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| αθεοι ("those who are without god") |
Often times when I meet an atheist and we talk about the god they don't believe in, we quickly discover that I don't believe in that god either. --Rob BellI don't know who Rob Bell is, but this comment bugs me for two reasons.
First, the implication is offensively presumptuous. Bell implies that atheists haven't thought the problem through. But the atheist places the burden on Bell. The atheist wants to know why Bell's god holds a special place. You can't tell from the quote, but the answer is either that its because of Bell's faith or because of some experience personal to him. Either way, he presents no independently verifiable proof. Instead, no conclusion about the existence of Bell's god can be drawn from checking one god of the list of those worth not believing in.
Second, the reverse implication should be made and Bell's own faith should be questioned. Its the reverse side of the same coin. If Bell can so readily dismiss other gods just because his faith does not encompass them, then others deserve the right to dismiss his god based on nothing more than opinion. Thus, Bell is not doing a very good job defending his faith which makes me wonder if he really believes in god at all.
The reverse of Bell's quotation is this:
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. --Stephen RobertsBell's not really understanding why he's so dismissive of other gods, but must do so to maintain his belief system. And frankly, if he wants to blind himself in that way, I have no troubles with that. But when he starts to put his presumptions onto me, then I get to have a say. I say: atheists come out! We need some critical thinking and reason!
