Update: Unsurprisingly, Dr. Brown hasn’t actually dealt with any of the many responses he was given. Back in July 2022, he offers quite an excuse that he’ll real soon now get back to us. It’s January 1, 2023 when I’m writing this.

This is no surprise since christians don’t seem to actually want real atheists to respond. —

So, a Jewish fellow, actually a Christian, since he is one of those “jews for jesus” ignoring how Jesus failed as the messiah, has asked yet more questions of atheists. (I’m found this nonsense on Bruce’s blog)They always claim not to be asking to shore up their faith or being antagonistic, etc. This has never been the case in my experience but we’ll go with this as it is offered.   I’m also going to guess that Brown has never ever read a single counter-apologetic.   If he had, then he’d not have needed to ask these questions.  I’m guessing also that Brown only wants ask question so he can play the martyr.  I could be wrong, but these things usually end with whines of “but but you didn’t respect me!” 

Damn right I didn’t. 

“First, would you say that you are (or, were) an atheist based primarily on intellectual study or based on experience? Or did you never believe in God at all?”

Both study and experience.   I was a Christian, read the bible, realized it was no more true than other myths.   The fact that there is no evidence for any of the essential events in it is part of the reason I don’t believe the claims of Christians, including you (I find your need to claim you are a Jew who follows Christ amusing since the Jewish messiah doesn’t need a do-over per the prophecies. The website Jews for Judaism is a nice read).  I also know that Christians don’t agree on much of anything about their religions, so there is no reason to not think you are making all of this up.   The bible says true believers of this supposed messiah can do certain things and unsurprisingly, you can’t. 

After the question, you try to use some standard tactics to excuse why you religion doesn’t work, like blaming “organized” religion, which is just religion.  You also try the “oh you were just angry because this god didn’t give you want you want” excuse to try to claim that atheists only realize that religion is nonsense because of emotional reasons.

“Second, would you say that even as an atheist, you still have a sense of purpose and destiny in your life, a feeling that you were put here for a reason and that you have a mission to accomplish? Or is it primarily people of faith who feel like this, since we are simply the products of an unguided, random evolutionary process?”

Yep, have plenty of purpose in my life.  I make my own.  Don’t need a “destiny”.  I’m not that sadly needy to pretend I’m ever-so special.  Alas, for you, I’m not here randomly. You show that you have no idea what evolutionary theory says.  It isn’t “random” or “unguided” in the way you tries to pretend.   When theists attack evolutionary theory, they should actually know what it is rather than choosing to intentionally lie or remain willfully ignorant. 

“Third, would you say that you are 100 percent sure there is no such being as God – meaning, an eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing being? Or would you say that, for all practical purposes you have concluded that this God does not exist, although it is impossible to prove such a negative with absolute certainty?”

Yep, I am 100% sure that any god described by humans is entirely imaginary.  These has distinct attributes that can be proven or disproven.  There is no evidence for such nonsense. We have no evidence that any of the supposed events caused by said magical being happened.  What we do have is at any date claimed by a Christian, we can show that entirely different things were happening.  So evidence of absence and absene of evidence.  Now, if you want to make up some vague and baseless claims as your god, then it becomes harder for you to show it exists at all.  Can you?  I’ll be waiting for an answer to that. 

“Fourth, do you believe that science can provide answers for many of the remaining mysteries of the universe, including: how the universe began (including where matter came from and where the Big Bang derived its energy); the origin of life; and DNA coding?”

Here, your assumption is that humans will never do another bit of research so your baseless claims about your god will remain untouched.  Even if we never figure out various things, there still is no evidence for your god.  Most if not every religion claims that its god/gods were the creator, and gee, not one of them can show this, despite most of them claiming “look the universe *my* god did that”.  

And yes, I do think that humans will figure out most of these things.  Then you and those like you will have to make up excuses yet again, with those gaps you need for your god growing smaller every day. 

You also seem to forget that DNA constantly screws up.  This would make your god incompetent. You may try to claim that the “fall” caused DNA to screw up, but this would show that Christian claims of “fine-tuning” would be impossible to see if the “fall” screwed up reality. 

Dr. Brown, these questions stump no one at all, so don’t be concerned about that. 

“Fifth, have you had any experiences in life that caused you to question your atheism? Has something happened to you that seemed genuinely supernatural or otherworldly? Or have you been confronted with some information that shook your atheistic foundations, such as a scientific argument for intelligent design? If so, how have you dealt with such doubts to your atheism?”

Nope, no magic exists so no magic experiences.  I can pretty much guarantee that the supposed events you and your wife supposedly had are nothing special at all.  It is notable you didn’t tell what they were, but just made vague claims. 

The argument for “intelligent design” is hilariously incompetent and not scientific at all.  It is just creationism dressed up in lies.  I live near the place where the Kitzmiller vs Dover court decision came from.  It’s notable that the book that the creationists tried to use had a lovely misprint in it “cdesign propentists”, since their find and replace missed where they were trying to change creationist to “intelligent design”.  Interesting when theists like you try to lie so poorly. 

“Sixth, are you completely materialistic in your mindset, meaning, human beings are entirely physical, human consciousness is an illusion, and there is no spiritual realm of any kind? Or are you superstitious, reading horoscopes or engaging in new age practices or the like?”

Completely materialist.   No evidence for magic. 

“Seventh, if you were convinced that God truly existed – meaning the God of the Bible, who is perfect in every way, full of justice and mercy, our Creator and our Redeemer – would that be good news or bad news? And would you be willing to follow Him and honor Him if He were truly God?”

The god of the bible is no different from the other bronze/iron age gods of the time.  This god is demonstrably not “perfect in every way, full of justice and mercy, our creator and redeemer”.   I’ve read the bible so false claims from Christians are easy for me to see. 

Let’s look at what this god does in the bible.  This god intentionally prevents Adam and Eve (A&E) from knowing what good and evil are.  Then this god either allows evil in or can’t keep it out.  This god then blames A&E, throws a tantrum and curses all mankind for the actions of two rather than explaining and forgiving.  This demonstrates quite a lack of justice and mercy.  And I’m not even out of Genesis yet.  We also have this god killing children for no fault of their own; committing genocide and accepting girls as sex slaves; telling slaves to never seek their freedom, etc.  A god so petty to need to kill/eternally torture those that disagree with it is a failure.  I have far higher moral standards than those of this god.  I might believe in it if there was evidence for it, but I’d never worship such a vicious ignorant thing.  If I was going to be a theist, there are far better gods claimed to exist. 

Now, Dr. Brown, what would it take for you to not believe in the version of this god you worship?