Atheist Bible: Conclusion

Summary

Main messages

The main messages of the Atheist Bible can be summarized as follows:

Part 1: Atheism and atheists: Part 1 of the Atheist Bible defines atheism and explores what it means to be an atheist in today’s world. Simply put, atheism is the rejection of the belief in the supernatural. And while atheists are persecuted in many countries around the world, they form a substantial and flourishing minority. Secular humanism (or Humanism for short) is a philosophy that expands upon the atheist rejection of the belief in the supernatural by adding the principles of universal Human Rights, democracy, science, freedom of religion, and liberal ethical values.
Part 2: An atheist view on the world: This part of the Atheist Bible offers a view on the workings of the Universe, the organization of humans into social groups, the evolution of ethical behavior, and the meaning of life and happiness — all without reference to religion. We start from the hypothesis that humans observe the world and try to find patterns in what they observe. In this way, they approximate truth — even if they may possibly never know it. Nevertheless, much of the workings of the Universe can nowadays be explained by science. To protect themselves from the hazards of life in this Universe, humans have teamed up in social structures, and to make these structures work, they have developed moral rules. Humanist moral rules, in particular, aim at repairing past wrongdoings and preventing future wrongdoings.
We also discuss the big question of the meaning of life. We argue that the meaning of life can best be understood as the intention that a person pursues with their life — something that is up to each individual to choose. If your intention is to have a happy life, we suggest you take care of your mental health, your physical health, and your social connections with other people.
Part 3: An atheist view on gods: Part 3 of the Atheist Bible provides an atheist view on supernatural beliefs. We first observe that the claim that gods exist is unfalsifiable, and hence, does not carry meaning in the sense of this book. We then show that proofs for gods are either wrong or ill-informed or can equally well prove the existence of any fictional being. Similarly, we argue that proofs explaining the phenomena of nature as the work of gods do not provide any explanation for said phenomena because they do not allow for predicting something that was not already observed anyway.
Part 4: An atheist view on religion: This part of the book discusses the world religions. We define religion as a set of beliefs that include supernatural (i.e., essentially unfalsifiable) statements. Throughout history, people have invented religions out of a desire to explain natural phenomena or as a means of social control. In turn, people follow a specific religion because they were brought up with it (and it never occurred to them to question it), because it makes them happy, because others follow it, because they are coerced or forced, because they want to exert control over the unknown, or for a variety of other reasons. Today, there are a plethora of religions with different gods, concepts of the afterlife, creation myths, and values. The religions that have survived until today use a number of strategies (called memes) to dominate over the others.
Part 5: Discussion of the Abrahamic religions: Part 5 of the Atheist Bible addresses the Abrahamic religions. Their adherents, together, comprise more than half of the world population. These religions believe in a single god known as the Abrahamic god, who was first developed by the Israelites in the millennium before the common era as a fusion of two gods: Yahweh and El Elyon. From an atheist perspective, the concept of the Abrahamic god is inconsistent: He is described in scripture as extremely brutal but is worshiped as benevolent. Furthermore, he is benevolent and omnipotent but does nothing to prevent the evil in this world. Of course, these contradictions have not stopped adherents from following this god, and today, the Abrahamic religions include Judaism, Christianity, Islam, the Bahai Faith, and Spiritualism. Christianity is the most populous religion on Earth, and it has, despite its claim to eternal truth, changed its tenets a lot during the past 2,000 years. Islam is the second largest religion on Earth, and there is a plethora of interpretations of the faith that range from the liberal to the brutal.
Part 6: The effects of religion: In this book, we argue that the major world religions can be criticized for their intellectual dishonesty, outdated moral values, and harmful effects on society. At the same time, religion can have a very positive effect on the well-being of the individual by encouraging healthy life choices, good social connections, and serenity. Humanists are happy to let people enjoy the positive effects of their religion but want to keep religion out of law, politics, and public education.

Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond.
Hypatia of Alexandria, in Elbert Hubbard’s Little Journeys to the Homes of Great Teachers

Religion

There are numerous definitions of the word “religion”, and in this book, we argue that none is a priori more valid than the other. For our purposes, we use the term “religion” to mean a list of creeds such as “You will be reborn after death”, “Your deeds in this life will be punished in a future life”, etc. And to qualify as a religion, this list of creeds must include at least one supernatural statement, i.e., at least one claim about something outside the natural world — be it a god, spirits, the afterlife, a metaphysical cosmic order, the notion of a cycle of rebirth, or the idea of a divine destiny. Technically speaking, a supernatural statement is a statement that cannot be falsified on principle, meaning we can never find out if it is false. For example, there is nothing that a believer would accept as a proof that God does not exist. This makes the claim of God’s existence unfalsifiable on principle and, thus, a supernatural statement.

Besides supernatural statements, religions usually also contain beliefs about the supernatural, moral values, and rites. Adherents hold that these beliefs and practices come from a divine (or otherwise supernatural) source. In reality, however, these beliefs and practices were never written down by a god. In all cases, they were recorded or defined by a human. The creeds of a religion are the result of an evolutionary search for beliefs that were plausible, appeared attractive to adherents, encoded basic moral values, and secured the proliferation of said beliefs to the next generation. Belief systems that stood the test of time became religions.

There are a plethora of religions today, which can be categorized by their principal beliefs: The Indian religions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, and Sikhism) share the concept of a cycle of rebirth; the East Asian religions (Shintoism, Taoism, Confucianism, and more generally Chinese Folk Religion) believe in spirits; Indigenous religions (traditional African religions, Asian Shamanism, Native American religions, and Austronesian and Australian Aboriginal traditions) see supernatural entities in natural objects; the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Spiritualism, and the Bahai Faith) believe in a single omnipotent god; and New Religious Movements (which include the Wicca Faith, the Rastafarianism, Unitarian Universalism, Scientology, and others) often syncretize, reinterpret, or revive aspects of other religions. Other belief systems reject religion but posit supernatural life forces, a metaphysical property of the Universe, or a god who retired after having created the Universe. That said, religions (and religious worldviews) are not monolithic: There are various interpretations of most religions, and these can differ in their moral choices, metaphysical assumptions, and number of adherents.

Atheism, the philosophy advocated in this book, rejects all of these creeds.

To realize our dreams, we must decide to wake up.
Josephine Baker

Atheism

There are different definitions for atheism, but the most comprehensive one holds that atheism is the rejection of the belief in the supernatural . This means that atheists do not believe in gods, in a spiritual life force, in life after death, in reincarnation, or in the power of prayer or faith healing.

Why do atheists not believe in gods? Different atheists may have different reasons, but one major reason is certainly that there is no evidence for the existence of gods. Atheists see no more reason to believe in the god of the Abrahamic religions than to believe in the Roman god Jupiter, the rain god Tlaloc of the Aztecs, or the unicorns of the Ancient Greeks. Most people don’t believe in these entities because they understand fully well that they are fictional. Some people just make an exception for their own supernatural entities. Atheists don’t. They apply the same logic to all gods: For the atheist, gods, in general, are just fictional beings. They appear in holy books, mythical stories, and prayers, but not in the real world. The same goes for all other types of supernatural entities and concepts, be it reincarnation, life after death, a life spirit, a divine first cause for the Universe, or, for that matter, unicorns. We have seen that proofs for the existence of such entities are usually faulty or ill-formed .

