PILLAR ONE: ATHEISTS ARE OPEN-MINDED FREE THINKERS

Except regarding the supernatural and religion.

1. In Communist Russia or China, Christians would be the ones considered free thinkers (though put in prison) in that they went against the dogmas of the atheistic culture.

2. Today in the realm of science, it is the Christians and others who argue against the dogmas of evolution who are the free thinkers (though not necessarily open-minded).

3. How could someone who denies the possibility of miracles, angels, demon possession, poltergeists, ghosts, and ESP be considered open-minded when there are centuries of anecdotal evidence and an abundance of stories of people of who have witnessed such “supernatural” phenomena.

4. Shouldn’t scientists be open-minded enough (like Newton, Kepler, Copernicus, Galileo, Pasteur, and many others) to acknowledge there may be a supernatural element to nature?

5. Evolution can’t explain the complexity of DNA, so shouldn’t evolutionist scientists be more open-minded about the flaws of evolutionary theory exposed by other scientists?

6. I had a colleague who had a poltergeist in her home that threw stove knobs across the room and extinguished lights in one room after another and then the candle in front of one of her guests.

7. I have a friend who lost her grandmother’s engagement ring that she was wearing (after her grandfather died) on a boat at an amusement water park ride one August. Her grandmother then died in October. The ring appeared in my friend’s jewelry box on Christmas Eve. Maybe there are “natural” explanations, but I have heard many similar stories for which there are no obvious explanations.

8. Most people (maybe 90 per cent) in the world believe in some sort of God or gods, spirits, or supernatural phenomena. Many people believe they will go to heaven when they die even though they never go to church. Non-spiritual people will knock on wood, throw salt over their shoulder, carry a rabbit’s foot, wear the same unwashed shirt everyday on their team’s winning streak, or do transcendental meditation, ouija boards, Feng Shui, or go to séances. So how can atheists be sure they are right and the rest of the world is wrong?

9. Lynn McTaggart, a journalist, in her book The Field, tells of scientific experiments in the last 100 years or so in telekinesis and ESP, which they see as related to what is called the Zero Point Field. This is the idea that there is a universe wide electronic web similar to the internet that connects all life and with which we can interact (like we do on our phones or computers). If so, then “Heaven” may be all around us and prayer would be a way of tuning into its frequency. She concludes that these scientists are discovering what religious people have known for centuries.

10. The Science of Premonitions by Larry Dossey, M.D. gives many examples of people who had dreams or premonitions that have come true. The Bible, of course, has a great many dreams and prophesies that came true. To paraphrase what Hamlet said to Horatio: There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in an atheist’s philosophy.

11. An atheist in order to be truly open-minded needs to include in his worldview a place for the supernatural, since there is so much evidence for it, as well as an acceptance of religion, since it is a reality of many peoples’ lives and provides great benefits to mankind (even Christopher Hitchens admitted he knew some Christians who were good people).