology, epistemology, philosophy, praxeology

Atheist

(08) : etiology, cosmology, eschatology, epistemology, philosophy

(09) : praxeology

(17) : Atheist views about what evil is and why (or whether) it exists

Christian view of Atheism

(10) : general

(05) : Ten of the standard Christian arguments against Atheism

Atheist view of Christianity

Origins of modern Christianity

(10) : What are the adaptive advantages of religiosity?

(10) : How do religions evolve?

(11) : What is the evolutionary history of ancient Judaism?

(11) : What is the evolutionary history of modern Christianity?

Attractions of modern Christianity

(12) : infect, grow, adapt, spread

Flaws of modern Christianity

1. Failures of consistency

(13) : 1A. in descriptions of the same physical thing or sequence of events

(13) : 1B. between attributes, motives, values, rules and actions

(13) : 1C. between the Bible, prophecies and history

(13) : 1D. between the Bible and science (Biology, Astronomy, Geology, Physics)

(13) : 1E. between the Christian narrative and common sense

(14) : 1Ei. Choice of miracles

(14) : 1Eii. Divine Hiddenness

2. Failures of theory

(15) : 2.1.1 good is whatever God defines it as

(16) : 2.1.2 God is good enough, we shouldn't expect him to be any better

(16) : 2.1.3 God isn't all-powerful

(17) : 2.1.4 Good is mysterious

(18) : 2.1.5 God is mysterious

(18) : 2.1.6 freewill wouldn't be meaniful if we couldn't do anything that's evil

(18) : 2.2 Summary

3. Failures of practice

(19) : war, science, equality

(20) : churches, pregnant teens, divorce, prisons

4. Failures of complexity

(21) : How simple is the God hypothesis?

(22) : Story Logic

(22) : The Final Drawback