Questions for the Atheist

The focus on Christianity is really very simple. It is the predominant religious ideology of the US. It is by no means the worst, but it is certainly the most influential. Also, Christianity is what many atheists know, either from a societal expression or through first-hand experience.

'creation science?......that has to be an oxymoron! :)

"If you don't believe in magic, why do you protest when we burn witches?"

"Abiogenesis: I want to hear a legitimate explanation for how this could have happened" Apparently you don't want it badly enough to spend 5 minutes reading Wikipedia.

Honest answers for honest questions: 1) Why do you spend so much time talking about Christianity if you don't believe in God? First, talking about and attacking Christianity and/or Christians is not the same as attacking God. One can despise the religion without thinking the religion or the gods proposed by that religion are real. Second, atheists on youtube don't just focus on Christians and Christianity. This is a false perception. Darkmatter2525 has multiple videos talking about and making fun of Islam. Martymer81 has an entire series dedicated to making fun of New Agers. Philhellenes has multiple videos debunking Quranic "miracles." Third, youtube is a first world phenomenon. What is the primary religion of first world countries? Christianity. Part of the reason why you see content aimed at Christianity more often than the others is simply due to population ratios. Fourth, you need to consider the prominent religion of those who are pushing for legislation in a secular nation based upon their religious beliefs. Who is pushing for Creationism to be taught in science classrooms? Christians. Who is pushing for laws based on, "Because God says it's wrong," or, "Because God defined marriage this way?" Christians. The target of attention will of course fall on the religion that is overstepping its bounds. 2) If Christianity is a control mechanism for the masses, why it is not supported on mass media? I can first say that I am not of the camp that Christianity's origins rest in a desire to control people. It is demonstrable, however, that people have used, and continue to use, Christianity to control the masses in some situations, and they actually use the "Don't listen to mass media because it is all lies" in order to keep their view dominant within their small community. Yes, it is hard in the information age for a religion to remain dominant on the larger population scales. I cannot provide much more of an answer than that since the question is based upon a group of atheists of which I am not a part. 3) Why is Christianity always one of the first things to be banned by a suppressive government (e.g. China)? I'm not familiar with the details of China's atheistic regime. I cannot comment intelligently on the specific matter of China's practices regarding Christianity. Challenge 1: Abiogenesis hypothesis. Why give this to evolutionists? It's completely irrelevant to evolution since evolution deals with how life diversifies, not how it began. If a god created all of the original forms, evolution is still true because it describes how that life diversifies over time. If aliens seeded the planet with life early on, evolution is still true because it describes how life diversifies over time. If life emerged through some biochemical process, evolution is still true because it describes how life diversifies over time. Why is your first challenge to evolutionists a complete red herring? Challenge 2: Formation of Stars and Planets Again, a red herring, as evolution deals with biodiversity, not planet and star formation. I look forward to a challenge that actually deals with evolution instead of this wandering off topic. However, we have watched star formation and planet formation take place in accordance with the nebular hypothesis. We've directly made observations backing up these ideas. Considering that you confuse star and planet formation with evolution, I humbly suggest you get your science information from non-creationist sources, as the concentration of lies and misinformation about science in those sources tends to be high. Challenge 3: Why don't we have predator teeth from having a raw meat diet? Firstly, we do have teeth that do just fine at cutting the meat we consume. They are called the incisors and canines. The word "Canines" is part of the dead give away regarding their function. Second, meat has never been the primary source of nutrition for human beings. It has been part of our diet, but grains and other plant-life have always been the primary food source. This is why our mouth also contains the molars which are very good at grinding and ground plant matter. Third, humans are omnivorous, meaning out diet is mixed. If you look at the bone and teeth structure of a cow, a human, and a lion lined up, you will see that the cow has no incisors nor canines while the lion has mostly incisors and canines and very few molars. Humans, being a creature that consumes both plants and meat, have a little bit of both. Your question seems based on a faulty premise. Challenge 4: If we came from monkeys, why are monkeys better at some things, like disease immunity, than we are? First, we didn't evolve from any monkey species alive today, so comparing us to our primate cousins does not help your case. Second, diseases is the second most common cause of death for gorillas, accounting for over 20% of all deaths, and is only behind trauma-induced harm (injuries from fights, accidents, snares, etc.). Third, your idea that our monkey cousins are immune to lots of diseases is false. It may be true that monkeys are immune to many human diseases, but that's because diseases specialize to harm only one species in most instances. Just as monkeys are immune to most human diseases, some diseases that affect our monkey cousins would never harm a human. Fourth, evolutionary advantage is not a one-size-fits-all sort of thing. Body size is very advantageous if you are a walrus who needs to compete through their equivalent of sumo wrestling in order to mate, but body size to the extreme is not helpful to a spider monkey that lives by swinging through the trees. Each species, instead, moves into a niche that gives them an advantage in their particular environment. This is why if the environment changes too much too rapidly, you get mass extinctions.

