Jerome's Rant

Often, when I saw a so-called rebuttal against atheism, I've noticed that it is more about misconceptions rather than an actual rebuttal. Jerome Gabijan's rant is a good example.

Obviously, Jerome was trying to discredit atheism on his post. According to his sarcasm, an atheist has total freedom because there is no god, or the concept of sin. Freedom? I really don't have any idea what's on Jerome's mind when he said "freedom." Is he saying that an atheist can do anything (good or bad) because he doesn't believe in a god? 

There are so many articles and videos explaining secular morality (or being good without a god belief) so I guess I don't have to waste your time explaining that on this post (Google is your friend). All that I'm saying is that as social creatures, atheists are bound with the same social contract that all of us are following.  Living in a society, there are no such thing as "absolute freedom." Our acts have consequences. 

But how about conscience? 

Conscience doesn't need to be religious. It is a motivation deriving logically from ethical or moral principles that govern a person's thoughts and actions. Since there are moral principles from secular sources, an atheist can have conscience based on secular moral grounds. 

Ghosts, spirits? The brain and mind are one? Curiously enough, I  have no idea what ghosts and spirits have to do with atheism. Maybe Jerome is into substance dualism - the belief that the mind and the brain are separate entities. I think he also believed that humans were given a so-called "soul" by his god. I can't blame him; the concept of the mind, a soul, ghost and spirit are usually considered as the same banana. Sadly for Jerome, he didn't prove the existence of a disembodied mind in his post so there's no need to elaborate. 

Substance dualism is really not a scientific/biological idea. It's more philosophical - made famous by Rene Descartes (1596-1650) who believed that the mind and body were separated entities. Luckily, the cases of split-brain patients have shown us the independence of the brain hemispheres - thus this divided awareness we see when a brain is divided directly contradicts the dualist notion of an "invisible" non-physical consciousness.

And what about the "survival of our gene?" What's wrong with gene survival? Because of gene survival, we have better offspring and our species trive longer. Gene survival is also the reason of biological altruism and parental care. 

So Jerome fail miserably to discredit atheism using his ignorance, and straw-man on science, and philosophy. Jerome Gabijan can rebut atheism only by defending his belief in a god. If his defense fails, his theism fails.