Another argument against the belief in the supernatural advanced in this book is that supernatural claims (such as the claim that a god exists, that there is life after death, or that there is a spiritual life force) are unfalsifiable. There is nothing that a believer would accept as evidence of the claim being false. This entails that the believer cannot make any prediction about the real world by help of that claim (for if any prediction could be made, the potential falsehood of that prediction would render the claim falsifiable). The claim that a god exists is thus of no use in understanding the natural world, and, by the definition of this book, literally meaningless. Since the believer adheres to a claim that cannot be disproven by logical argument (even hypothetically), the believer has left the sphere of rational argument. She has chosen a belief that prevents her from changing her mind. Interestingly, this entails that anyone can come up with any other (equally unfalsifiable) supernatural claim — and this is indeed what happens. Since no one can prove the other wrong, people can (and often do) descend into endless disagreements, and, as if by coincidence, these disagreements correlate with the fault lines of more than half of the world’s violent conflicts.

Atheism rejects such supernatural claims. Positive atheism even holds that these claims are outright false. Interestingly, this stance makes positive atheism falsifiable: Any verified appearance of a god, any prayer that makes the impossible possible, or any proof of life after death would prove positive atheism wrong. With this, positive atheism (unlike theism) is meaningful. Its meaning is: No god will ever appear, no prayer will ever make the impossible possible, and no proof for life after death will ever be found. Positive atheism thus makes concrete (and even correct) predictions about the real world. Technically, positive atheism is a falsifiable and validated theory, and hence, atheists assume it to be true.

As a consequence, atheists are not religious. Atheists hold that it is not up to religion but to us humans to give our lives a purpose, to give our society moral rules, and to strive for human wellbeing in the here and now (not in some life after death).

One way to do that is through Humanism.

Humanism

Humanism, the particular brand of atheism promoted in this book, is a life stance that affirms the equal dignity of every human being (i.e., the right to be respected and treated ethically), aims at the fullest possible development of every individual, and aspires to the greater good of humanity. Humanism holds that these goals can be achieved through

the search for truth, via a continuing process of observation, evaluation, revision, and open discussion;
the scientific method, as the most reliable way of understanding the world;
liberal ethic values, i.e., the right to do whatever one pleases as long as it does not infringe upon the equal rights of others;
freedom of speech, i.e., the right to criticize the status quo
education of the general public;
governments that subscribe to democracy and Human Rights;
freedom of religion, i.e., the right to adhere to any or no religious belief as long as it does not curtail the freedom of others; and
secularism, i.e., the principle that religion is kept out of politics, national identity, lawmaking, and public education.

Thus, Humanism is a comprehensive worldview with an ethical, political, philosophical, and scientific dimension.

The concept of goodness is too important to delegate it to imaginary beings.
Marshall Brain in WhyWontGodHealAmputees.com

Humanism and religion

Bu definition, religions are very old . This antiquity entails that the moral values of today’s religions are often out of lockstep with modern values. In particular, the values of most major religions are at odds with Humanist values when it comes to women’s rights, interfaith marriage, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and LGBTQ+ rights. In addition, religions often make false claims of power or knowledge, propagate a medieval notion of truth, justify the evil in this world, propose Hell or its equivalents as a solution for wrongdoing, and segregate humanity into closed communities, facilitating antagonism and sometimes armed conflict.

At the same time, religions can give people hope, strength, and a reason for life. They can make people happy, strengthen their social connections, give them coping strategies for difficult life events, encourage them to live a healthy life, and even increase their longevity. These positive aspects cannot be weighted easily against the negative effects. We cannot conclude that religion, in general, is bad — or, for that matter, good. This is because different positive and negative effects are expressed differently across varying religions, eras, cultures, and people. One has to be aware of both the boons and the banes of religion and judge each case accordingly.

One of the observations one can make, though, is that many of the positive effects of religion can be found at the level of the individual, while many of its negative effects relate to society. Hence, the solution that Humanism proposes is to let everyone practice their religion as long as this does not harm anyone else. In particular, Humanism holds that religion should be kept out of politics, lawmaking, public education, and national identity.