3 things you should avoid until you learn at least a little about them: • Evolution • Abiogenesis • Atheism

I am waiting for theists to tell me something that has explanatory power. I accept evolution, because there is evidence, that when treated least magically with, makes evolution a good explanation for the state of current living beings. But i am aware, that evolution is seperate from abiogenesis. And i am aware, that evolution does neither explain me being here, nor why i am a human. And there are still unexplained things like: How and when did moving unaware beings become aware. Your bible: quote: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. What a terrible phrasing: Faith is an attitude, not a substance. Faith just gives evidence for beliefs and therefore a mental state. But that mental state just tells me, that someone can imagine unicorns. As such this kind of evidence is not informing. You need stronger evidence. Let us ask: Does nature hold your future? You don't know. But you can come up with reasons to say yes or no. Now, whatever your answer is: your faith in your answer is shown by living a consistent life. But your bible maybe does not mean personal faith, but the creed. That creed is neither an attitude nor a substance, but an ideology. Once the central tenets of a creed have been shown to be false, that creed is no more an option for faith. But people with no faith at all may still group to a creed, since they do not do their own work.

... a bunch of rhetorical(ish) questions for atheists to answer? Sure, why not, its been a while... Before I start on the questions 1 thing... Using the term "evolutionist" immediately gives the impression that you are a fool and that you neither understand the topic nor care to. Just a tip for you moving forward. 1) Why focus on Christianity? - An excellent question with a simple answer. Most of us live in the West (Europe and America) so Christianity is both what we grew up with and what we encounter most often. It has the greatest impact on our lives currently. Islam, while worse in many ways, doesn't affect us as often. 1a) Why argue about something we don't believe in? - Because other people do believe it, and because that belief is used by them in their decision making process and those decisions can, and often do, affect our lives. We worry about it because people that base their lives around it affect our lives. Politicians are elected because of it, laws are made based on ideas from it, people are harmed because of beliefs that are part of it. If people didn't do harm because of religious beliefs then no one would care about those beliefs. You are an excellent example of what I am talking about. Your religious beliefs is likely what lead you to your ignorance and dishonesty in regards to topics like religion and science that you display in this video. (side note: your use of dishonest quote mining and poisoning the well sorts of statements diminishes your credibility severely) (2nd side note: pointless tangent about what the bible says is pointless... the people you are pretending to be reaching out to don't care what your bible says) 2) If the bible is a control tool, why is it not propagated by mass media? - It is. - Also, when it was first adopted en mass, especially in medieval Europe it was used far, far more as a control than it is nowadays. 2a) Why is Christianity always one of the first things to be banned by oppressive government? - Its not. - It is often the biggest religion around. So if people are going to attack religion, then its the logical place to start. (ie China) - In America, Christianity has had a privileged position for over 100 years. Modern "Christian persecution" in America is usually just the removal of that privilege. (side note 3: you have been going on and on and making this video longer than it needs to be.) ... wait... that was it? 2 questions? That's all? ... ... ... wow... Macro-evolution hasn't been proven false... Abiogenesis has nothing to do with, and is not part of the theory of evolution... Amino acids, RNA and lipid membranes all self assemble under proper conditions... conditions that were possible, and likely, on an early earth. Ta-da, an explanation for how abiogenesis is possible. If you've never heard a reasonable explanation, other than magic, then you haven't been honestly looking at the studies. There is no "magic" in any of the explanations that have been put forward. The origin of planets and stars has nothing to do with the theory of evolution either... so... you already know one of the main ideas about formation of planets and stars... but you don't like it... so it's wrong? ... because you are ignorant... If evolution is true, then why didn't the millions of years of eating raw meat give us predator teeth? - Wait... you're serious? ... because we aren't predators, we're omnivores... so we have omnivore teeth... ... how... wha... why is this even a question?... You haven't presented ANY problems with the theory of evolution... you have attacked OTHER ideas and made claims about them based on your ignorance and dislike of them, and then asked a question that is so nonsensical that it makes my head hurt... but you haven't said anything about evolution or demonstrated why evolution is false. If we came from monkeys ... we didn't. We share a common ancestor with monkeys ... and we "evolved", we're supposed to be getting better and better ... that's not how evolution works or what it does ... why are we not immune to all the diseases that primates are immune to? - Because we haven't been exposed to those diseases enough to develop immunizes. ... ... all primates are effected by diseases... humans are stronger, faster, smarter, and have far more endurance while running than the vast majority of primates... all if you are looking only at running speed and endurance, or intelligence... You are profoundly, and willfully ignorant of even the most basic fundamentals of the theory of evolution and biology... Your ignorance is not an argument against evolution.

