Introduction: Is Man Just Chemical Waste?
"The human race is just chemical waste existing on a medium-sized planet." The question here is: Is this a personal opinion or an exaggeration from "Stephen Hawking"? Or is it the inevitable result of atheism? Does man have any spiritual value without the existence of God? Do morals have any value without the existence of God?
We will answer these questions in today's episode and see terrifying examples of moral decline that atheism leads to.
Example of Lunch Invitation: The Difference Between Value and Nonsense
Imagine you received a message on your cell phone from your brother saying, "You are invited to lunch." Does this message have meaning? Of course. Is it true or an illusion? It is true. Does it have value? Yes. Do you act on it? Yes; you tell your wife and children, "We are invited to lunch at my brother's house," and you will not prepare food, and so on.
On the other hand, imagine you forgot your cell phone open in your pocket with your house keys, so the keys clicked on the keyboard of the device as you went back and forth, stood up, and sat down. After hours, you took out your device to make a call, and you saw thousands of random characters, and in the middle of them, the sentence: "You are invited to lunch." Does this sentence have an author who knows what he is doing? No. Does it have value? No. Do you act on it? No either; because even if something with meaning appears in this "mess," it will not gain value.
For those who deny the existence of God, all the moral values that a human feels, their origin is supposed to be like this "mess"; they have no value and no meaning, so he does not act on them. They came from - according to his belief - randomness that does not know what it is doing, does not promise anything, and does not commit to anything.
Materialism and Moral Collapse
In atheism that explains the universe and its existence in a purely materialistic way, there is no place for spiritual values at all; no right or wrong, no good or evil, for these are spiritual values that matter does not explain. And when man is a son of matter, and nothing but matter, there is no meaning for mercy, nor for truth, nor for loyalty, nor for honoring parents. The feeling of all this is the result of random genetic mutations like the cell phone's mess.
On the other hand, in Islam, Allah the Almighty is the Truth, and He is the Just who has forbidden injustice to Himself and made it forbidden among His servants. He is the Merciful who commanded His servants to be merciful. And the Creator has created man with a love for these values and a hatred for what opposes them, such as evil and injustice. Human desires and love of domination may cover up this innate nature, but this does not contradict that the sound innate nature is the original in him.
Therefore, in Islam, the existence of these values is explained, and their having value is explained, and man's love for them and his hatred for their opposites is explained, and the explanation for all of this is the existence of God.
Atheistic Confusion and Moral Relativism
When a person denies the existence of God the Almighty, he enters into a series of miserable atheistic confusion. The atheist has no creator nor attributes of perfection; he is only a nature that created man, and this nature is material and has no attributes of spiritual perfection, so it cannot be described with justice or wisdom, for example. Therefore, there is no place for spiritual values in a man born of this nature.
But what about man's feeling of love for good and hatred for evil? According to atheism, these are random genetic mutations that made him imagine that there is good and love that good imaginary, and that there is evil and hate that evil imaginary.
One of the prominent atheists, "Richard Dawkins," was asked: "In the end, is your belief that rape is wrong entirely arbitrary just like the fact that we evolved with five fingers instead of six?" He said, "Yes, you can say that." That is, it was possible for the blind chance they claim to take another course resulting in man feeling that there is no wrong in rape, and the matter is entirely arbitrary. So, it is not possible to describe either of the feelings that rape is wrong or acceptable as right or wrong; this feeling is only the offspring of random chance.
Therefore, the moral tendency of those who deny the existence of God is unknown in its source, and it cannot be described as right or wrong, nor is it consistent with the attributes of a higher being, nor is there an afterlife reckoning for it, so it is not absolute.
Terrifying Examples of Contemporary Atheist Thought
Let's see some examples from the words of their famous figures and theorists:
In a debate titled "Islam and Atheism: Which is More Logical?", Professor "Lawrence Krauss" was asked about the reason why incest is wrong for him as an atheist. That is, Krauss, unless you rely on absolute values based on the existence of God, on what basis do you consider incest wrong, for example? So, what was his answer? He said, "It is not clear to me that it is logically wrong."
And Dawkins commented on this statement by describing it as a "pearl," considering that whoever is disgusted by this logic is a "pig" who does not appreciate its value! Dawkins himself, who said in his book (The God Delusion): "We do not cheat, we do not kill, we do not commit incest," now sees the matter as relative and a personal choice, but he defends his colleague Krauss's point of view.
And there are other examples of moral decline:
- Professor Greaves: Calls for not criminalizing incest and removing the article that punishes it from the law.
- Dr. Dan Barker: Says that rape may be a moral matter "from the need for it."
- Professor Peter Singer: Does not see any harm in "bestiality" (sexual relations with animals) and defends the killing of newborns with disabilities if it is in the interest of the parents.
- Sam Harris: Defends rape and considers it part of the "evolutionary strategy."
- David Silverman: President of the American Atheists, admitted in a debate that torturing and eating children is not absolutely wrong, but it is relative, because he knows that the claim of absolute error requires the existence of God.
The Danger of Moral Relativism
There are people in our Muslim societies who use relative phrases and think that there is no place for absolute truth, and that values are a matter of dispute and not definitive. These people may be disgusted by the statements of the atheists mentioned, but they do not notice that this is the natural result of the idea of "moral relativism." If values are not based on the light of revelation, then they are lost: {And whoever Allah does not give him light, he will have no light.}
The atheists raised a question: "How can good and evil be determined without believing in a god?" Their question is a logical fallacy; for without a god, there are no spiritual values at all. Nevertheless, they began to write books to try to "secularize" ethics, such as the book (The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values) by Sam Harris, and the book (The Science of Good and Evil). But they are all miserable attempts; for experimental science cannot tell you in the lab about "justice" or "injustice."
Conclusion: Honoring Man in Islam
"Stephen Hawking" was consistent with his atheism when he described humans as "chemical waste," for he relieved himself of searching for morals for this waste. Compare that with the saying of Allah the Almighty: {And certainly We have honored the children of Adam}; honored them to be worthy of the status of servitude to a God of perfect attributes.
In this episode, we explained the indication of the moral tendency on the existence of God and that there is no basis for morals in the shadow of denying His existence. In the next episode, we will explain that atheism puts its followers at a crossroads: either they contradict themselves by choosing noble morals, or they agree with their atheism and adopt the worst morals and most criminal.
Peace be upon you.