Science Trumps Religion; Here's Why It's Dog Days for God

In light of the holiday season I’m going to talk a little bit about god. There is an argument often posited by religious bulldogs that claims it's impossible to be a true atheist. The reason, they say, is that you can't scientifically disprove the existence of god; therefore, at most, you're but a very good, devout agnostic.

This is true. From a purely scientific standpoint you can't disprove the existence of god. Mostly because he doesn't exist, and it's impossible to disprove the existence of something that doesn't exist. But ultimately they're right. All atheists really are merely 'good' agnostics.

But this logical weapon cuts both ways. In bringing the argument to a scientific battleground, the religious mouth foamers have committed a major error: science, it's our turf. Us atheists. See, it's like an atheist arguing Christianity using biblical quotations.

Were you and I to get into an argument, you defending your irrational belief system, and me defending atheism, if at any point I quoted you a biblical passage I will have indirectly validated your book’s claim to be the source of ultimate truth. Because that's what the bible purports to be. You claim the Bible, or Qur'an, or Torah, Vedic texts, or whatever, to be the source of ultimate and absolute truth in the Universe.

If your holy book is the source of all ultimate truth, does that make the scientific progress allowing the existence of your McDonald's cheeseburger and giant SUV a lie?

If at any point in this discussion you mention science or the scientific method by talking about proof, however, you've indirectly validated our argument by the same rule: that science is the source of ultimate truth. In short, that man began as a green funky smelling goo billions of years ago, that he crawled out of the ocean flapping and gasping for air to support his carbon based frame, that he swung through the trees and ate the lice off his mate's hairy back, and that he eventually grew and oversized brain that allowed him to become bipedal and develop complex communication structures.