Objection!

Atheism requires as much faith as religion

Some religious people say:

“Being an atheist requires just as much faith as being religious. Science and evolution are just your beliefs, and are just as valid as my religious beliefs.”

OBJECTION!

This is just plain wrong.

If atheism is a religious belief, then ‘bald’ is a hair colour. Atheism is as much of a belief system as ‘non-stamp collecting’ is a hobby.

Atheists might say ‘I do not believe in Gods’. This is not a belief system. If it is, then saying ‘I do not believe in unicorns’ is also a belief system. How many belief systems do you believe in? Are you a-unicornist, a-toothfairyist and a-santaclausist? Clearly, the lack of belief in something is not based on faith but on lack of faith.

Science is faithless. The very definition of faith is:

“Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.”

This is the opposite of science. Science relies on logical and empirical evidence, and is based only on the current state of competing theories. Science is always subject to change, and changes in light of new observations.

Some religious people may see this as a weakness, saying that “Science is wishy-washy—always changing it’s mind when it realises it has made a mistake! Because of this, how can you trust anything science has to say?”.

It is because of this that science is much more reliable than any religion. Religions are often based on old books or long-standing traditions, and to make a change is very difficult because beliefs are not backed up by evidence.

If suddenly Christians decided to change their mind about God and say actually she is female, you would be right in thinking that they just made that up, and there is no reason to believe it. The only change that can happen in religion are different interpretations of the source material (religious texts) and this causes bickering (and wars).

But when scientists discover a change in an established theory, the only way this can be true is if it is confirmed by evidence or logic, and if it matches all the current evidence and data. It will be peer-reviewed by other scientists—checked and double-checked—until finally becoming established theory.

There is no faith involved in science—no single doctrine or ‘sacred’ ideas that cannot be disproved. Only evidence, logic and reasoning.