Religious freedom means that you can believe whatever you want.
It does not mean that you can do whatever you want.
The Candid Atheist

Humanism and harmful practices

Humanism advocates freedom of religion, i.e., the right of everyone to practice a religion or none at all. However, Humanism gives free reign to religion only if no harm is done to nonconsenting others1. In particular, Humanism opposes any practice that

prevents people from marrying outside their faith;
prevents its adherents from leaving the religion, for example by punishing or ostracizing apostasy;
admonishes adherents who do not want to follow these restrictions (in particular, women);
stigmatizes, denigrates, or calls for the persecution of adherents of other religions or atheists;
demands exceptions to the law;
violates the separation of state and religion;
opposes criticism of its tenets by non-adherents, for example through charges of blasphemy;
considers all non-adherents worthy of Hell;
calls for the discrimination of gay people;
teaches as fact stories in schools that run counter to scientific evidence;
requires the genital mutilation of children; or
permits marriage without consent, in particular of underage girls.

Wherever such practices are pursued, they impose harm on people who do not consent — be it people who want to leave the religion, who do not consent to the value system of their religion, who are outside the religion, or who are children (and thus cannot give consent). Even if such practices are merely advocated, they devalue the rights of others to live their lives unharmed. Therefore, Humanists identify, expose, and oppose such practices and their advocation. This opposition is not directed against religion in general. Nor is it directed against all adherents of any specific religion. Rather, it is directed against the harmful practices themselves, those who implement or promote these practices, and those who want to shield their religion from such criticism.

More generally, Humanism envisions an open society based on mutual respect and concern, in which opinions are exchanged freely, and people of all creeds collaborate for the common good. A practice of social seclusion of any one group runs counter to this ideal.

Those who hammer their guns into plows
will plow for those who don’t.
Anonymous

Outlook

The future of Humanism

Humanism is an evolving philosophy: It recognizes that any human construct (including itself) is imperfect and in need of constant questioning and improvement2. And indeed, there were numerous moments throughout history at which Humanism evolved: Perhaps the most glaring shortcoming of Humanism historically was its focus on humanity at the expense of nature. This focus has changed in recent decades, and the protection of the environment, animal rights, the fight against climate change, and the protection of nature are nowadays considered central tenets of Humanism 3 4 5 6 2. Future developments may strengthen the rights of animals even further, pushing for more humane conditions for livestock or even for vegetarianism altogether.

Another topic of continuous development has been LGBTQ+ rights. Humanism now supports equal rights for LGBTQ+ people (including the right to marry), and Humanists International actively advocates for these rights7. It is thus possible that LGBTQ+ rights will be made more explicit in future Humanist manifestos, for example, by mentioning that these rights apply independently of sexual orientation (as the author of this book has indeed suggested to Humanists International when the organization revised its manifesto in 2022).

Corsica has an important independence movement, although public opinion is split between independence, autonomy, and continuance in France8.
in Bastia, Corsica, France

Another desideratum that we have mentioned in this book has to do with the UN Charter that guarantees people the right to self-governance9. The issue is that if people in one region wish to secede from the host country, the UN Charter gives them no means by which to achieve this when the host country objects. Humanism could take a more explicit position here and speak out, for example, in favor of UN-administered referendums for independence (with some large threshold for independence, say, 60%), which would then have to be obeyed by the host country. Such referendums could address conflicts in Palestine, Scotland, Quebec, Kosovo, Kurdistan, Catalonia, Corsica, Northern Ireland, Yemen, Western Sahara, Ukraine, and China.

Another important issue is the right to seek and enjoy asylum: As we have argued before, a perfect implementation of this right would entail that millions of persecuted people would have to be resettled in a safe country of their choice with immediate effect. As this is unrealistic, current international law does not oblige states to accept asylum seekers10. There is thus a gap between principle and practical implementation.

