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There are a lot of smart people who describe themselves as atheists. It intrigues me that they make such a claim, considering that it is impossible to know whether a god exists. My argument here is that you are either agnostic or you have a specific belief aligned with a particular religion; or, your specific belief is God does not exist in the exact same manner that someone has a belief aligned with a religion.
Suppose someone looks at the evidence: evolution happened over millions of years, yet religions tend to only date back some thousands of years. Science is consistently telling you that religious literature is nonsense and God does not exist. Yet, you have a difficult time explaining the nature of the universe and why it exists just like Feynman can’t explain magnetism. It just is.
Further, existing explanations are constantly being challenged. Just like Newtownian physics was challenged by Einstein, we are learning more about the universe that contradict previous concepts. One example is that the expansion of the universe occurred significantly faster than previously theorized according to a recent documentary on the James Webb Space Telescope1.
To believe, for certain, that there is no god is to believe that your faculties are beyond anything that the universe is capable of producing. Yet, how do you know that? It also requires confirmation that you are not uniformed nor misinformed about the nature of the universe. How can you know that without infinite time?
My claim isn’t that you follow a religion and your soul reaches the promised land, but rather that there is a possibility that a god of some sort exists, and, short of being God, it is impossible to deny that. While I don’t personally believe in the simulation theory, it could very well be just some being playing with a chemistry set. I would like to hear more people who say they are atheists to be challenged in the future. Then again, maybe it is best to steer clear of religion,