Here are some questions Christians
have for Atheists.
>> But where do those
questions come from?
>> I got them from
a Christian website.
>> Yeah but where did the website
come from?
[MUSIC]
>> Okay so these questions do
indeed come from a Christian
website.
They had them listed as sort of
gotcha questions for
Atheists but I'm going to consider
them seriously.
Now, I am, for
the record, an Atheist, Brett,
you are not an Atheist.
>> Nope, Polytheist.
>> You are a Polytheist.
[LAUGH] >> Yep.
>> You believe in Greek Gods.
>> Yes! >> You do?
>> But in a very specific way.
It has to do with aliens.
And- >> So you're
signs- >> Cut off date.
It's a cut off date.
>> Of what?
>> My theory is, my general
theory of our universe- >> Mm-hm.
>> Is it was created
by an alien high schooler is
part of a science project.
>> That's possible.
>> He got like a B minus.
>> Uh-huh. >> Our universe is
in front of a triptych in
a gym somewhere in a different
set of dimensions.
And there's one next to [CROSSTALK]
yeah, it just has a sticker and
a ribbon.
And the one with the trophies next
to it is like right next to it.
>> It's beautiful.
>> And it's just gorgeous, and
they're like eh,
I use a lot of blue and green and
brown.
I couldn't get rid of the racism
though, I couldn't decide
on these scaley animals or
these furry animals.
>> So went with the scaley
for a while.
>> I did. >> Okay I don't have any
questions directly about that, but
we're gonna learn more about you
as we answer these question.
Okay the first question, and
this is often the first question,
is what happens when we die?
So Christians will say we
go to Heaven,
many religions have after lives.
Some people believe that we
are reincarnated.
We try to ascend to a higher
level of consciousness.
For an Atheists nothing happens.
>> Yeah, and that's frustrating for
people to hear.
>> It shouldn't be.
>> I know that I- >> It
shouldn't be at all.
>> Why?
>> The idea is that no,
there's nothing later that's scary
or that's sad.
>> Yeah. >> But nothingness isn't
scary and it's not sad.
You've already experienced
nothingness.
You experienced approximately 6
billion years of nothingness.
>> But I didn't, though.
>> Before you were shot out
of your father's penis.
[LAUGH] Like, you.
I know, exactly.
And you didn't suffer.
You weren't scared.
You weren't sad.
You weren't depressed.
It was just nothing.
>> Yes. >> And you live on in
the memories of the people that
you knew and the things that you
did for the world.
That's all that is needed.
There is no suffering after you die
if you're an Atheist.
>> Yeah. >> Because there
is nothing.
>> Well I don't think anyone is
afraid of suffering.
They're afraid of
nothing >> Of what.
>> They're afraid of nothing.
>> You experience nothing every
time you go to sleep.
It's one of the greatest things
in the world.
>> No. God there's something wrong.
>> That's why I snooze
all the time. >> But
yeah, I don't disagree with you
cause I don't disagree with your,
it's very clear you have an ability
to not be bothered by that.
>> Just takes [CROSSTALK] think
about it.
>> But in the same way that they
have to understand how at peace you
are with that whole concept.
>> Mm-hm.
>> You have to understand how
frustrated they are with theirs.
But if it's an argument that, but
what happens after you die?
Like if you are a Theist trying to
win an argument,
that is not a gotcha question
because there's clearly an answer,
that Atheists have for it.
The answer is nothing.
For me you warp.
>> [LAUGH] >> Into another
set of dimensions, which is at the,
it's next to the triptych.
>> And it's
essentially like an oculus, and
you've been able to warp into it.
And when you're done
it's only been ten minutes, and
then you go to the next one- >> And
you go back to your family.
>> I think Christians might dislike
your theory more.
>> Yeah, but it's a theory,
and there's plenty of
scripture in here.
>> In there.
>> And you can't say no.
>> And someday it'll be written
down on bathroom walls in feces.
Yeah.
>> Next one.
Where does morality come from,
if not from God?
>> My God, that's an easy one.
People.
>> Well, I would argue, first of
all, look, if you're a Christian,
I understand that you think that
your morality comes from God,
but it comes from temporally and
geographically limited humans,
interpreting old books.
To fit the way that they are.
That's literally where Christian
morality comes from, originally
supposedly comes from God, or
at the very least from the people
that wrote down what he said.
Or people who heard 30 or 40 years
after he said it what they said,
and then they wrote it down,
and then it was translated a bunch
of times, and sections were taken
out and sections were added.
