Plenty of atheists still scream that he didn't exist at all, which is a solid note how little actual research they do despite claiming its all for science.
They want to do drugs and have wild sex, so thereby anything that prevents that is bad, and because its bad it must be lies and opiates for the masses. And then they just keep working back to tear off little details and inconsistencies to prove it. Any evidence to the contrary doesn't fit within their schema, so its rejected wholesale.
Or, the other common alternative, their dad made them go to church and they hated that/him. So its bad and the cycle works back from there.
Or if they aren't degens, it's rationalization of existential dread and resentment at the state of humanity. They'll often claim that religion stems from our inability to accept death, but their atheism is the same existential anxiety. A complete rejection of higher meaning and purpose is how they live with the fact that bad things happen and people die.
To qualify your "always" assertion, I'll just make it clear I'm talking about vehemently rigid atheists, not the non-believers that would be better called agnostic, or don't care one way or another.
Hey, I know I'm pulling the 'no true Scotsman' fallacy with this but, they aren't actually atheists.
They only go to less than surface level of 'there is no god' and in their shallow interpretation think 'that means no higher power so no rules and no consequences at the end of this life'
When you REALLY go deep into it, you start exploring the finality of existence and how important legacy is that you MAKE your own rules and even find a lot of the religious rules have wisdom (except eating pork, fuck off I like bacon!)
You get grounded REAL FUCKING QUICK when you save forced to think of your existence vanishing when you die that you either go full depression jump off a bridge mode or get really good at spotting the time wasters in your life.
And the sheer fact that claiming "a guy named Joshua didn't exist and didn't do anything" is far less likely than him just existing and not being divine.
I don't think people question the existence of Jesus of Nazareth, just the holy miracles.
Plenty of atheists still scream that he didn't exist at all, which is a solid note how little actual research they do despite claiming its all for science.
And that was what started my shift away from atheism. They are no more rational or evidence-based than the people they despise.
Atheists are always guys who work backwards.
They want to do drugs and have wild sex, so thereby anything that prevents that is bad, and because its bad it must be lies and opiates for the masses. And then they just keep working back to tear off little details and inconsistencies to prove it. Any evidence to the contrary doesn't fit within their schema, so its rejected wholesale.
Or, the other common alternative, their dad made them go to church and they hated that/him. So its bad and the cycle works back from there.
Or if they aren't degens, it's rationalization of existential dread and resentment at the state of humanity. They'll often claim that religion stems from our inability to accept death, but their atheism is the same existential anxiety. A complete rejection of higher meaning and purpose is how they live with the fact that bad things happen and people die.
To qualify your "always" assertion, I'll just make it clear I'm talking about vehemently rigid atheists, not the non-believers that would be better called agnostic, or don't care one way or another.
Hey, I know I'm pulling the 'no true Scotsman' fallacy with this but, they aren't actually atheists.
They only go to less than surface level of 'there is no god' and in their shallow interpretation think 'that means no higher power so no rules and no consequences at the end of this life'
When you REALLY go deep into it, you start exploring the finality of existence and how important legacy is that you MAKE your own rules and even find a lot of the religious rules have wisdom (except eating pork, fuck off I like bacon!)
You get grounded REAL FUCKING QUICK when you save forced to think of your existence vanishing when you die that you either go full depression jump off a bridge mode or get really good at spotting the time wasters in your life.
How dare you question the thousands of hours they spend watching Bill Maher!!! (Or insert generationally relevant asshole atheist demagogue.)
If anything we've got his court records
And the sheer fact that claiming "a guy named Joshua didn't exist and didn't do anything" is far less likely than him just existing and not being divine.
He was still a Rabbi and at least a great philosopher