RealityRules
2nd April 2011, 05:06 PM
"As an Oxford undergraduate in the early 19th century, Percy Bysshe Shelley (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/percy-bysshe-shelley) developed an argument for the non-existence of God. He entitled it The Necessity of Atheism (http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~djb/shelley/necessity1880.html), and 2011 is the bicentenary of his being expelled from the university for printing it.
"The argument itself is simple. If you have seen or heard God, then you must believe in God. If you haven't, then the only possible reasons to believe in God are reasonable argument or the testimony of others. The main argument given for believing in a deity – that the universe must have had a first cause – is not persuasive because there is no reason to believe either that the universe must have had a first cause or that this cause, if it existed, was a deity.
[snip]
"In this country the blasphemy laws have been abolished, but elsewhere our fellow men and women face death for speaking and thinking freely. Remembering Shelley – so eloquent himself on the subject of human solidarity – provides a dynamic call for us to address these injustices internationally."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/02/shelley-the-necessity-of-atheism
"The argument itself is simple. If you have seen or heard God, then you must believe in God. If you haven't, then the only possible reasons to believe in God are reasonable argument or the testimony of others. The main argument given for believing in a deity – that the universe must have had a first cause – is not persuasive because there is no reason to believe either that the universe must have had a first cause or that this cause, if it existed, was a deity.
[snip]
"In this country the blasphemy laws have been abolished, but elsewhere our fellow men and women face death for speaking and thinking freely. Remembering Shelley – so eloquent himself on the subject of human solidarity – provides a dynamic call for us to address these injustices internationally."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2011/apr/02/shelley-the-necessity-of-atheism