Of Delusions and Suffering fools

According to a link recently sent me by a frequenter of this blog, Pastor Mike is at it again, spreading his infernal delusions about atheists - what they want, what they're seeking, and why they sometimes shut down exchanges when the other side demonstrates an operational IQ not even at room temperature.

He complains for example (sound a lot like that fruitcake Charlotte Allen?):

"Be prepared for some mockery and ridicule. You’ll be told you’re stupid, an idiot, you're insane , demented , you need a frontal lobotomy , that you believe in mythology , and or a combination of them all , as well as a few choice descriptive adjectives . They’ve got it all figured out"

Actually, we don't have anything all figured out, not like the religious nabobs who base their day to day lives on absolute certainty. On believing every syllable in their KJV bible is engraved in stone for all time.

By contrast, the typical atheist fully embraces empirical science, and its standards of objectivity and successive approximation to truth - meaning one cannot grasp it all at once. What do we mean by successive approximations?

You have data, and accessory information which leads to some initial result which tests a particular hypothesis- call it 'x'. (Say, "solar flares' are caused by twisted magnetic fields in sunspots")


You then acquire better data (perhaps because of refined instruments, techniques - such as solar vector magnetograms which give the strength and direction of local magnetic fields ) and are led to a modified (improved) result such that: x (n+1) = x + P(x) where x(n +1) denotes an improvement via iteration, with P(x) the process (acting on x) that allows it.

In this case, the process may be the measurement of the local magnetic fields, yielding the magnetic gradient for example, e.g.: grad B = [+B_n - (-B_n)] / x

where the numerator denotes the difference in the measured normal components of the magnetic field (between opposite polarities of the active region) as measured by vector magnetograph and the denominator the scale separation between them.

If I calculate grad B = 0.1 Gauss/km then I know a flare is 96% probable within 24 hrs. - according to a bulk of empirical work by A. Severny and others. This could be interpreted as the "x(n +1)" enhancement of predictions noted above, to reinforce the hypothesis.

Later, more refined data become available (e.g. magnetograms at higher resolution), such that:

x(n + 2) = x(n + 1) + P'(x + 1)


and so on, and so on and so forth. Each x, x(n+1), x(n+2) etc. being a successive approximation to what the objective, genuine value should be.

Religions - by contrast- simply impose their truth ab initio by fiat or decree. There is no attempt whatever to incorporate any approximation. Or to even acknowledge that 'truth' can't be accessed all at once. Rather, one must set rational truth aside and succumb to ‘faith”.

This should not be surprising, because religions - like the beliefs they promulgate, are not based on anything empirically demonstrable, but on myths, legends scribbled by pre-scientific nomads thousands of years ago.

Like Ms. Allen, the Pastor is also exercised that atheists may dismiss believers as "stupid, an idiot, or demented" - but this is not a foregone conclusion. In other words, it depends largely on who the believers are and what those beliefs entail.

As an example, my religious (Christian) friend in Barbados is always read for an exchange or debate, but he brings logic and smarts to the table - not ignorance. He also possesses a catholic knowledge of religious history, as well as biblical textual analysis which puts him in good stead and renders him a worthy opponent.

Contrast this with a Christian orthodox numbskull who insists "Hell" is a real place and anyone who doesn't believe as he does is headed there. No surprise the atheist will dismiss such a person as an "idiot" or in need of certain cures or therapies. Now, IF this Christian were able to make a solid, logical and plausible case for Hell's existence (outside of his KJV) THEN the atheist might be inclined to hear him...but not otherwise.

Hence, it is a veritable strawman to argue or claim that "they can’t find God because first of all, they aren’t looking, and second they want to avoid Him" and that is why we "attack in milliseconds" on any net blog.

However, the REAL reason we attack is that Xtians of the "Pastor Mike" mold have not shown any ontology for their deity nor even necessary and sufficient conditions for its existence. If they don't even meet minimal criteria for realism, why take their claims seriously? I have been after Mike for donkey's years to give these, even one necessary or sufficient condition, but he's never provided them. Why then must I take his "God" as anything other than a psychotic embolism in his temporal lobes?

Most of the rest of the Pastor's comments are the usual codswallop so I will only address- in light of what I just wrote, his egregious assumption that if an atheist breaks off an exchange on a blog or net forum he is "taking his marbles and going home".

Not at all. What the atheist has actually done (on breaking off debate or discussion) is measured and assessed the intellectual heft and resources of his opponent(s) and likely found them minsucule or non-existent, hence not worth the effort of making continued rebuttals when the already provided ones have sailed serenely over the believers' heads.

This is what is called using one's head and not further "tossing pearls before swine" - according to one bible quote I seem to recall.

Maybe at some distant point the goodly Pastor (like Charlotte Allen) will finally get that, and realize atheists are really in the superior intelelctual and realist position because we have doubts and aren't afraid to express them, as opposed to incessant moral certitudes.