10 Minutes of Religion being Pulled Apart by Peter Atkins 

I would rather have questions that can not be answered than answers that can not be questioned.

"Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool." Voltaire

Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens have both played a part in my de-conversion.

We know that less than one million years ago we were savannah apes roaming East Africa, and before that (5 million years ago) we were rainforest apes, and 35 million years ago we were something like a macaque monkey, and before that likely a ground predator - possibly like a small canid. So at which stage did we suddenly become superstitious and create a God? It must have been quite recently - perhaps 15,000 to 10,000 years ago - when farming communities started to form and nomadic herders settled. Religions relate to rulings for communities - eg. love thy neighbour, there are references to domesticated animals. If a God did exist he would have been a power for all existence - not an anthropomorphic imagining that only modern humans could communicate with.

The lengthy and ongoing religious based land dispute in the middle east is all the evidence you need of the corrosive effects of religion on humanity.

No waffling but precise and to the point. Thanks again Mr Atkins.

“We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid.” ― Christopher Hitchens

I have said that it is possible to conceive of a religion that if the entire global population believed it to be true, the world would be a better place. It would be a religion of non-violence with no prejudices in terms of race, sexual preference, etc. As for the existence of a god, I have placed the odds at about 10,000 to 1 that a god existed _at some time_ . I place the odds at about 100,000,000 to 1 that if a god does exist, it is the god spoken of in some religion sometime in human history.

That was a great video. Peter Atkins is a clear and concise speaker of reason, logic, evidence, science and critical thinking. A credit to humanity if there ever was one.

As a US Army veteran and gay man, I bothers me that the USA is the only developed first world country that is so strongly influenced by religious beliefs in our sociopolitical sphere. The number of religious followers in the USA greatly exceeds that of all other developed first world countries. This is one of the major reasons why USA politics are so polarized and fractured.

Lovely. So gentle and calm and honestly rational.

I think I'll share this video at Christmas time. Just for the fun of it. 😂

Terrific speech. Fully expected from Oxford.

People don't need god; but god certainly needs people.

Someone just commented me on another channel, that 'God' is going to directly talk to him about his plan. Didn't God talk to Jim Jones and other death cult's leaders about 'their' plan? Why I can NEVER trust a Christian. 'WHO' in the... is talking to them? Another Christian said it's about having a 'personal' relationship with Jesus. OMG, people have personal relationships with REAL people. DO NOT have personal relationships with characters from movies, books and dreams, unless you know them in 'real' life.

One of the problems I have with religious belief is that none of the supernatural claims it makes can be falsified or verified in any way...yet believers will cling to those claims as if they are factual..."YOU JUST HAVE TO BELIEVE!!" I see no reason to accept any of it as real or true because I've never been shown anything that gets me there...and the claims all sound like primitive, childish non-sense, because as far as I can tell that's all it is. And in case anyone is wondering...science does not claim that the "big bang" was the beginning of the Universe, nobody knows the actual origin, it may have existed forever. The big bang is as far back as anyone can investigate because that is where our time line began...humanity might not even have the capacity to understand the beginning of it's existence anymore than an ant can know where that sidewalk they are crawling across a came from.

"... camouflage of ignorance" ... God & religion ... I concur! 😉

Magnificent! Thank you for posting this! ❤

"All Religions pride themselves on developing analogies, normally after the truth has been discovered by Scientists." -Peter Atkins

I read the bible to become an atheist, Dawkins, Atkins, Hitchens, Dennet, Delahunty Aron all confirmed with facts why my decision was the best and right one to make

"Abnegation" = the action of renouncing or rejecting something e.g. "abnegation of political power". I'm 77 years old and that's the first time I've heard the word used. Thank you Peter Atkins for your beautiful use of the English language.

Can't wait for the theists embarrassing themselves by addressing anything but what is talked about in the video.

@5:13 No more words are so truthful.

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Can I share this with a deeply religious person? What will they think of me? Maybe what I think of them on this topic? I am not only an atheist, I am more than convinced that it's a sickness of society to keep it alive, a bad joke created over 4000 years ago in western societies, longer in other cultures. And yet they want to cling on these thoughts. I'm going to have fun as long as I am here on this planet, don't want to leave it either, but am amazed what they are finding. Evidence is scientific, superstition is not.

He should understand that common people cannot understand somethings. When they see molecular machines dna they feel it is the evidence of god. people like prof atkins have studied subjects like chemistry and went very deep in to these subjects. They have that maturity to understand that origin of life is possible without a designer. The honest answer is we dont know and questions like existence of god are undecidable.

god=Abnegation of the intellect! Beautiful words...👌

Religions can not prove what they preach. However, they can take your money.