Here is why we fight: Jennifer Cisowski, 2001: Florida mother who killed her baby. "Jennifer Cisowski's statements, along with prosecutors' statements and court documents,tell the story of a morning fraught with biblical references, feared demonic possession and pleas for exorcism that ended in death." Deanna Laney, 2004: "A Texas woman who stoned two of her children to death and seriously injured a third on Mother's Day last year told psychiatrists she was driven to kill by a message from God and that she was sure they would rise again from the dead. Tammi Estep, 2012: She stabbed her husband and said she did it after, “Jesus and Mary told me to kill him because he is Satan’s spawn!” according to a police report. Joseph H. Hagerman, 2009: A Virginia man diagnosed with schizophrenia told reporters that he cut his 5-year-old son's head off to save him from the anti-Christ. Victoria Soliz, 2014: arrested after she allegedly tried to drown her 3-year-old son in a puddle, claiming Jesus Christ advised her to do it. Marie J Chishahayo, 2015, Kansas City Mo. Allowed her son to kill one younger sister and severly burn another because "God told him to." Russel Brown, 2013, VA: Shot and killed a state trooper because God told him to. Boyce Singleton Jr., 2005, NJ: shot and stabbed his pregnant girlfriend to death because 'God was telling him to." Adam Hously, 2017, MO: Purposely rammed his semi into a stopped vehicle, killing both occupants. Said "God told him to." Gwen Hendricks, Dec. 1, 2000 - Castle Rock, CO: Killed her husband because "God told her to." Dalton Danelle, St. Maarten, 2013: Broke into a house and brutally killed a sleeping infant because "God told him to." LaShaun Harris, San Fransisco, 2006: killed her three kids by throwing them off a bridge into the bay. Said God told her to make a human sacrifice. Peter Sutcliffe, a.k.a. “The Yorkshire Ripper,” used a ball-pein hammer to knock out victims before slashing them with a knife. He killed 13 women in England before he was caught in 1981. He claimed God told him to kill prostitutes. Isaiah Kalebu, 2011, Seattle: Broke into the home of a lesbian couple and brutally raped and killed them. He said “I was there and I was told by my God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to attack my enemies, and I did so." Vester Flanagan, 2015, VA. Shot and killed a reporter and her cameraman because "Jehovah" told him to. Jamon French, 2014, TN: Stabbed a woman to death because "God told me to." Twice as many people die in violent incidents on religious property as die in school shootings. Calvin Benard Taylor, 2014, St. Louis MO. Shot and killed his brother. Said "The Devil" made him do it. Rachael Hilyard, 2017, Kansas: Killed and decapitated her ex-boyfriend's mother. Said God told her to. Renato Seabra, 2012, NYC: Killed and dismembered a Portugese TV personality. Said God told him to. Andrea Yates, 2001, TX: Drowned her 5 children in a bathtub. She told her shrink "It was the seventh deadly sin. My children weren't righteous. They stumbled because I was evil. The way I was raising them, they could never be saved. They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell." She told her jail psychiatrist that Satan influenced her children and made them more disobedient Gary Schmitt, Troy Illinois, 2007: Killed his father. Arrested months later for attempted murder after repeatedly stabbing a mother and daughter. Said God told him to commit all three killings. Dr. Stephen Wolf, Nichols Hills OK, 2015: a doctor who stabbed his 9-year-old son to death, thinking the boy "had the devil in him" Toni Elizabeth Torres, OK, 2015: She waded into the Spring River in Ottawa County with her 17-month-old and 10-year-old sons before letting go of them both. The 10-year-old managed to cross the river and scream for help, but the toddler was swept away and drowned. Torres told authorities, "God told me to do it." Brian Val Kelly, TN, 2002. Smothered his baby. Said God had directed him to sacrifice his daughter because she was "perfect and innocent." Joseph Cain Cecil, 2013, AZ: Killed his mother and wounded his aunt by stabbing. Said God told him to. Michael Bethel, Feb. 2000, Kansas: Shot and killed his father and two other women in the house. Said God told him to. Jessica Murphy, Bufalo NY, killed 8-year old son. “Everyone has to die. He had to die. I am saving him from going to hell.” Kimberly Lucas, Palm Beach FL: Killed her two-year old daughter because “God never told me to stop!” Pamela J. Christensen, 2014, Mongomery IL: Daddy, a pastor, kept telling mom Pamela the world was going to end soon. She took him seriously; dressed their three girls all in white, held them at knife-point asking them if they "accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior" and then stabbed two of them. Luckily they survived. She planned to murder her three daughters so they would “meet Jesus Christ” after receiving instructions from her apocalyptic husband about the “world coming to an end.” Christopher Lee McCuin, Tyler TX, 2008: Killed his girlfriend and was eating her at time of arrest. Said God made him do it. Arne Cheyenne Johnson, November 24, 1981, in Brookfield, Connecticut: Killed his landlord. Claimed he was demon possessed. Philip Badowski, Chatanooga TN, 2004: Shot and killed both parents. Said God told him to. Anthony Collins, Minneapolis MN, 2016: Shot and killed his friend. Said God made him do it. David Berkowitz AKA Son of Sam, 1976-77, NYC, Shot and killed thirteen people. Said Satan ordered him to kill. Olivia Smith, 2015, Atlanta GA. Stabbed her step-cousin to death. Said God told her to.

