Atheism, Humanism, Sciencism—Just Another Religion?

As catastrophic events unfold millions of prayers dissipate into the stratosphere—and nothing. Absence of evidence is evidence of absence. It is not proof of absence, but in the spirit [sic] of consistency one would automatically conclude there is no God, just as you would conclude after seeking flaming elephorned jackals for 5000 years in Kentucky—or South Africa. Never seeing a non duplicatable unseen claim is plenty of evidence of non existence—unless of course there is an explainer close by.

If my atheism is a belief as I’ve been accused, is science too a belief system? I would effectively have two, no three belief systems. My atheism is not based on science, nor is my humanism based on atheism or science.

If religiosos are insistent that I believe (science you know, requires more faith than worshipping deities) then is ethics too, a belief system—and reason? Oh for gods sake!™️ I have five belief systems!

We have evidence of many things that are not true—

Consider a game of chance—a coin flip. If I flip a coin five times and get heads each time, is that proof the coin is two-headed? Of course not, but if I get heads 500 times I could safely conclude I have a two headed coin, no matter what another may say. Based on experience, 500 heads in a row would be evidence the coin has no tail

If I pray one time and get no answer, is that proof there are no gods answering prayers? Of course not, but if I pray 500 times a year for 40 years? That’s pretty good evidence there are no answers to prayers. How about the entire planet? Gods are either avoiding contact, or just not there. I’ll go with what actual experience tells me.

After 2000 years it is clear—and a million Olly Olly Oxen Frees gives me a million to none odds he’ll stay in hiding—or perhaps gods are myths. Or perhaps the catastrophe has a hidden meaning.

The Gullible Human

“It’s not that superstition and New Age so-called “beliefs” and fundamentalist zealotry are something new. They’ve been with us for as long as we’ve been human. But we [now] live in an age based on science and technology, with formidable technological powers”.

“We need a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility”.

“If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan political or religious who comes ambling along—Carl Sagan “A Way of Thinking”