It must be especially frustrating for the scientific community when apologists piggyback on their painstakingly and professionally arrived at conclusions in order to highjack some level of gravitas, only to make additional conclusions while doing NO ADDITIONAL SCIENCE. This is why we can't take apologist's "scientific" claims seriously.

Couldnt have said it any better.

Strong arguments that the world is not yet ready to accept.

"Why stop at 42?" Well, we all know the answer to the question of the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

Richard Dawkins made me an atheist thank goodness.

In the Greek Language, we have an expression for Mr. Peter Atkins' argument. We call it "the Wooden Language Argument", that is to say the subject uses highly sophisticated words, such as "the Gap of God" or "the Abnegation of Truth", to support his argument, but he dodges the big questions, like What is Consciousness, how did the first life forms evolve, the lack of fossil remains to support Darwin's theory, the fine-tuning problem etc, Life is more like staring at the Stonehenge, or the Statues of the island of Pascua. I may not have the slightest idea how they got there in the first place, but that should not stop me from arguing that there is overwhelming evidence pointing to an intelligent design. I am not arguing that God exists or that there is intelligent design in the universe. My argument is that there is overwhelming evidence that it appears much more logical to attribute life and the creation of the universe to intelligent design than not.

Spot on and wo wonderfully succinct

Excellent common sense. Logical existence. The way forward in a meaningful life.

Thanks for that. Geezus H Christ I can't stand organised religion. 🇦🇺👍

The purpose of "god" is to provide power and money to the people who run religions.

A God who needs praise, worship and told how wonderful and powerful he is whilst remaining both silent and invisible is surely a 100 % evidence or high probability of God being a man made concept 😊

Brilliant!

Imagine...your birth is decreed by a higher being, yet you have absolutely no idea of your understanding, tens of years later, of what has been decreed. If a higher being actually exists, then why not install your belief from birth? Answer...it’s man made...

​ ​ exactly, the book with vague prophecies and reasoning. If God was good, all powerful, and not invisible with an humongous ego he could create a creation and show actual love daily without allowing evil. I call bullshit

How can space, time, and matter come from a god that is described as timeless, non-spatial and immaterial

It's true, some religionists are guilty of an abnegation of the intellect. Many folks like easy ways out. But to suppose that all religionists fall into this category is a strawman argument. Choosing to ignore nuance, is also a bit of an abnegation of truth.

I read a story about an imaginary god named Yahweh/Jesus, invented by ancient Hebrew tribes, and now Yahweh tells me what to do.

Comment for the algorithm.

Anyone following the Daybell case will agree this is worth y of the worlds scorn.

superstition - noun 1a: a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation b: an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition 2: a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary Merriam-Webster

Hurray 🎉

These videos always have at least 1 or 2 butthurt people in the comments who are still brainwashed by religion.

3:20 It alarms me a room full of people didn’t get this 42 joke. RIP, Douglas.

Nice that you found the channel Closer To Truth

Isaac Newton a genius couldn't figure out what causes gravity so he concluded it must be God causing gravity. Hundreds of years later Einstein Shows time space warpage causes gravity NOT GOD

I’ve time stamped the video for your convenience 0:00-5:10 Scientist plays Philosopher 5:10-10:14 Scientist plays Priest

The man who told us that our understanding of reality was kids' play nonsense also told us why science has got too big for its own boots, the same way religion did. These were his words: “Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of Nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.” ― Max Planck, Where is Science Going? It makes Peter Atkins's shredding of religion pretty pointless. Plank and his Quantum colleagues told us to wake up to the new paradigm a century and a quarter ago and we're still deeply entrenched in Darwinian and Newtonian nonsense. And Christianity! And Capitalism!! And Materialism-run-amok!!! And the absolute failure to see that only a few of us will survive Nature's revenge now clearly under way.

Video title: "Ten minutes of religion pulled apart by Peter Atkins". Reminds me of the cute little mechanical clockwork toy that, when wound up, could speak all kinds of educated gibberish for 10 minutes.

informative beyond measure

In many cases, the first instance of child abuse, though unintentional, by the parents.

Eloquent and brutal, I enjoyed that immensely🧠💨👍

Wouldn't people need to start thinking before they'd be in the position to stop thinking?

The moment belief in a God is accepted, the mind seeks a superficial purpose instead of a precose predicament.

God doesn't pay my bills. I'm not being cheeky. I'm not being cheeky, at all.

