Atheism is the belief that a deity does not exist or, less strongly, the absence of belief that a deity does exist. Sometimes individuals have atheistic sentiments for primary reasons, but often atheism is a reaction to circumstances or teachings. Primary inducements of atheistic attitudes include the teaching of logic defying religious positions supposing unobserved phenomenon wrought by a sentient, emotional, and judgmental God. Accept-or-be-damned teachings invoke skeptical reactions in free thinkers, particularly when the teachings embody supernatural claims that lack supporting evidence.

Atheism in modern times is often a reaction to the increasingly unbelievable tenets of revealed religion. Ever expanding scientific knowledge is increasingly at odds with core ideas of revealed religion, such as revelation, miracles, and the efficacy of prayer. Because there have been few comprehensible alternatives many have turned to atheism. Rejection of belief in a personality hosting thinking God is not a repudiation or denial of the mystery of the natural order. Most “atheists” are actually scientific naturalists (also known as scientific Pandeists) who regard reality as consisting of the elements of nature plus a mysterious organizing principle yet to be fully understood. This is the terrain that natural science focuses on and is generally amenable to mathematical modeling. Scientific naturalism rejects the existence of any supernatural thing, force, or cause—such as those that are central to the theistic religions—because connectivity, contiguity, and continuity with physical reality are compromised. There is no path by which logical thought processes can smoothly transition from conceptions of the physical realm to the supernatural. Such a route would require discontinuous leaps of faiths, which is what atheists cannot accommodate in their worldview.

George Will: I Am a 'Low-Voltage Atheist'

Tuesday, 23 Sep 2014 12:40 AM

By Jason Devaney

In a wide-ranging interview, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer George Will discusses baseball, politics, and his status as an atheist.

"I'm an atheist. An agnostic is someone who is not sure. I'm pretty sure. I see no evidence of God," Will told Real Clear Religion. 

"The basic question in life is not, 'Is there a God,' but 'Why does anything exist?' St. Thomas Aquinas said that there must be a first cause for everything, and we call the first cause 'God.' Fine, but it just has no hold on me.

SARAS:  George Will does perceive the existence of the natural God, although he may not recognize it as so. The sexual resonance between males and females is the God beckoning life to approach it. And approach it life must--eventually by evolution and sooner by comprehending focus.

Why must anything (e.g., physical reality) exist? And, why must life and consciousness approach the Godhead state, which is the instantaneous self-awareness of the God? In the isolation of formlessness the God is indistinguishable from nothingness and cannot be self-aware, To exist, the God must be (reflexively) self-aware and physical reality, life and consciousness are its vehicle. The God polarizes the existential-substratum into form in a balanced way as a primeval wave, which is the origin of the symmetry that perfuses nature. 

The reason that physical reality exists is to maintain the God in quasi-continuous self-awareness (which is the definition of existence). The reality that the God does exist is the ineffable unknowable mystery--even to itself.