A more philosophical issue is that while Humanism aims at human flourishing, it is merely concerned with putting in place the conditions for such flourishing, not actually with pushing people to achieve it. For example, Humanism fights for the right of everyone to get a healthy dose of physical exercise if they wish to. However, it does not ask people to go jogging. On the contrary, it defends the right of people to spend their lives on the sofa as a personal liberty. Humanism refuses to force people to take care of themselves, implementing the principle of negative liberty, whereby people are free to make their own choices even if others deem them unwise11. Humanism thus has to be combined with the self-determination of each individual to take care of oneself.

Those who adhere to the past won’t be able to cope with the future.
Willy Brandt

Education

Humanism aims for the flourishing of all through the use of open debate, science, individual freedom, and universal Human Rights. These devices can work only if people know how to use and advance them. This is why education plays a central role in the Humanist view of society and quest for truth. Education is also a human right[Human Rights § 26]. In a Humanist spirit, education could put emphasis on the following subjects:

Religions: Yes, religions (plural). Religions play a major role in many of today’s societies, and it is thus important to know about them. The more children know about the different religions, the more likely they will be to accept adherents of these religions. They will also be less prone to overvalue their own religion.
Science and Logic: Science is the key to understanding the physical world and, hence, all children should know its fundamentals. As The Economist has argued, the question is not whether someone who is studying physics understands it but whether someone who is not does12. Children should not just learn the sciences, they should also learn to master the scientific principles: validation by experiment, abandonment of wrong theories, and distinguishing hypotheses from validated theories. In the same spirit, children should learn about logic, logical reasoning, and the principle of falsifiability. They should also master debating techniques and the identification of fallacious arguments, which will help them avoid falling prey to malicious ideologies (religious or otherwise).
Societal Values such as Human Rights, Freedom of Speech, Democracy, Rule of Law, and Respect for Nature: In a Humanist view, human rights, freedom of speech, democracy, and the rule of law are essential principles to guaranteeing a free and egalitarian society. Children should thus learn about their history and functioning. However, these principles should not be taught as absolutes. Children have to learn to question, criticize, and improve them . In addition, children should learn about our responsibility towards nature, nonhuman life, and our planet.
Tools for a Healthy and Social life: Children should also learn how to take care of themselves. They should know about healthy eating habits, the components of a long life, basic security precautions (in traffic, when traveling, or in emergency situations), and the most important medical concepts. They should also know how to cultivate their relationship with others by learning respect for other people, the ability to conciliate disputes peacefully, and basic knowledge of the principles of law.
The “Four Cs”: Children should learn also about mathematics, science, language, history, philosophy, sportsmanship, and the arts. However, in addition, children should be given the tools to find, develop, and debate such concepts. In this spirit, education should put emphasis on what has been called the “Four Cs”: Creativity (the ability to develop new ideas), Critical Thinking (the ability to analyze and evaluate such ideas), Communication (the ability to share and debate these ideas with others), and Collaboration (the ability to develop ideas jointly with others)13.

Most importantly, these tools should not be taught to an arbitrary elite but to everyone. As British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has argued, the enlightenment of today will depend not on a few bright heads but on the rise of the general population14.

If your plan is for one year, plant rice. If your plan is for ten years, plant trees. If your plan is for one hundred years, educate children.
Guan Yiwu

Outlook

American science writer Marshall Brain imagines how a society without religion could look15. His central message is that once the belief in the supernatural is removed from a society, we can concentrate on the here and now. There is no need to spend time worshiping some mythological beings and no need to organize our lives around some rules these beings purportedly gave us. We can focus our attention on humanity, on the needy, on science, on education, on the environment, and on cherishing the good things we already have.

Of course, we do not have to wait until all people are atheists in order to begin with this endeavor. Already now, Humanism calls us to work towards the implementation of Human Rights for everybody, towards developing our laws and governments by democratic means, towards giving more freedom to more people, towards learning more about nature through the use of science, towards seeking truth and teaching it, and, ultimately, towards making life better for more people.