( ;｀Д´) This is an artistic proof that the universe was created. When you paint a shadow its the opposite color of the object that made the shadow. Nobody knew what the opposite color of white is so the artists avoided painting white on white. The opposite color of white is baby blue and baby pink. The first artist to figure it out was Norman Rockwell. I was the second artist to figure it out. I saw it in the corner of a white room. The lighting was perfect to see it.

This is tragic because it's filled with opinion claiming to be truth, and it perpetuates lies through omission. Many of us who embrace the concept of a being that transcends our being are not anti-intellectual, not anti-science, nor are we lazy, and nor are we just shallow. We are writers, teachers, scientists, and any other profession you care to name. Most of us don't sit around contemplating the existence of God, trying to convince you of the existence of God, or dreaming of an afterlife of bliss. Many of us ponder exactly the question the speaker asks: why can't there be an unlimited number of seemingly random and unpurposed universes? In my 70-plus years of existence in this mortal frame, I've been a spiritual wanderer. In college I studied world religions, Greek, Hebrew, and the ancient Hebrew and Christian texts, becoming something of a biblical scholar. I fully understand why intellectuals dismiss the Bible as nonsense or, even worse, vile. But a few decades ago I decided to cast my lot with the teachings of Jesus and dedicate my life to caring for the marginalized, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing relationships, forgiving and praying for my enemies and just generally loving my neighbor. This is my purpose because I made it my purpose. I attend a Christian church which provides an organized structure and enables me to accomplish things that I could not accomplish alone. Plus I enjoy prayer and meditation and singing and hearing beautiful music. No, I don't have to be part of a religious community in order to enjoy all of that, it's just my preference. I love our Sunday gatherings and our loving fellowship. I teach a class of senior citizens, and you will not find a group of old people who are more intellectually curious. The focus of our group is to support each other in making the world a better place and to engage in lively discussions and fellowship. And before I close I would like to mention that it's the tendency among atheists to point to the evil that religion has wrought in our world, often rightly so. However, I rarely hear atheists expound on the horrors that have been brought to bear by the irreligious. Not wishing to end on a negative note, I wish everyone joy and peace in their lives.

I went from Christianity to Atheism thanks to teachings of Buddha

I have followed many debates of evolution Vs creation, which is essentially atheism Vs God, and those debates finished over a decade ago. Evolution came in second place, when not one protagonist when asked, could come up with a credible scenario, of how the language and computer like code within DNA could form , ie with unguided gene mutations. And by the way, Dawkins knew that many years ago, but still preaches his failed Darwinian theory.

Does anyone know what soundtrack is playing in the background?

“Who” started everything is wrong right away. Why a “who”?

Thank God i'm an Atheist.

Were it not for religion, we would by now be populating our solar system.

It was primitive man’s first attempt at making sense of things.its now 2024 out dated and doesn’t make much sense.its for the mind that needs comfort and little thinking about are existence as well as being full of holes.it’s main reason for people believing is the hope of eternal life.who would want to live for eternity really?

God made me an atheist.

*God did it : **_A thought stopper_** ;* (an appeal to a bigger mystery) Science gives us answers of "how" things work, but "God" as an explanation, explains nothing, as no one has any clue "how" God does or creates anything.

Commenting to boost the channel. ❤

All the graves in Jerusalem opened and the corpses danced in the streets ,on the resurrection!😂😂😂😂😂