Part 1 of 2 "...why are you guys so focused on Christianity..." To the extent that atheists are, you are looking at predominantly English speaking atheists who live predominantly among Christians. My country is about 80% Christian, and most English videos discussing a god or religion are about the Christian one. That said, when English speaking Muslims or Hindus produce a video talking about why they think god is real, I'm quite happy to argue against that as well. "...atheists, the only people dedicated to fighting what they swear doesn't exist..." Not so. We don't fight a god, we fight belief in gods, and we entirely admit that the belief exists, just not the thing believed in. "...I want you to be honest with yourself, and ask yourself these questions..." Perhaps you should start by asking us these questions yourself so you'd understand where we come from. :) "...why dedicate your whole lives..." Most of us don't. We talk about it a lot because we're surrounded by believers who constantly bring up religion. It's so prevalent that even idiomatic speech is infested with religious references. Someone sneezes? 'Bless you'. Where does that come from? Religion. Something goes wrong? 'God damn it!' Some places have 'God' on required items (money). You need it to live, and yet it references religion over non-religion. "...'well we just don't want people blindly following religion'..." That's one aspect. Another is that we find it to be wrong and an easy way to justify so many bad behaviors. Have you ever heard of an atheist breaking up a card game/role-playing game/banning anime in their home because of 'demons'? I can point you to some reddit videos if you like, apparently this happens among the religious. A not-insignificant number of religious people also think that atheists are evil by definition, which we find problematic when surrounded by members of the general group. "...we don't need evidence for evolution..." I don't know where you're getting that from. The closest I could find (in my 5-second google search) was "We don’t need fossils – the case for evolution is watertight without them" - Richard Dawkins, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, pg 164 (emphasis mine). "...look at what the Bible says about evidence and blind faith..." As with so many things, the bible contradicts itself: John 20/29 - Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have yet believed." Hebrews 11/1 - Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 11/6 - And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 2 Corinthians 4/18 - As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 5/7 - For we walk by faith, not by sight. Romans 1/17 - For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." "...faith is the... evidence..." Is there any position that you could not have faith in? Muslims have faith, Hindus, those who think the moon landings were hoaxes, flat-Earthers, holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists of all sorts. Faith is not evidence, and that's the problem. The fact that you quoted one of the greatest lines showing Christianity does not require evidence as if it were evidence demonstrates you have no idea what 'evidence' is. "...a lot of atheists say that... Christianity was created to control people..." I don't, so this doesn't apply to me. Skip! For a bit more, Christianity, like all other religions, is quite frequently used to control people because you are not permitted to question 'the high priest' or whoever is 'speaking for the gods' since they get 'authority' from the god/gods involved. When you honestly believe your god has commanded that you execute men, women, and children, then keep all the young girls (not young boys, just the girls) to give to your soldiers... what makes you think that mass executions won't follow, along with eventual rapes where the children are 'conditioned' to be members of this new, hostile group? (Numbers 31) "...why is [the bible] not propagated by mass media..." ... Are you nuts!? First, you can find several sites which contain the entire text of the bible online. Second, bibles are printed and given away by various organizations constantly. Third, the bible was among the first ever mass produced books when the printing press was invented (or, rather, discovered again among white people) around 1440. That is mass media. It is propagated by mass media, and always has been. Moreover, today more people receive their religion via radio than going to church. https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/religious-broadcasting "...they're making fun of... Jesus Christ, not Buddha, not Muhammad..." Again, you're in a predominantly Christian place, where people don't know much about those others. "...when you stub your toe you say 'Oh Jesus Christ', why are you doing that..." Idiomatic speech. "...I think [the idiom above is] subconsciously a spiritual battle..." Nope. You're just raised around people saying that when things go wrong and that's what you say. Me? I swear mostly upon pain. Though I do say 'oh my god' in disbelief sometimes. Again, pure idiomatic speech picked up from those around me. There's a Muslim video that talks about this, too, by the way. