This is concluding part of the article on Atheism derived from Vedic knowledge on line.
Defensive Atheism
Many sophisticated atheists today are fully aware of the philosophical pitfalls connected to offensive or dogmatic atheism. Prominent atheists such as Gordon Stein and Carl Sagan have admitted that God's existence cannot be disproved. This has led such atheists to advocate skeptical 'defensive atheism'. Defensive atheism asserts that while God's existence cannot be logically or empirically disproved, it is nevertheless unproven.
Atheists of this variety have actually redefined atheism to mean 'an absence of belief in God' rather than 'a denial of God's existence'. For this more moderate type of atheism, the concept of 'God' is like that of a unicorn, leprechaun, or elf. While they cannot be disproved, they remain unproven. Defensive atheism's unbelief is grounded in the rejection of the proofs for God's existence, and/or the belief that the concept of God lacks logical consistency.
An appropriate rejoinder at this point is that defensive atheism is using a stipulative or nonstandard definition for the word atheism. Paul Edwards, a prominent atheist and editor of The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, defines an atheist as 'a person who maintains that there is no God'. Atheism therefore implies a denial of God's existence, not just an absence of belief. It should also be stated that defensive atheism's absence of belief sounds very similar to agnosticism (which professes inability to determine whether God exists). The theist should ask the defensive atheist to show just how his (or her) atheism differs from agnosticism. Does he know or not know that there is no God?
The Inadequacy of Atheism
Whether offensive or defensive, there are a number of reasons why atheism is inadequate as a rational world-view. First, atheism cannot adequately explain the existence of the world. Like all things, the world in which we live cries out for an explanation. The atheist, however, is unable to provide a consistent one. If he argues that the world is eternal, then he is going against modern science which states that the universe had a beginning and is gradually running down. If the atheist affirms that the universe had a beginning, then he must account for what caused it (which of the remaining tattvas - jiva, prakriti, kala or karma?). Either way, the atheist cannot adequately explain the world.
Second, the atheistic world-view is irrational and cannot provide an adequate basis for intelligible experience. An atheistic world is ultimately random, disorderly, transitive, and volatile. It is therefore incapable of providing the necessary preconditions to account for the laws of science, the universal laws of logic, and the human need for absolute moral standards. In short, it cannot account for the meaningful realities we encounter in life.
The theistic world-view, however, can explain these transcendental aspects of life. The uniformity of nature stems from God's orderly design of the universe. The laws of logic are a reflection of the way God Himself thinks, and would have us to think as well.
Let us now examine a way in which the theist can offer evidence for God's existence, thus illustrating the rationality of theism.
Cosmological Argument
Nearly everyone, at least in their more reflective moments, has asked some simple but deep-seated questions such as: Where did the world come from? Why is there something rather than nothing? How did the world come into existence? The asking of these elementary but profound questions has led to the formulation of a popular argument for God's existence known as the 'cosmological argument'. It derives its name from the word kosmos, the Greek word for world. While there are several variations of the argument, the basic point is that God is the only adequate explanation for the world's existence. This argument was first formulated by the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Its most famous presentation was given by the medieval Christian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas.
Just how do we account for the universe? How do we explain the existence of the world? Logically speaking, there are only a few options and only one of them is rationally acceptable.
Our starting point in discussing the world is to assume that a real world of time and space does in fact exist. There are some who would dispute this assumption, arguing rather that the universe is simply an illusion. However, most atheists, being materialists who believe that all reality is ultimately matter and energy, will be willing to accept this starting point. (If the world was an illusion, there would be no good reason to believe that we would all perceive the world even remotely the same way. But we do, generally speaking, experience the world the same way and can even make accurate predictions [science].)
How do we account for this real world? The first option is that the world somehow caused or created itself. This, however, is an irrational conclusion. For something to create itself, it would have to exist before it was created, and that is completely absurd. Something cannot both exist and not exist at the same time and in the same way. Concluding that the world created or caused itself is simply not a rationally acceptable alternative.
A second suggested explanation is that the universe came from nothing by nothing. Some atheists do, in fact, argue this way. This, however, is also irrational because something cannot be derived from nothingness. An effect cannot be greater than its cause - and in this case the cause would be nothing. One of the basic laws of physics is expressed by the Latin phrase ex nihilo, nihil fit, 'from nothing, nothing comes'. It's a tremendous leap of faith to believe that the world emerged from nothing. Remind the atheist that he is not supposed to have any faith.
Our third option is that the universe is simply eternal. It has just always been here. This alternative, however, is also doomed to failure. First, the world that we live in shows signs that it is contingent (dependent for its continued existence on something outside itself, ultimately something uncaused and absolute). The fact is, no single element in the universe contains the explanation for its existence. Therefore this chain of contingencies we call the world necessitates the existence of a noncontingent or absolute ground of being.
Further, the concept of an eternal universe directly contradicts the prevailing view of contemporary science which teaches that the universe had a specific beginning (Big Bang) a finite period of time ago. Worse still, it contradicts the scientific fact that the world is gradually running out of available energy (Second Law of Thermodynamics). If the universe was always in existence (i.e., eternal), it would have already run down. Additionally, if the universe was eternal, then it would have an infinite past (i.e., an infinite number of days, weeks, months, years, etc.). This, however, leads to a logical contradiction. By definition one can never reach the end of an infinite period of time; nevertheless, we have arrived at today, which completes or traverses the so-called infinite past. These points make an eternal universe theory scientifically and philosophically untenable.
