The Risk of Atheism

As an atheist, I am sometimes asked what proof I have that there is no supernatural being or, for that matter, that The Force does not exist.

Of course I have no proof, and none can be offered since non-existence of something cannot be proven. I can only say "there is no evidence."

In doing so, I am opening myself up to the possibility that I am wrong. But this is what science is about. If scientifically compelling evidence is offered up, and my hypothesis cannot stand up to that evidence, I will gladly alter it.

With this stand, I am assuming all of the risks. Only I can be proven wrong.

Consider the opposite stand.

"There is a supernatural being."

Because this position is impossible to refute, it is the easiest one to adopt. There is no way to prove this statement to be wrong. It is not even a "stand" in my mind, because it requires no risk, no effort, no curiosity, only a blind acceptance of what others have said.

Of course we have to laugh sometimes, so I present Rowen Atkinson's "Warm Reception."

I guess my special moment would be at around 2:15.