The Irrational Atheist

[Rade]

Originally Posted by lawcat

I think the premise is: killing is irrational. The conclusion is: both a theist and atheist who kill are irrational.

I seem to recall God commanding lots of killing, sending angels to do the dirty work, also commanded the chosen people to kill often. So, if your premise is in fact true, sure seems like you provide a good argument that God is irrational.

[Rade]

Originally Posted by HydrogenBond

.... If the irrational atheist decided to kill, what would be their motivation?....

At the root cause, it would be called greed. As an ideal person, the concept of the rational atheist would never decide to kill (another human), except in self defense. The philosophic system that explains how this is possible was developed by Ayn Rand. To Rand, the rational atheist would (as the ideal human) live without any desire of greed (for they are selfish in the sense of never having excessive desire for what the self cannot provide). Rand would also define reason as being the opposite of all forms of mysticism, thus by logical definition, all mystics (here just put in the name of your religion) are irrational.

[lawcat]

Originally Posted by Rade

I seem to recall God commanding lots of killing, sending angels to do the dirty work, also commanded the chosen people to kill often. So, if your premise is in fact true, sure seems like you provide a good argument that God is irrational.

But Rade, I never implied or expressed that a theist or atheist kill on command; that is to say, that neither is being possessed. Both killings are voluntary. That is the implication.

Then, you express that God commanded lots of killings as a true premise. Implicit in that is that there is a God. And implicit in that is that theists were possessed by God to kill, but not atheist; meaning theists acted involuntarily. And if involuntary is without reason, then theists' killings are irrational.

I don't want to go that far because that invites a counterargument how some atheist have done irrational killings, or involuntary killings, such as in the army etc. I don't want to go there.

My post was simply a synopsis of the OP's argument.