[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-43355-en":3,"doc-seo-43355-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":91},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},43355,1374391974468,"Eden","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0",9,"Religion & Spirituality","Why I'm an Atheist Docs Version(1)","An argumentative essay presenting personal reasons for rejecting theism, especially the neoclassical theistic view dominant in Western culture. It outlines an abductive method for evaluating God’s existence by comparing theism against alternative worldviews, focusing on evidential value and inherent theoretical virtue. The work argues that naturalism outperforms theism, with theistic support weakened by underspecification and contentiousness. It also addresses major topics such as suffering, theodicies, free will, prayer, religious diversity, and personal nonbelief.","Introduction  \nWriting essays explaining why one rejects theism or Christianity has become somewhat of a tradition for nontheists. Ever since Russell’s classic Why I’m Not a Christian, both professional philosophers and people in the online philosophy of religion space have written pieces summarizing their reasons for disbelief.1 Partially inspired by these posts, and encouraged by a number of friends, I have decided to make a post in a similar vein. In this essay, I will summarize the various reasons that lead me to reject the neoclassical theistic view dominant in Western culture. This essay ended up being much more comprehensive than others I have read. These are complex issues, and I wanted to do my best to address what I thought were the most important considerations for and against theism. Still, a full realization of this project that addressed all relevant considerations would realistically require many book-length discussions, and so I have inevitably needed to leave out objections and arguments I would have liked to discuss. Nevertheless, I have included what are to my mind the most important factors in the current debate.  \nTwo more caveats are worth noting before we proceed. First, the following constitutes my reasons for rejecting theism. I think justification is person-based, and while we can try our best to present arguments for our beliefs, how compelling various considerations seem is often personal. Therefore, while I will occasionally speak ofwhat I think should be compelling to theists, this is only because I try my best to think in the most neutral perspective I can when considering evidence, and these arguments ultimately reflect my personal weighing of the evidence. Second, I am standing on the shoulders of giants. Most of the arguments I bring up in this essay are strongly influenced by philosophers I have read. Throughout this essay, I will cite them wherever relevant. However, one philosopher whose influence emanates across this entire project, and so is worth mentioning from the outset, is Paul Draper. Draper ’s general methodology and work has been so impactful on my thinking that this project would have looked very different without his influence, and I would encourage those interested to look into the work he has written that has inspired this piece.  \n1 See, for instance, Graham Oppy’s  Why I ’m not a Christian and this post by my friend Emerson Green.  \nTable of contents  \nThis essay will proceed as follows: In methodology, I will outline the general way I think about and evaluate the question of God’s existence. I will adopt a broadly abductive approach and suggest two primary factors relevant to the question: the evidential value of theism compared to alternatives and its inherent virtue as theory relative to alternatives. In evidence, by far the most significant section, I will outline the data that I find most compelling in favor of naturalism and in favor of theism and weigh the two. I will argue that the evidence in favor of naturalism comes out ahead, and that theistic evidence generally suffers from two inherent issues:  \nunderspecification and contentiousness. In theoretical virtue, I will outline factors that make theories inherently virtuous and argue that theism fares poorly. Finally, I will discuss the personal factors that have led me to nonbelief. Below is a table of contents summarizing these sections:  \nIntroduction 1  \nTable of contents 2  \nMethodology 3  \nAbduction and Bayes’ Theorem 3  \nWhat should we expect on theism? 6  \nExpansions to Theism 8  \nFor Naturalism 9  \nHumans 9  \nEvolution 16  \nDependence of Mind on the Physical 17  \nCognitive Science of Religion 19  \nSuccess of Naturalistic Explanation 19  \nSuffering 21  \nBiological Role of Pain and Pleasure: 21  \nFlourishing and Languishing: 22  \nTriumph and Tragedy: 24  \nGeographical Distribution of Suffering: 24  \nParticularly horrendous evil: 25  \nTheodicies and Skeptical Theism: 25  \nFree will: 25  \nSoul-making: 28  \nHeave","cbCaipUGgXKlWUn9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipUGgXKlWUn9","pdf",544558,4,1,70,"English","en",105,"# Introduction\n## Methodology and core approach\n# Evidence and evaluation\n## Naturalism vs theism\n## Naturalistic explanation and suffering\n## Theistic evidence and key objections\n# Theoretical virtue and personal 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