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYbFcFRxK1g Exactly the same effect. I posted on that video and got blocked. My response? As follows: Only a rational person looks at events like this and says "my calling out in an idiomatic fashion based on the culture I live in had no effect on the outcome of this event as demonstrated by the number of times that similar events occur and the outcome goes the other way with the same action taken". What would show this most clearly is if you took the same video and had the atheist cry out "Oh shit! Oh fuck! We're gonna fuckin' die!". Shall he now praise feces and sexual intercourse for the plane not crashing? For the above, I was blocked. "...why is Christianity always one of the first things to be banned by oppressive government..." It's a religion, and religion vies for control of the people. It's not just Christianity, it's all religion. You could have a Muslim ask the exact same question about Islam. "...look at what's happening in China right now..." Where all religion is suppressed, not just yours. "...then I have a couple challenges for evolutionists..." So, basically, the 99% of biologists, including the Christian biologists. Alright. Go ahead. :) "...macro-evolution, that's been proven false..." Uh-huh. Not according to those 99% of biologists, and predictive models, and evidence, things like that. :) "...let's get into some other parts of the evolution theory, right? Abiogenesis..." Is not part of the Theory of Evolution. The theory of evolution only describes the diversification of life once there is life, it has nothing at all to say about how life originated. "...I want to hear a legitimate explanation of how [abiogenesis] even could have happened..." Emergent phenomena of chemistry. Ultimately, though, no one knows how it happened (or, if thinking as a naturalistic explanation, if it did at all) since we can't demonstrate it yet. As such my answer is "I don't know how life started". "...I want a reasonable explanation for the origins of planets and stars..." The current best is the nebular hypothesis, with some hypotheses about how the stars in the middle lose most of their angular momentum (viscous stresses? magnetic breaking?), and some other issues (coalescing, we have no idea how that happens). This, however, has nothing to do with the Theory of Evolution. "...if evolution is true, why didn't the millions of years of eating raw meat give us predator teeth, or carnivore teeth..." You mean like your 'canine teeth' or 'cuspids'? Humans are omnivores, not carnivores. What we evolved from (most recently) were omnivores, not carnivores. We evolved to eat a lot of fruit and plant matter, as well as a little bit of meat. "...if we came from monkeys, and we evolved, we're supposed to be getting better..." 'Getting better' is not a function of evolution. All evolution does is get a species either better adapted to its environment or else get it killed off entirely. Sometimes evolution can cause extinctions. We think this has happened to large cats, repeatedly. Cats (and their prey) would start off small, with no larger versions around. The cats could most easily deal with prey by having bigger teeth, and the easiest way for the prey to survive that would be having thicker skin. They get locked in an 'arms race' with cats getting bigger and bigger teeth, prey getting thicker and thicker hides, until the cats have teeth so big they have trouble moving their heads, and the prey have skin so thick they get overheated. One large stressor (drought, heat-wave, famine, whatever) and both of them get wiped out. Then a different, small species of cat starts the whole process over again now that there's no large predator in the way to stop them. "...why are we not immune to all the diseases that primates are immune to..." We aren't them. Many diseases are fairly specific in terms of what they affect. Plus we've passed a few diseases to them. :)

