On the "Logic" of Disbelief

• How can anyone claim to be an Atheist - claim to know there is not a God while denying the believers' claim to know there is...?

• Why do the disbelievers pretend that the bad responses are the "Call?" Isn't the real question not whether the results were bad, but "is it - the Call - true" (C. S. Lewis)? Hmmm... do they set the same standards for themselves? Do the general responses to life of disbelievers count as reflecting badly on disbelief?

• And why do disbelievers ignore the good responses? ...How does one dismiss what propels people to sacrifice their time, their worldly goods, their comfort, even their lives for others? ...what makes humans able to do seemingly miraculous things (E.G. Mother Teresa)? How can anyone dismiss what has evoked such extraordinary generosity? And what about the art/literature produced by believers - such creativity? Do the disbelievers actually think they understand religious culture if they don't study religion?????

• Why do any disbelievers equate its extreme side with every faith, especially the Muslim? Surely it's not because this sells their books or makes arguing their side easier... either of which would be dishonest if not actually malfeasing ....But wait... what can honesty or honor possibly mean if there is no God...? Where actually is the "bottom line" if everyone decides for themselves about morality? Nietzsche understood this horror, but does this era's crop of disbelievers understand at all?

• Why won’t doubters admit the scientific advances that had their genesis in religion and which now point so strongly to a theistic explanation for life? And how about the "Big Bang" theory which was first described by St. Augustine of Hippo early in the 5th Century, then formally proposed by a 20th Century Jesuit, and which now is the only space which makes life possible. And where did the original ingredients of the Big Bang come from anyway - LET ALONE LIFE (oh... from non-life… clearly...)? Why has there never been a single signal of any sort from outer space if life can just appear? And why are there so many scientist-believers? How can there be any if disbelief is so logical? And where is evolution headed - what/where is its end? I wonder why most historians now teach that the dichotomy between science and religion is: a) A product of the 20th Century, and B) wildly exaggerated...on BOTH sides?

* How is it that disbelievers have such stringent requirements, especially about timing, for faith and for God (...both of which they deny), which requirements are then declared as having been unmet? Why should it not be that real faith is a very long term, joint enterprise of people with God, and that having depicted the timing in one of the creation stories naively by today's standards but which nonetheless resulted in the World history-changing acceptance of a Sabbath, and depicted the timing for the Second Coming obscurely - unless, of course it was the Resurrection, in which case everything said about it in the Bible is correct?? 2nd coming??... HEY... maybe we're ahead? Perhaps the real timing actually is what we are observing? Perhaps we have a long wait ahead still for everyone in this joint enterprise...?

* And speaking of the "Resurrection": How many events in ancient history have a first hand account of them, in this case repeated letters describing an encounter with someone after his crucifixion by the one who had been up to that moment the mortal enemy of his followers (Saul/Paul), and who AFTER THE ENCOUNTER BECAME THE APOSTLE TO THE WHOLE NON-JEWISH WORLD AND WILLINGLY DIED FOR HIS BELIEF? And how do you explain that the followers of Jesus, unlike any of the other sets of followers of the many other prophets/zealots of that period, went from being terrified and in hiding to coming out even in the face of mortal danger to themselves and converted people all over the known World with their story of this Resurrection and the example of their amazingly changed lives?

• How can there not be something "other"… if every person who ever lived has felt the urge to believe? How can such consistency be explained by randomness?

* How do they explain the existence and importance to this day (~4,000 years later) of the Jews, one of the tiniest, most disadvantaged peoples ever to appear on Earth - who had nothing but their God?

* And explain their God-given Sabbath - the first ever proclamation of the absolute equality of every human being - the equal requirement for every living person (…male/female…slave/free) that they - being equally God's creation - observe the Sabbath.

• How is disbelief, just as with belief, not a preference? ...not something cultivated?

• How is belief weakness when belief requires sacrifice and ongoing effort and disbelief nothing at all - least of all consistency?

• If the problem of evil is the greatest one for believers, how is the problem of good not fatal for disbelief?

• How can anyone, especially every doubter, not study religion in depth? How can they not seek to understand deeply that subject on which more thought and effort and creativity have been expended than on any other in the history of the World? ...on that which has had more influence by far? Even if there isn’t a God, isn't finding out all you can about belief nonetheless essential for your educational and cultural credibility, and if there is a God, then isn't finding out about belief of supreme importance?

* For all those who can admit that you have felt something other "out there" and especially those who think of yourselves as spiritual, what you are missing by not being part of a religious practice is exactly this: No one with whom to debate the specifics; no reminder of the bottom line; no call to learn more; no extra consolation; and no Company along The Way.

* And, finally, why don’t the doubter/disbelievers try to find out from people who are walking-the-walk why they do it? The real answer is, actually, that once you’ve truly heard the Call you can’t not do it. But, for the disbelievers, let me include some of my own story in case it might help:
I was raised quite strictly in the Church, got confirmed which I took very seriously, and when I could see an opportunity to serve I did. I worked with the poor and the mentally ill, brought my children to Church, took every chance I could to do Bible study, and gave alms – the more usual stuff. Then I encountered some evangelists and became willing for the first time to talk about my faith and to encourage (not pressure) others to do so too – a big, big step forward for one of “God’s frozen people” (a 50’s Episcopalian). This enlarged my view of what I was meant to do incredibly. Now I continue to study and meet with other believers, but I also pray far more, give away everything I possibly can, and evangelize, and I serve others, especially the poor, and I have never been more sure or contented. I’m not, by the way, doing this for a ticket to Heaven, in which I have very little interest since I cannot know what it is ...only have faith. My walk is not about personal credits for the afterlife but about living the life I was meant to in God’s kingdom here on Earth and about never being alone. To quote St. Teresa of Avila: "the feeling remains that God is on the journey too."