Kuu

I was in a chat room the other day when I said I was an atheist. Someone said 'How can you believe in the Big Bang stuff'

I said to him 'How do you know that I believe in the Big Bang theory?'

Should people really assume to an atheist automatically believes in the Big Bang. I actually am not that sure what I believe in as it is an area I have never really thought that much about.

Can someone tell me what sort of things atheists believed in before the Big Bang theory was formulated, or for that matter what did they believe in before Darwin came up with the theory of evolution?

Camaban

That there is no god.

Full stop. (One requirement of Athiesm)

as for everything else, generally? That they don't know.

although before all this, I don't think it was thought about too much

[ September 27, 2002: Message edited by: Camaban ]</p>

lpetrich

That's actually a reasonable expectation, because that's one of the big results of modern science.

The short answer is:

The Earth has always been the way it is now, for as along as it has been in existence -- which could be forever.

Living things are spotaneously generated from (seemingly) nonliving material.

Kuu

I might be wrong but I think the in the Jains do not believe in God(s) and they believe the Universe is eternal which means that they don't believe in the Big Bang. Even though they are religious there are still atheists.

Maybe it is usual for atheists in the west to believe in he Big Bang.

I left school at 16. I don't think I know enough science to totally understand the Big Bang theory. I find it almost to believe in things on faith alone this is true even with some areas of science.

lpetrich

Now for the long answer:

The greatest bulk of views of pre-Darwinian freethinkers comes from ancient Greece and Rome, where those who liked to write books were often skeptics about their society's religion, often seeming like present-day Jewish and Hindu atheists like Apikorus and Hinduwoman here.

They had had a variety of views, but the short-answer views above were those that they had tended to hold. Aristotle, for example, had believed that the Universe was eternal, and always like the way it was now. He believed that there was a sort of God who acts as a cosmic mainspring, but who is mostly indifferent to the Universe, preferring an eternity of contemplation.

However, some believed that the Earth was not eternal; they believed that it had originated from some sort of vortex of primordial material.

And about living things, the usual belief was that the various species had always existed, though some of their members may be spotaneously generated.

But in the 300's, Roman Emperor Constantine made Xianity the Empire's official state religion, making it difficult to be a freethinker in the centuries to come. One wonders how many people were closet freethinkers who hid their views between seemingly-pious doubletalk.

But life got better in the 18th and 19th cys.; I'm not sure what typical freethinker views were like back then.

Skydancer

18th C. freethinkers were usually deist rather than atheist. Quite willing to entertain the idea of a god or gods, but recognizing that the Christian version was either evil or self-contradictory. Again, recognizing the inconsistencies of a particular belief system doesn't automatically make one an atheist. The question of the origin of life and the complexity of living things was always there, though, until Darwin figured out how evolution could work. Deism started disappearing once you could dispense with a deity for doing all the complexity of nature.

Jamie_L

Camaban has it right.

However, most people think all atheists are metaphysical naturalists and/or materialists. In fact, these terms are synonymous in most people's minds. A lot of atheists are, in fact, metaphysical naturalists, myself included. Metaphysical naturalism generally involves atheism, though not necessarily the other way around.

So, it is quite alright to not believe in god(s) but not have one's mind made up about big questions like "where did the universe come from?" and "how did life appear?" etc.

Remember, "I don't know" is always a perfectly acceptable answer to those kinds of questions. I mean, you weren't around at the biginning of time. Why should you be expected to have an explanation for it?

Jamie

Lizard

A brochure KCFS put out awhile back, titled "The Big Bang: A Beginner's Guide to the Beginning," explains the basics in layman's terms. If anyone wants a Microsoft Word document of it, I will be glad to send it. Send me a PM.

Dr.GH

A good "Big Bang" resource on the web is:

<a href="http://map.gsfc.nasa.gov/m_uni/uni_101bb2.html" target="_blank">The Big Bang</a>

It doesn't matter if your are an atheist or a polytheist; the Bang went bang and it was Big!

Also check out:

<a href="http://www.discover.com/apr_02/featguth.html" target="_blank">Guth's Grand Guess</a>

[ September 27, 2002: Message edited by: Dr.GH ]</p>

Starboy

Kuu, the perfect a-theist is a new born baby. So in answer to your question, an a-theist doesn't have to think anything about anything.

Starboy