Comfort - Famous atheists

Before we look at some of the most well-known freethinkers and what they believe about life, its important to look closely at a major argument put forward by creationists. It is the dispute over whether or not people believe in the subject of evolution, as opposed to it being a scientific fact.

Professor Richard Dawkins is arguably the most famous atheist and the leading spokesperson for Darwinian evolution. He is a strong believer in evolution. However, if you ask most atheists if the theory of evolution has anything to do with a belief, they will tell you it doesnt. Its not something that has to be believed. It is a fact. But lets look at Professor Richard Dawkinss own words, and watch for his use of the word believe when it comes to the theory of evolution. He told the New York Times, It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked).[1]

So, according to the professor, if you dont believe in evolution, you are ignorant, stupid, insane, or wicked. He would like everyone to believe in the theory. As far as he is concerned, to believe it is to be on the side of true science.

But according to The New Yorker (in 2012), The percentage of Americans that believe in biological evolution has only increased by four percentage points over the last twenty years.[2] Notice again the use of the word believe.

Back in June 2012, a Gallup poll found that 46 percent of Americans believed God created man, 32 percent believed humans evolved with Gods guidance, and 15 percent believed in evolution alone.[3] So the percentage of believers in evolution alone was a mere 15 percent and had only increased by 4 percent in twenty years.

But Richard Dawkins is a believer to a point of never doubting. He said, Evolution is a fact, beyond reasonable doubt, beyond serious doubt, beyond sane, informed, intelligent doubt, beyond doubt evolution is a fact.[4]

The reason he is a believer without doubts is that his convictions rest on his beliefs about fossils, dating processes, and on other theories. When asked the question, Is atheism the logical extension of believing in evolution? he didnt correct the questioner and say that it wasnt a belief. Instead he answered, They clearly cant be irrevocably linked because a very large number of theologians believe in evolution. In fact, any respectable theologian of the Catholic or Anglican or any other sensible church believes in evolution.[5] Similarly, a very large number of evolutionary scientists are also religious. My personal feeling is that understanding evolution led me to atheism.[6] So, it was Dawkinss faith in evolution that gave him understanding, and that led him to believe that there was no God.

If we want to understand the laws of physics, we have to first believe what we read about physics. We have to have faith in what we read. Faith is the first step to understanding. We cant understand anything scientifically if we dont believe that data. But believing in evolution doesnt make it true.

The University of CaliforniaBerkeley addresses what they see as a misconception that the theory of evolution is not observable:

Surely with such an important question they have at least one example of what it is that evolutionary biologists observe in the real world. But they dont give one, because there isnt anything that can be observed without making assumptions that are based on belief of data. UC Berkeley continues:

They give examples of this rapid evolution (evolution that takes place very quickly) by speaking of animals within their own kind evolving in the last twenty-five years to climate change. These are not examples of observable Darwinian evolution. This is simply adaptation within kinds that happens throughout nature. Fish adapting to their environment are not examples of Darwinian evolution because the fish are not changing kinds. They are still fish.

Many who believe in evolution also point to all the different species of dogs as evidence of evolution, when they are not evidence. There is only one dog kind, and within that kind there are many speciesfrom the tiniest of canines to the Great Dane. No evolution (change of kinds) takes place. It is just an example of variations within the kind.

I was speaking recently to a group of university students, and when I said that I didnt believe in evolutionthat it was unscientific and unobservablean atheist called out, But what about the tailbone? The human tailbone is said to be vestigialthat is, its an evolutionary leftover proving that we are related to primates. However, its not a tailbone. Its the coccyx, the last of five regions of the spine, and it anchors twelve muscles that help us go to the bathroom:

A believer in evolution wrote this: