The more I talk to atheists, the dumber a lot of them are. Yes, I said atheists. Just because you reject belief in a god, that doesn’t necessarily make you a rational individual.

That happened again today, so I wanted to take a couple of minutes to explain. This is not at all unusual. These people really have no clue what they’re doing wrong.

So this came up on Reddit, of course, where someone posted a question. “Do you treat theism and gnostic atheism the same?” I posted that I do. Anyone who makes a positive claim needs to be able to back it up. It doesn’t matter what the claim is, it doesn’t matter who makes the claim, positive claims bear the burden of proof. That’s just how it goes. We need to be consistent. Sadly, a lot of people aren’t.

So a couple of people popped up claiming that gods absolutely did not exist. How they know that, I don’t know. Therefore, I asked. I pointed out that there is a difference between saying “based on the evidence that we have, there is no reason to think any gods are real” and “no gods are real, period”.

Sadly, neither of them could figure out that very simple truth. It’s painfully obvious that both are young and have no actual philosophical experience. One of them started asking if I thought unicorns were real. No, based on the evidence that we have, at least not here on Earth. There’s no way to tell if, a million light years away, there might be a planet with unicorns somewhere, therefore I cannot say that they definitively do not exist. No one can. Well, no one with an ounce of rationality.

That idiot came back and started saying “then tell everyone you know that you believe in unicorns and embarrass yourself!” You know, typical childish response. That meant I was done talking to that asshole. If you can’t behave like an adult, then I’ve got no time for you.

The other, however, kept going around and around. He acknowledged that we have no evidence for gods, which is factually correct, but kept asserting that somehow meant that no gods could possibly exist.

That is demonstrably false. I didn’t say it, but I could have. There was a time when we had no clue that DNA was real. That doesn’t mean that DNA wasn’t always there. There was a time when most people thought the Earth was flat. They were simply mistaken. Even though all of the evidence they had showed it likely true, their understanding was incomplete at best. They were just wrong.

Therefore, as we know that our data is woefully incomplete, taking a positive position on anything is really difficult if we wish to remain rational. We can only go where the evidence we currently have at hand leads us, provisionally, understanding that more data will be coming down the road.

I tried to explain that and it didn’t help. Clearly, this was an emotional issue to the atheist and emotion always gets in the way. He wanted to have a positive position and even though I think he understood what he was doing wrong, he wasn’t going to acknowledge it. In fact, he went right down logical fallacy lane by accusing me of not wanting the consequences of taking a hard-line approach.

The argument from consequences rears its ugly head again, I see. Again, I tried to explain, he didn’t care. That was when I decided to walk away. It was just a complete waste of time.

Logic exists for everyone. It applies everywhere. Once you allow your emotions to cloud your rational judgement, you’re already on the way down. I hold everyone accountable and most people don’t like that. I don’t care, but it’s sad to see how many people are just stupid, no matter what side of any arbitrary line they might be on. They just want to believe.

It’s no less stupid for the atheists than it is for the religious.