That's the more complete picture,
but if it you're Atheist- >> You're
right, it is curated by
the editorial board- >> Yes.
>> Of the Catholic Church.
>> Cuz imagine if it went through
as a Buzzfeed list a couple
a dozen times.
[LAUGH] >> Yeah, exactly.
They wouldn't even realize they're
recycling- >> Probably not.
>> Old bullet points.
>> Totally, yeah. >> This is
the one that's more terrifying.
>> Mm-hm.
>> That I don't understand
of what might happen to someone
if they realized that
morality was made up by people.
The idea that morality
comes from God.
It's like, my God!
Grab yourself by the balls and
take responsibility for something.
>> Everybody wants to believe that
what they believe is objectively
true and objectively superior.
>> It's such a weird concept.
>> Yeah. But even I mean Christians
don't agree on all moral points.
>> Right. >> From groups
of Christians,
inside of groups they don't agree.
Certainly between religions,
different religions do not agree.
>> Morality seems, it seems
easiest to understand that morality
comes from like an idea of empathy,
which is like physiological.
>> Yes. >> The idea that when you
watch Back in the day, or
Grey's Anatomy which against all
odds is still on television, and
someone gets surgery.
>> That's still on television?
>> Yeah.
Surgery done.
Shonda just rules.
She created it.
So, when someone gets surgery done
on them and you can't watch it.
You're like God and you literally,
your brain, I think we might have
talked about this.
Your brain tries out
what that's like.
>> Yeah.
>> And does
little synapses that mimic
getting your chest pulled open.
The idea that you don't want that.
>> You want to limit it
happening to other people.
>> You want to limit that happening
to other people and that just
extrapolate that into every version
of the golden rule that has existed
not just because of your god, but
a lot of religions.
>> Yeah for thousands of years
before your God.
>> Yeah. >> Yeah I would just say I
think that morality is a system
that we've set up
to create the world that we want.
And I think that morality is what
works to make the world an
objectively better place, based on
empathy, based on the Golden Rule.
That's very easy for
not just humans to understand, but
many animal species seem to have an
understanding of the Golden Rule.
[CROSSTALK] And we simply do what
makes the world a better place.
We try not to infringe on
the rights of other people,
we try to make their lives better
in the hopes that our lives will be
better as well.
>> Mm-hm, I'm fine with that.
>> And that's all it takes.
And you can watch it in the world.
And there are a number of elements
of Christian theology and
various religious other dogmas
that do have that effect.
And to that extent, their systems
of morality are moral.
>> Right. >> But there's all this
other bullshit around it.
>> If you think that morality
couldn't come from anywhere but
God, your God, that's as ridiculous
as thinking like
Dane Cook invented stand-up comedy.
[LAUGH] >> Did he good at it?
Very popular, and
I laugh at his stuff a lot.
I like a lot of what he does.
But he did not invent the idea
of making jokes about airplane food
and the difference
between men and women.
Like that's funny- >> Yeah.
Or even like flicking a peanut off
the tip of your penis.
>> Bing!
>> He didn't think of that.
Maybe he thought of that.
>> And just like with Dane Cook and
the God that you believe in,
like there's a lot of
really solid material and
a lot of ridiculous stuff
that's just made up and not true.
Like no one flicks that
thing off of their penis.
>> No.
>> He didn't.
>> And no one,
yeah there's a lot of.
>> Maybe he had...
>> The central criticism against
Dane Cook is like A, he steals,
and B, which I don't care.
>> It's also true of God.
>> And that's my self
same feelings.
Like whether he steals or
creates a lot of fundamental
premises that just aren't true.
>> Or relatable.
>> Nor relatable at all.
That's how I feel.
>> That's like God.
>> I can enjoy it, but
he's not 100% amazing.
>> We should do a video, ten
ways that God is like Dane Cook.
>> I'm fine with that.
>> I'm gonna work on that.
The next one. So
can you just do whatever you want?
So the fear is
if I become an Atheist then
I'll be scared of death.
And also if
everybody became an Atheist then
the whole world would break down,
which I don't believe is true.
No, you can't do whatever you want.
Because we still have laws,
which we have whether you're in a
Christian country or Muslim country
or secular country, of which there
are many around the world.
>> Based on morality, which doesn't
necessarily have an idea
of ethics and morality, which
doesn't necessarily relate back.
>> In some cases it's based on
morality, but
in some cases it's not.
There's all various things having
to do with technology and
stuff like that,
that it's difficult to make
a strong moral argument for, but
we simply need to regulate things
to make society run smoothly.
>> What are those?
>> Well for example, should you set
up your stop light system to be
a lot of four way stops or
a lot of roundabouts?
There's not a big
moral case to be made in that but
different countries adjudicate it
differently.
>> Right. >> Because we have to
drive at some point.
>> But, traffic laws?
No, traffic laws are there so that
people don't run into each other.
>> Exactly.
>> Because we don't want
[CROSSTALK] >> Yeah, but what way
you formed them, it's not like you
have to look to the bible to figure
out if you should have roundabouts
of [CROSSTALK] >> But you're saying
it's morally wrong not to protect
your people from running into each
other all willy nilly.
>> That's one of the reasons
we established general >> Right.
>> I was there.
>> Right. Okay, so- >> So no,
you can't just do the same thing.
>> But again I'm saying it
boils down to- >> And I would just
argue that I think that our laws
should be based on, again, empathy.
So no, we wouldn't allow you
to just murder people because that
would make the world a worse place.
>> The person being murdered and
for everybody.
>> And, the idea of an atheist
having nothing to live for.
That is a Theist approach
to the consequences of Atheism.
But, I think an Atheist approach is
like, well then, all my time here
becomes that much more valuable, so
I don't want to spend it in prison.
>> Yeah.
>> So- >> Exactly. >> There
are consequences,
in fact, every moment on Earth
is that much more precious, and
actually makes the idea
of a promise of life after death,
which is rewarded through religious
martyrdom, more scary, cuz to them,
life on Earth has no consequences.
It opens the door to I have to kill
my religious enemies for
a reward after death.
That's fucking scary.
>> It's a way of knowledge of not
dealing with the immediate
consequences.
>> Yes. >> It's saying,
I'm gonna create a meta consequence
that you cannot prove exists.
>> Yeah- >> That is scary.
>> Which I can reward
myself for killing people.
>> That's a very good point.
That's a very good point.
Next one.
Where did the Universe come from?
Ha! >> Yeah,
that's a- >> If God didn't make it,
then where did it come from?
>> So this is where- >> I have
an answer for that, but
what's your answer to that?
>> You do?
My answer is, well, first of all,
you could say I don't know.
>> My answer is I don't know.
>> And I would argue that,
neither do you.
Yeah that's what I would say.
That's the exact same thing.
It's like you don't either.
So I get, and
this is the frustrating thing,
because my girlfriend and I've had
this argument, where I was like
are you an Atheist are you not?
I'm like fundamentally,
it doesn't matter.
I think Mark Marinal so goes like,
I'm not, I just don't fucking care,
and I get that.
>> I find it
interesting scientifically.
>> I get to have,
I get to make the argument that
our universe was created by a high
schooler in an alien dimension.
>> Which is a popular theory.
>> Yeah that holds water.
That's as far as it needs to go.
And his was created by
the Greek Gods.
>> Who are aliens.
>> Who are alien, no.
But in that way they're
in a Titan's thigh.
No, stomach.
>> Okay, so here's my theory.
I'm not 100% sure of this.
But based on my
limited understanding of physics
I don't believe that the Universe
came from anything.
And the reason that I don't believe
that is that space and time do not
exist independently of one another.
They are related to each other.
And without space you don't
have time.
There was literally no time before
the Universe to precede it, from
whence in effect it could come.
The only reason we have time is
because we have space and matter.
And so I don't think that it
came from anywhere, I think that it
has always existed because that its
the nature of existence.
And the reason that seems weird
is because we use our tiny little
monkey brains and
we have seen things.
And everything we see has a maker,
or came from somewhere,
but that's simply our limited
experience living for
10,000 years on one little planet.
Cosmically, that's irrelevant.
That's anecdotal.
That's a case study.
>> Right. >> That doesn't mean that
existence actually functions that
way on a grander scale.
>> Right. >> So I don't think
it came from anywhere.
Yeah yeah that makes sense.
But yeah that's what's so
frustrating.
I get that.
I get that argument.
>> [LAUGH] >> But my version of
understanding that would be- okay,
so any kind of
understanding we've had of physics
has been through this weird,
monkey-brain interpretation of it.
So, the idea of electrons and
having to be a thing, and
the idea that electrons go around
an atom is something we came up,
probably because of us going around
the sun, but it could actually just
be one electron and doesn't
necessarily have dimensions per se.
That's the problem.
So I think the easiest way
rhetorically to relate to people on
this is what you said.
