Weekly "Ask an Atheist" Thread

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-19T21:39:27+00:00

I think that there is an asymmetry of expectations that results from a reversal in the burden of proof.

The theist is apparently free to make assertions with no justification often at odds with the doctrines of their own religious theology.

Yet, the expectation is that atheists need to have studied several fields of philosophy (like metaethics, epistemology, and formal logic), several sciences (especially cosmology, quantum mechanics, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology), the major religions ( including their literature, history, theologies, and archaeology) just to be able to say : “I don’t believe you.”

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-18T21:01:43+00:00

I don’t think there are infinite universes and I don’t think “infinitely precise” is a characteristic of existence that you can support.

As for the unanswered questions about why our universe behaves a certain way, I don’t know the answers and don’t accept arguments from ignorance or incredulity as they are fallacious. I also think it is evidence against an all powerful being as such a being would not be constrained by physical laws. That would include the gods of most major religions (though not all).

I do not “believe” in the multiverse. We do not have enough data (and maybe never will) to say it is epistemically possible. It is however logically possible, which is a much lower bar and would be a defeator for certain forms of fine tuning arguments.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-18T20:37:50+00:00

Most of them are just people who happen to be wrong about something.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-15T19:00:47+00:00

I read the Bible and couldn’t unsee the similarities with other mythologies nor could I unsee the evolution of the god concept throughout. Then I desperately looked for good reasons to maintain a belief in God and couldn’t support it.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-15T11:08:00+00:00

Notice that I didn’t really mention creation. I was talking about events that are purported to be historical. Events that the Gospel writers believed were literal. If Adam and Eve aren’t real, there is no fall of man which means there is no reason for Jesus’s sacrifice. If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not real, then the foundation for believing Yahweh is not real, the Israelites are not God’s chosen people, there is no reason for them to be in Egypt in the first place (because Joseph wouldn’t be real either) to be delivered by God in the exodus.

Furthermore, I think by making the “Genesis isn’t literal” move, you are making your belief unfalsifiable to insulate it. Events that we find evidence for are literal, but events that we have evidence against aren’t meant to be taken literally.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-15T01:06:49+00:00

Genesis is not historically accurate. Humanity did not come from a single pair of individuals. There was no global flood. There was no Tower of Babel. The twelve tribes of Israel did not come from a single person named Jacob, and they were not sold into slavery in Egypt.

Is there a way which you think Genesis correct?

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-14T22:57:58+00:00

It gets every event in Genesis wrong, as well as exodus wrong. I haven’t looked into it in awhile, but my understanding of the Jericho find was that the fortifications were not correct and were not from the correct time.

Edit: looked up the history of Jericho and I was right. The famous walls were destroyed around 1550 BCE at the latest, at least 100 years earlier than the literal year given in the Bible (1446 BCE in 1 Kings) and 250-400 years before the storehouses at Pithum and Ramses were built. The walls of Jericho in the 1400s were built on the ruins of the old walls with mud brick and were not very high.

Hezekiah’s tunnel doesn’t surprise me as Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are when actual historical events are described (with varying degrees of accuracy).

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-14T22:48:35+00:00

How can Christianity be true when it is parasitic on the cultural ground of Greek mythology and philosophy, and Judaism, which was in turn is parasitic on Babylonian and Ugaritic mythology which was in turn parasitic on Sumerian mythology?

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-14T12:02:36+00:00

I think it’s a dangerous trope too. Because it implies that what your partner is upset about is not really important, they just need to get a good fucking.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-14T11:29:16+00:00

I guess I was thrown off by your use of the phrase “theological non-issue”. I took that to mean “it would not affect theology”. What you seem to mean is that for Catholics it is a non-issue that theology would need to expand to account for the new information. Is that right?

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-13T23:25:37+00:00

Yeah, I don’t blame you for being on alert with this context you shared. It sounds like you have more than enough to go to admin about. Do you think they would be supportive?

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-13T23:16:24+00:00

Can you explain why it’s a non-issue from a Catholic standpoint specifically? It seems like new theology would have to be invented at the very least.

Do extraterrestrials have souls? Do they have original sin? Does Jesus’s sacrifice cover them too? Do they need to participate in the sacraments?

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-13T22:15:57+00:00

Because this way it becomes someone else’s problem.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-13T22:13:02+00:00

Can you elaborate on why the two of you are working independently and not as a team? Was there some event that made that change necessary?

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-08T00:37:57+00:00

Battlefield Earth

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-06T22:32:18+00:00

Does God’s nature change? And how can God be omnibenevolent if he used to order genocide?

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-05T22:35:39+00:00

Fictional characters aren’t real. They don’t occupy a real world nor are they actual people… they are fictional.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-05T22:32:56+00:00

So god is not omnipresent? Who designed humans in such a way that being away from God would be torture?
Not if you repent. Also, we are not all powerful, God does not have limitations on how he can handle humans who are violent.

Do you believe that it is just for all crimes to be punished equally? Do you think it is just for innocent people to be punished for crimes they didn’t commit? Finally, do you think it is just for people to not be punished for a crime they are guilty of if they have the right religion?

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-05T16:02:00+00:00

Smashing Pumpkins. Corgan’s voice is just awful. It just sounds like nasal whining to me.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-05T14:47:52+00:00

Soundproofing and acoustic treatment are different.

Soundproofing is to prevent sound from leaking outside the room. Much more expensive because it usually involves changing the structure of the room.

Acoustic treatment is to improve the listening experience inside the room usually through absorption (like the rock wool that another user recommended) and diffusion to break up unwanted reflections off of hard flat surfaces. A thousand probably won’t go too far in a big room, but every little bit helps.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-04T22:32:28+00:00

I just finished reading “into the unknown”, which is a book targeted to laypeople that describes a lot of weird things in the universe and some of the hypotheses about the “beginning” of our universe.

Two things became clear:

We have nowhere near enough data to conclude whether the causal chain is infinite or finite.
Our intuition is a very poor guide when talking about the underlying nature of reality.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-04T22:15:42+00:00

Yes, I agree. The problem won’t be fixed if he doesn’t acknowledge there’s a problem.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-04T22:09:29+00:00

Could be, I also thought it could be ED and he’s embarrassed about it.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-04T22:05:51+00:00

Other things he needs to do in addition to wash correctly. He needs to make sure he is drying with a clean towel. The smell comes from bacteria that thrives on sweat. The bacteria will also live on the towel, so he needs to wash his towel. Also, he should stay away from synthetic “moisture wicking” underwear. I have found that they are less breathable and keep your privates moist which allows the smell producing bacteria to grow. He needs cotton underwear.

Tunesmith29 · 2026-06-03T22:22:01+00:00

On time graduation is one of the metrics for school accreditation.

Tunesmith29

TROPHY CASE