[MidGe]

Why am I a "strong" atheist?

First, let me define what my disbelief is in. I strongly disbelieve in an O3 type god (omniscient, omnipotent and omni-benevolent god). If you are viewing a god with some limitation (ie cannot void logic, need evil to allow free will etc..) then I strongly disbelieve it as a god worthy of worship.


The first case, the O3 god is absolutely incompatible with what I see and experience in the world, specifically the suffering that seems to afflict all living animals. One of the omni has to give, either the god is not conscious of all, not capable of all, or not benevolent. If that is the case then the god falls in the second category and is definitely not worthy of worship. Now, he may be omni-potent and I may regret it for eternity, but I am not going to side with a monster regardless of his power. I guess during the nazi era there would have been people that would have submitted to pressure from Hitler's hordes and give away information about other people lifes to save their own or themselves from torture. I hope I would not have done so. If god exists as omnipotent and omniscient yet not benevolent, then I see it as mine, and every thinking human being, mission, to try to redeem him. And showing our disrespect or lack of worship is the only way I can conceive to do so, as well as acting "contra naturam" [ie against nature or natural inclinations].

Now some people regard the god question as merely what caused the big bang, or whatever the most remote time we can envisage, they need a first cause. To me, it is simple, either the big bang was an echo of another previous big bang (ad infinitum), or it was caused by a huge suck-in that went wrong, following the collapse of a previous big bang, or an infinite number of other possibilities. Again if it was a god, or a being that had been in existence forever, then I would have to say, maybe, but I would not attribute it intelligence, or at least not sufficient intelligence, to be an O3.

PS It is probably worth another thread, but I also think that a belief in a revealed religion is no guarantee of morality. The only certain morality must rest on an atheist position.