The Case of the Missing Brain

I’m quite surprised that this “argument” still persist – Nah, not because it’s a good argument, but because only a dullard will use this argument (no offense). Yet still, they use it. Maybe because most atheists will just ignore this as “dumb” and some Christians think that it is being ignored because no atheists can debunk it… really huh? Gwarrk!! Damn, I think I just vomited on my shirt.

Anyway, let me just point out why this argument is mostly used by those Happy Meals short of fries.

To See Is To Believe

To start this “missing brain” argument, a Christian must assume that an atheist doesn’t believe the existence of God because he “cannot see” and “cannot touch” God. That’s why the Christian will then create a straw-man – that atheism is more of an empirical reasoning.

There are reasons why an atheist doesn’t believe in a god, and most of them are through logical thinking and sound reasoning. Yes, it doesn’t need to be empirical. My favorite is the argument on the incoherence of the divine attributes of god: those omniscience, omnipotence, perfect goodness, necessary existence, simplicity, impassibility, foreknowledge, infinity… yeah, those kind of stuff. In any case, that argument doesn’t necessary need me to see and touch god – Problems, contradictions with these so-called “attributes” are good enough to make a conclusion that it doesn’t exist. Can you give me an example of a 4-sided triangle in a 2-dimensional plane or can you name an invisible, blue, married bachelor? You know what I mean. 

It’s There, Whether You Like It Or Not

You don’t need to believe in order for your brain to exist. Its existence is not dependent with your faith. It’s there, whether you believe it or not. That’s the difference between brain and god. 

Now, have you ever seen a human being doing her everyday work without a brain? Can a human being think, write, drive a car, watch TV, or post something in Facebook without a brain? Even if you can’t see your brain, there are things your brain is doing right now and I’m not even talking about invisibility. Your brain is not invisible. You can’t see your brain because your thick skull covers it. You see, your brain is inside your skull. Still not convince that you have that grey matter inside your head? You can always get it x-rayed, you can visit a neurologist and have yourself examined, or ask a friend to get a large rock and crack that “empty” skull of yours. 

So, is your brain like your god?

No. 

As I have already said, your brain is not invisible like your god.  Your brain is matter – it has mass and it occupy space. It occupy the space inside your skull and an adult brain is typically about 3 pounds (1,300-1,400 g). How about god? 

The existence of a brain is not determined by faith. Furthermore, unlike god it is not relative to culture. Different culture worships different gods yet a Muslim’s brain is the same as a Jew. An atheist’s brain has the same parts of that of an evangelical Christian. 

The “missing brain” argument doesn’t make a good case against atheism. It just make god-believers look stupid.