On the question of first cause, Atkins says: I hope math will eventually figure it out. He also says that any other point of view is a “camouflage”. I am completely amazed that atheists are actually impressed with this stuff. The God-of-the-gaps rant that follows is as predictable as it is tiresome, a mischaracterization of the mind of the scientist who is a theist. By the way, throughout his talk this particular scientist ignores the simple fact that there are many real scientists who are theists. His selectiveness regarding who is in the world of science, past and present, is both pompous and dishonest. In fact, name one scientific realm that is *without* scientists who are theists. Fact: design is evident in objects that have been made (engineered) by humans with minds. I say this as a person who taught engineering design within degree programs. There are books like that of Dieter on how to systematically engage in this discipline called design, how to train the already-intelligent mind to learn to form and order and synthesize things that are individually useless - into systems that perform complex functions in time and space, even under variable constraints. If you think that the solution to a complex design problem within a given realm (chemical, electrical, material, mechanical, hybrid) kind-of falls in your lap after a little bit of reasoning, you are rube. Many designs and aspects of designs are ‘strokes of genius’; that is to say, a mind that has some genius has produced an ingenious solution: no precedents, a true innovation. The complex ‘machine’ with its many irreducible complexities obviously has no idea what is going on, nor do its dissimilar components or operational steps. The synergetic interdependencies alone would be a miracle without a mind, there is no chapter in Dieter on design by undirected blind chance. So I say again that it is undeniable that design is *evident* in systems and processes and objects that have been engineered by a mind. Dawkins is revered, here in the Comments section. He has said the following in print, and mark these words: “It is uncanny” how much some things in nature look as “if they have been designed”. It is therefore not unreasonable to suggest, it is perfectly rational to suggest, that maybe they look that way (like they have been designed) because they *were* designed. However, Dawkins and Atkins immediately dismiss this possibility out-of-hand and will even insult any person with a mind who attributes such uncanny things TO a mind. They claim that all is explainable using time, stirring of matter, and energy. (What, no information?) I see that position as a kind of faith. In his book, Dawkins actually presents the option to us. He is explicitly saying that there is rationale evidence before our eyes that design was at work (using the word “uncanny” to describe it) and then says that everyone MUST reject design, because all is explainable using time, stirring of matter, and energy. That is a kind of faith. Later on Professor Atkins describes some religions. It is quite true that people believe in things that are untrue. That is an every day reality but it does not mean that nothing is true. Atkins has this ‘classical’ concept of religion as a kind of lattice of religiosity; priests authoritatively conditioning people, religion thick with trappings, etc. I am a person of faith, faith in God, the God who is a Person, and this religiosity is foreign to me. Atkins characterization of the centre of my world is way off the mark but is quite common when it comes from atheists. It is almost as though they had some childhood experiences that they never got over. Is genuine faith “bad for society”? What is the basis, Professor Atkins, within your 100% material universe, for attributing value to the individual human being that is in that society? Are we $3 worth of C H O N S P plus some trace elements? What do you say to the Hitler who sends the mentally retarded person to the gas chamber because they will not ‘contribute’ to society’s ‘advancement’?

"What started it all" is a question that eats itself. If you posit some thing, well, that thing is part of "it all", so you haven't actually answered the question.

You feature good speakers and belittle them by typing out (often inaccurately) what they say in OPEN captions which distracts attention from the speakers. Viewers with accessibility issues can easily use optional CLOSED captions to meet their need.

Was Newton giving up trying to think? Intellect evolves just like organisms do.

Total correctness.

Also the Holy One came upon me, and I beheld a white swan floating in the blue. Between its wings I sat, and the æons fled away. Then the swan flew and dived and soared, yet no whither we went. A little crazy boy that rode with me spake unto the swan, and said: Who art thou that dost float and fly and dive and soar in the inane? Behold, these many æons have passed; whence camest thou? Whither wilt thou go? And laughing I chid him, saying: No whence! No whither! The swan being silent, he answered: Then, if with no goal, why this eternal journey? And I laid my head against the Head of the Swan, and laughed, saying: Is there not joy ineffable in this aimless winging? Is there not weariness and impatience for who would attain to some goal? And the swan was ever silent. Ah! but we floated in the infinite Abyss. Joy! Joy! White swan, bear thou ever me up between thy wings!

Any religion despite it's intention causes more harm and needless confusion than actually any real good. It's decency that will save the world. Thiests just hold it down to their level.

"Wonderful Truth" sounds like doublespeak to me.

It won't take 10 minutes when you stand in front of the Almighty on Judgement day for him to condemn you to Hell.

Have you guyz ever heard of Dharma ? Dharma or Dharmic traditions are not religions - Dharma respects both believers and Atheists Doesnt matter what you follow - let your Karma be harmless. Dharmic traditions - Hindu, Buddha, Jain & Sikh

religion has to do with faith - but faith, to believe something, is just the appendix of the mind - our ancestors couldn't understand yet, so they believed and passed this on to their children - it is like the appendix in the colon, good for nothing - and beware when it enlflames ! You believe only when you don't know, and the reason that you don't know is just because you are either to lazy to figure out how things work, or you are just too stupid to figure it out - but most people don't figure things out, because they are too scared to do this, because all those believers scare you to hell and so you loose courage !