And it's frustrating, and
that's the problem.
And so from a discussion standpoint
to try to get through to someone
it's so sad cuz all these questions
are based on a very transparent
understanding of things that It's
old and disturbing to you when you
really kind of wanna believe
science which is hard not to do.
>> [LAUGH] >> And it's like listen,
I don't want to be a dick, but
our understanding is like space and
time are connected.
And they only exist because of one
another, so the idea of trying to
understand a before Is just
you trying to make sense of shit,
which we're all trying to do.
I would just emphasize the shit you
should be trying to make sense of
is here right now.
>> Yeah, yeah. Well, the final
point I would make on this is
if you find it unsatisfying or
a cop-out to say the universe has
always existed, and that's not fair
because everything has a beginning.
That I would say to you who created
the universe, and
you would say God.
And that I would say but
you believe that everything
had a creation, so who created God?
And then you would say, but
wait that's not fair.
So we both believe something
existed forever.
I would say it's the thing that I'm
sitting on right now, and
you would say it's God, which
we have no direct evidence of.
>> Yeah, but the other thing is,
then that's God.
Like, God is the Universe,
that's always- >> Okay sure,
I'll take that.
That's the Einsteins view of God
[CROSSTALK] >> I never read that,
I didn't know that
[CROSSTALK] just like him.
>> Yeah, he talks about [CROSSTALK]
>> Einstein,
I always thought I was.
>> And no one else did.
Okay, final question.
>> Okay.
>> What happens if you're wrong?
So if you're wrong about God not
existing as an Atheist,
what happens?
>> If I'm wrong, nothing happens.
We go to jail, peacefully, quietly,
we'll enjoy it.
But if I'm right and
we can stop this thing.
You will save the lives of
millions of registered voters.
>> That sounds familiar.
>> Ghostbusters.
>> Damn. Okay.
That's true.
Well, I would say look.
If one particular group of
Christians is right,
then theoretically we go to Hell.
If different groups of Christians
are right then God knows
what happens, if the Jews are right
then God knows what happens,
he probably knows.
I honestly don't know.
>> Jews are right,
you don't go to hell.
>> There's no hell, right?
>> Nah. >> But there's heaven.
>> The old timey.
>> There's heaven but no hell.
>> You just go to a different spot.
>> What if the Jain's are right?
What if the Muslim's are right?
What if Nordic God
worshipers are right?
That is also as good of a question
to ask Christians, because they
will believe that either there's
God or there's not God.
But, there could be any number
of different
Gods of which the Christians
theoretically worship one.
Or, several depending
on how divergent the groups of
Christians are.
That is as true of a Muslim.
Who could be wrong about any God
existing or that particular
conception of God existing.
And so I choose to live my life in
a way that I think is both accurate
and also helpful
to the people around me.
That is what I try.
>> My response to what happens is
you are wrong would be exactly,
like exactly, why
are you taking such a side on this?
Why?
Because if you're wrong, my God,
you're setting yourself up for
such terrible consequences.
And such a let down, but then again
building to John's view is there is
no let down, cuz there's not time
for it or space because you're
not participating in this anymore.
For me, if you're wrong, at
least there's a lot more triptychs
[LAUGH] in science fair that you
can go put your eyeballs in.
>> For ten minutes at a time.
>> For ten minutes at a time,
which are lifetimes to you.
>> Exactly.
Depending on the relationship with
space and time.
>> I'm glad that we
figured this out.
>> I know, I feel like we worked
through a lot of stuff and
hopefully it was helpful.
Obviously look,
it's my nature to be snarky.
I'm not trying to disrespect
anyone's views.
I'm trying to sum up many years of
many conversations of this sort and
a lot of reading that I've done
into our little video with
the assistance of brother Eric, so
hopefully you understand what we're
trying to do and
hopefully it helps to answer a few
questions that you might have.
Atheists are not evil,
they're not Satanists,
that should be abundantly clear.
Because if you worship Satan,
you believe that something to do
with Christian theology is true.
We're just people trying to
live our lives.
>> That's right.
Jew Satan means the hinderer.
So Satan isn't a person.
It's anything that
gets in your way.
>> For Reddit. >> But it's only
there for the reason
>> Of helping you get over it, so
it's not a personal thing.
>> The obstacle is the opportunity.
>> Yes. >> There you go.
Okay, let us know if you have any
additional questions,
I can think of a few.
Perhaps we'll return to this topic
at some point.
We'll see you soon.
[MUSIC]
