Mike DuncanZi Teng Wang
Freshman
Atheist
Would you consider yourself to be spiritual?
I would consider myself a spiritual person. Spiritualism to me is just the feeling of being alive; I don’t need to look to a higher power. Spiritualism for me is, “I am here; I can do what I want. I am alive and this is my life. I am going to do what I want with it.”
Did you ever believe in a god?
No, never actually. I had some vague brother figure [idea] when I was a little kid, like some people believe in the tooth fairy; it wasn’t defined or a big deal. I think a big part of that is that my parents are Chinese Muslims, but they are both semi-scientific and not strict. So, I was not raised in a religious background and I wasn’t exposed to those ideas. Now, looking back and reflecting on it, without the religious background that most people had, I think I look at life a bit more objectively. I analyze a lot more and believe a lot less.
When did you decide that you were an atheist?
I think the moment came when I read a book called “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins. It is a book on evolutionary biology explaining evolution in terms that make concepts like macroevolution and complexity from simplicity seem like completely common sense. After reading it, I was like, “Oh my God, how could the entire world not come from a single cell some billions of years ago?”
How does your spiritualism affect your every day life?
I try to do as much as I can with my time because, for me, there is no heaven or hell. So, after life you are just gone. So, you always have to make the best out of every single moment you have. I always try to do that, but, considering my sleep habits, I am not sure how much I succeed at that all the time. But I try to make the most out of life as I can.
Does it take faith to be an atheist?
It depends on how you define faith. I have faith in the scientific process and that logic and reason can find answers. There are some things in the world that I can’t explain, but just because science can’t explain it doesn’t mean you can automatically attribute it to a divine power. Basically, it is the difference between we don’t know and we don’t know yet or we’re working on it.
Some people call atheists cowards. Do you think you are brave or cowardly being an atheist?
Considering the power of religious organizations and thought in contemporary American culture and with the great number of Wash. U. religious clubs, I think it takes a lot of courage to stand up and blatantly say, “I do not believe there is a god.” Some people are wishy-washy and claim to be agnostic or say, “I don’t care, I don’t know, whatever, I don’t want to think about it.” I wouldn’t call them cowardly but [more] “not-thinking-too-deeply-about-the-matter.” But to come out and say blatantly, “I am an atheist; I don’t believe there is a god,” takes a lot of courage.
Bertrand Russell said, “Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless.” Do you agree?
I would disagree. Not believing in a god implies that there is no higher purpose in life; there is no heaven to get to or inherent meaning in life. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t exist. Because there is no [inherent] meaning, you have to find it yourself. So [atheism] is a challenge because it encourages you to go out in the world and find your own meaning.
What is your meaning?
Right now I am still trying to find it. I honestly have no idea. I love to write. I would love to make an impact in the literary world. Another [goal] would be to come up with a revolutionary thing in the biochemical world. I don’t know; my options are open right now.
What hope does atheism offer you?
Atheism offers you the hope that mankind’s fate is entirely in its own hands. It offers the hope that you are the one responsible for changing your life. You are the one responsible for dictating the way you live. No one else can change you or tell you your purpose. What atheism means is that you are the one who must figure out what you must do and that is your responsibility.
If I was suicidal right now, standing on the window sill ready to jump, and you walked in the room, what would you say?
I would say, “If you want to kill yourself, that means that your existence has been completely wasted. You were born, you’re dead, and no one will bat an eye. If you really want to be another nothing in the world and completely forgotten like, ‘Mike who?’ and if you really think you are that insignificant and you want to be that insignificant, there is nothing I can do to stop you. But please jump out of some other window because I don’t want the cops to think badly of me.”
Is there an atheist community?
Atheism is not a community like Christianity or Judaism because we don’t have a common set of beliefs. The thing atheists share is disbelief in a god. What each individual atheist believes in is completely different. You have the “it’s cool to hate God” punk rock crowd, the intellectual crowd, the scientific/rational crowd. There are so many different types of atheists that it is hard to form a community.
Is there anything you see in the world that causes you to question whether or not there is a god?
Not really. The beliefs of fanatic religious people all over the world, natural disasters, mathematical patterns in nature and how those patterns can be echoed in population genetics, everything in the world makes logical sense. Chaos happens, crap happens, the world is not a pretty place. I haven’t had any awe inspiring moments that made me think of a creator. I have explored astronomy, theoretical physics, biology, evolutionary theory and the mathematics behind that. There really isn’t anything left in the world that comes as a total shock to me.
If I was thinking about becoming an atheist, what would you say to me?
I would reference you to a lot of pretty interesting books about mathematics, the universe, logic, biology and evolution. I am going to let you see the scientific way that those processes happen and let you draw your own conclusions about how much you need a creator given the logic and biology I give you.