Interestingly, religiousness is negatively correlated with these goals: Prosperity, social stability, education, scientific progress, and happiness generally correlate with less religiousness — at least at the global level16 . Thus, if we work towards these goals, religion may yet disappear by itself.

Imagine there’s no heaven...
It’s easy if you try...
No hell below us,
above us only sky...
John Lennon in “Imagine”

End Titles

Legal terms

The Atheist Bible (hereinafter “this book”) is published by Fabian M. Suchanek (hereinafter “the author”) under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY license)17 on the Web page https://suchanek.name/texts/atheism. This means that you are free to read and use this book for your own purposes. You can even share this book, or adaptations thereof, under the following conditions17:

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Use of artificial intelligence

Individual paragraphs of this book were submitted to artificial intelligence chatbots for syntactic and idiomatic checking. However, none of the text of this book, none of the quotes by the “Candid Atheist”, and none of the artworks by the author was generated by artificial intelligence tools.

The same might not be true for artworks from other sources in this book, or for images that are included in artwork created by the author for this book. Whenever such use of artificial intelligence is known, the artwork is marked as such.

The podcasts that are available for some of the chapters have been produced with Google’s AI tool NotebookLM25. The speakers, their voices, and the content of these podcasts are thus artificially generated. The audio versions of the chapters, too, are narrated by artificial intelligence. They were generated by a commercially licensed account of NaturalReader26 based on a manually adapted version of the text.

Portraits

The Atheist Bible also contains a number of portraits of people. These portraits are governed not just by their respective licenses (which protect the photographer), but also by personality rights (which protect the portrayed person). All portrayed individuals have given their express permission for their likeness to appear in this book. However, this permission does not extend to other uses. The portraits may thus not be shared.

The author is particularly grateful to the woman holding the book on the front page of the online version of this work, and to Sarah Haider, Ariane Sherine, Jessie Chen, and Marilena Oita for their permissions.

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The graphical charter of the book was developed free of cost by Camille Paris29, and the author is very thankful for her help. The font of the quotes in this book is Fabiana30.

The cover picture of this book shows a statue of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, in the Jardin de Luxembourg in Paris, France. The blue of the sky in this picture (with the code #5478b7) serves as the accent color throughout this book.

Price of the book

Writing this book took around 20 years and cost approximately $13,000. Of this amount, $12,000 went toward professional editing services, with the remainder covering software licenses and transfer fees.

The book is available in print on Lulu.com for €52, broken down as follows: €45 for printing, €2 for Lulu.com, and €5 for the author. Should the book become available through retail stores (such as Amazon.com), the price would likely be double, as retailers typically take a 50% share of the cover price.

In any case, it is unlikely that sales revenue will recoup the costs of writing and producing this book — particularly given that it is freely available online. In return, the copyright remains with the author rather than being sold to a publisher, which is what makes it possible to offer the book online for free under a permissive license.

Acknowledgments

The author is very grateful to the numerous people who have given their feedback on the Atheist Bible. He owes immense thanks to Dr. D. Olson Pook32, the editor for the first half of this book. He did not just edit the writing, he also criticized it by help of his own vast knowledge on the topic. The work with Olson helped the author shape his ideas — sometimes inspired by Olson’s remarks, sometimes in opposition to them. Dr. Jessica Kaplan33, the editor for the second half of the book, pushed the author to substantiate his claims more by arguments and references. In several places, the author had to revise not just his writing, but also his theses. The author also thanks Roy Sablosky34 for his permission to cite from his yet-unpublished book No One Really Believes in God. Finally, the author thanks all the people who have generously agreed to review sections of this book that fall in their domain of expertise(Preface).

Summary

Main messages

Religion

Atheism

Humanism

Humanism and religion

Humanism and harmful practices

Outlook

The future of Humanism

Education

Outlook

End Titles

Legal terms

Artwork

Use of artificial intelligence

Portraits

Layout

Price of the book

Acknowledgments

References