Now that you've been told you're wrong, in about a hundred ways, will you change your position? I'm guessing not.

People speak out against religion for a number of reasons. The primary one is that it has a long history of perpetrating negative consequences on mankind. There are atheists who have a desire to dismiss irrational beliefs from their fellow man. It is just that simple. I speak out mostly against Islam though I live in America. That comes from looking at the world's humanity as a single group, and in 2019 Islam creates more problems globally then does Christianity.

You are not very good at this.

@7:15 Asks for explanation of abiogenesis while knowing NOBODY has the answer yet. This is proof of your dishonesty.

Bro you said magic was ridiculous yet you got talkin snake in the beginning and a seven headed dragon by the end. In the middle you've got some guy walking on water, a person being swallowed by a whale and not dying, a person waking up after being dead for three days, a talking burning bush, a guy feeding 5,000 people with 2 fish and five loaves of bread, waking the Dead, Are you kidding me? don't you see the irony in that statement? Matter fact don't even answer that, cause you don't.

"Atheists the only people fighting against what they swear doesn't exist" What? Various groups from monotheistic faiths fight against polytheism and even literally wage war against it!

When you have specific questions what you should do is write them down so we can answer them as concisely as possible.

1. Ask fake questions 2. Ignore all answers 3. Pretend nobody answered 4. ????? 5. Profit

This video is lame. Quoting the bible to atheists is meaningless, because we know what it says already. We just do not believe it.

Oh my goodness! You are SUCH a sweetheart. You have NO idea what you’re talking about, and it is ADORABLE to see. This is so pure and innocent! This is what happens when you give a big 7-year-old a computer with some wifi and a microphone.