TLDR ~ We don't know. Nobody knows. I support a cynical approach to religion, particularly to established religions. Here is a passage I wrote earlier ~ ------------ Father, it has been some time since my last confession ... I am going to comment on the click-bait headline without watching the no doubt wonderful two and a half hour telecast. That in itself, does not say wonderful things about the quality or relevance of my comment. I am a person of 60 years, who has been exposed to both Catholic and C of E religions. I am an Australian, live in Brisbane. I have some degree of curiosity about spiritual and supernatural claims. I have experienced some things which on face value, suggest I am a psychic. The more likely explanation, is I was lied to and I have lied to myself, but some of those 'memories' are extremely convincing. I have tertiary qualifications in IT and the 1st year of that was a common course with the electrical engineers, so ... I am an enthusiastic follower of science and astronomy and cosmology, as well as computers. Religiously, these days, I am a cynical agnostic. I think if any of the religions is right, it's most likely the Atheists, but I don't know that any more than the Pope knows God's private unlisted mobile number. I am pretty sure the whole stable of religions that come out of the Old Testament, Jewish Orthodox, Christian, Muslim ~ are wrong. It is a set of religious ideas and thoughts originating from nomadic Arabic / Semitic tribes about 3 ~ 4 thousand years ago, and I have no reason to credit those camel jockeys with great credence about women's rights or political discourse or science, philosophy, so why the heck would I have great regard for their ideas about a single ghost in the sky to give them fairies at the bottom of their garden? Or thirty virgins to rape when they enter heaven? The whole concept that these kinds of spiritual thoughts form the only true & correct basis for the moral direction of modern man, is like thanking the billionaires for trickle down economics. You've been listening to bad men telling you silly stories and you have believed them. Brother John at the church offered you a sly smoke and a can of coke if you sucked his sav and now you think Brother John is a good bloke. You've been lied to and abused and now you are presenting the lies of your abuser to justify your belief, that society and civilisation gets directed and steered by the powers of good, as represented by brother John and his sly smoke & coke and blowjob. People are, for the most part, tempted toward the good, tempted toward truth and honour and being better. Religion likes to claim that as their influence but it isn't. Religion is morally neutral, it's like smoke in the wind. It goes where the congregation goes. Now the man in the dress at the pulpit can maybe have a significant influence on that, but the congregation give him that authority, and they can withdraw it any time they like by not going to the weekly indoctrination service. Atheism is a belief that there is no spiritual realm, no higher being ... and Atheists are just as religious about that as Catholics or Muslim suicide bombers. I think the Atheists are most likely right, but I sure as hell don't "believe" that. I believe being deeply and openly religious, puts a leash on you like a bondage and discipline fetish, and being open and professing that you've 'found Jesus' and Jesus has cum into your life, is like walking around wearing a red ball-gag. Walking around and professing how firmly Atheist your are, is one step removed from that.

Many a religious person has but a minimal understanding of religion (and even less about who and what God really is), thus, it's hardly surprising that an atheist would have even less, and make rash judgements based on faulty definitions of God. We do agree that there is much that is childish about religion, or perhaps better said 'merely simplistic'. But I side with John Lennox when he asks "who created the laws of physics?" So many of us take 'givens' of reality for granted, that we fail to discern their deeper meanings.

“It could be the case, some theoretical models give some credence to it, that ours is not the only universe” This is far from saying there is any concrete evidence for the existence of any other universe(s). We may have no concrete evidence for the existence of the Multiverse, but that does not mean that it is invalid to postulate a good theory that there might be a Multiverse. Of course, exactly the same can be said for the existence of God. My own opinion is that ours is the only universe, but I am completely open to admitting that I may be wrong. I think we would all be better if we have the same attitude towards the existence of the divine

I can't downvote this vide because of the content. However, I can't "give it a thumbs up" because of the dramatic music. I'm here to listen to someone speak. Still, thank you for the video.

One of the biggest problems in these is people mixing spirituality and religion as being the same thing. The first we cannot survive without, the second we can miss like toothache. Please acknowledge the difference.

Same as Heaven, where is it supposed to be. Is it floating around in space trying not to crash into one of the many other religions from around the world! There will be yet another excuse for it's existence like that of the fairy tale gods of the world.The sad truth of weak minded people who feel insecure about themselfs.

Why does the amputated arm and leg of a sex change individual retain the original sex chromosome arrangement of THE X AND Y ?

"god of the gaps"... is an ever decreasing pocket of scientific ignorance

Amen!

*God is the clay & humanity, the sculptor.* More like, _made in our image._ God believers past & present, have never been able to agree on Gods wishes, traits, goals or even his name.

I think one can believe in God without being at all religious.

I don’t get it about god. So god created a universe with trillions of other galaxies which we never found until recent astrophysics and out of those trillions of galaxies that have trillions of stars then god created human life on one little planet in one little galaxy and created humans to worship god and if we don’t worship this entity we get tortured and suffer for eternity. Yes, sure make sense.

I know there is a God, the bible told me so. That is so stupid.

*Let the Sunshine In...*