Seeing that these other alternatives have failed, the only truly rational alternative is that the universe was caused by an entity outside space and time that is by definition uncaused and ultimate. And, because this Being created other beings who possess personality, He must also be a person (the effect cannot be greater than the cause).
This argument brings the atheist to the idea of a deity with many theistic attributes. It does illustrate that theism is rational and in this case the only rational alternative in explaining the universe.
Quotes Against Evolutionism and about Atheism
Spontaneous generation of a living cell is as improbable as a tornado building a Boeing 747. (Sir Fred Hoyle)
Through the use and abuse of hidden postulates, of bold, often ill-founded extrapolations, a pseudoscience has been created. It is taking root in the very heart of biology and is leading astray many biochemists and biologists who sincerely believe that the accuracy of fundamental concepts has been demonstrated which is not the case. (Pierre Grasse, 'The Evolution of Living Organisms')
Paleontology is now looking at what it actually finds, not what it is told that it is supposed to find. As is now well known, most fossil species appear instantaneously in the record, persist for some millions of years virtually unchanged, only to disappear abruptly... Instead of finding the gradual unfolding of life, what geologists of Darwin's time and geologists of the present day actually find is a highly uneven or jerky record; that is, species appear in the sequence very suddenly, show little or no change during their existence in the record, then abruptly go out of the record. (T. Kemp, curator of the University Museum, Oxford)
Ultimately the Darwinian theory of evolution is no more nor less than the great cosmological myth of the 20th century. Like the Genesis-based cosmology which it replaced, and like the creation myths of ancient man, it satisfies the same deep psychological need for an all-embracing explanation for the origin of the world... (Michael Denton, biologist and physician, 'Evolution: A Theory in Crisis')
A large number of well-trained scientists outside of evolutionary biology and paleontology have unfortunately gotten the idea that the fossil record is far more Darwinian than it is. This probably comes from the oversimplification inevitable in secondary sources: low-level textbooks, semi-popular articles and so on. Also there is probably some wishful thinking involved. In the years after Darwin, his advocates hoped to find predictable progressions. In general, these have not been found - yet the optimism has died hard and some pure fantasy has crept into textbooks. (David Raup, paleontologist)
Not one of the scientists quoted above, is a creationist or advocate of the Genesis theory or, so far as known, even religious. But evolution is a myth. This myth is pushed off on the public in popular articles and textbooks as if it were scientific fact.
To say that a man is made up of certain chemical elements is a satisfactory description only for those who intend to use him as fertilizer. (Herbert Muller)
An atheist is a man who believes himself an accident. (Francis Thompson)
Among the repulsions of atheism for me has been its drastic uninterestingness as an intellectual position. Where was the ingenuity, the ambiguity, the humanity (in the Harvard sense) of saying that the universe just happened to happen and that when we’re dead we’re dead? (John Updike)
We find the most terrible form of atheism, not in the militant and passionate struggle against the idea of God himself, but in the practical atheism of everyday living, in indifference and torpor. We often encounter these forms of atheism among those who are formally Christians. (Nicolai A. Berdyaev)
A dead atheist is someone who's all dressed up with no place to go. (James Duffecy, NY Times 21 Aug 1964)
vairanubandha etavan
amrtyor iha dehinam
ajnana-prabhavo manyur
aham-manopabrmhitah
Hiranyakasipu's anger against Lord Visnu persisted until his death. Other people in the bodily concept of life maintain anger only because of false ego and the great influence of ignorance. (SB 8.19.13)
"Those who preach ignorance pass through darkness. Those who are false witnesses, liars and deceitful obtain death unconsciously, just as those who abuse the Vedas." (Garuda Purana 2.2.50-51)
Appearances of God in history
All spiritual traditions, from nature worship to monotheism, mention appearances of higher beings including God and there is a pattern which fits the Vedic system (see
Connections among spiritual traditions). Examples when God appeared "in public":
- accounts in Vedic scriptures
- accounts in Bible
An interesting Biblical account appears in the Second Book of Maccabees: God appeared as a rider (Kalki?) and two young beautiful boys (Krishna/Balarama?), punishing Heliodorus sent to loot the Jerusalem temple. See
Heliodorus and Vaishnava-Jewish connection
- as Nrsimha, protecting Adi Shankaracharya while killing a Kali worshiper who wanted to sacrifice him (see biographies of Adi Shankaracharya). There are many similar accounts of Nrsimhadeva since
He appears to protect His devotees.
- as Shiva (from the Vaishnava point of view he is a special expansion of God, not God Himself), saving Colonel Martin during a battle in Afghanistan due to prayers of his wife,
Lady Martin. There are many other accounts from lives of devotees (like Shiva and Devi appearing to Ramanujacharya).
- Other devas appear even more frequently, esp. Devi in her many forms like Durga, Mother Mary, etc, while many witnesses describe the same form and related phenomena.
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