Interview with David Johnson
Category: Religion and Philosophy 

AAUPC - Atheists and Agnostics United To Promote Change

Walker, author of the book "LIFE! Why We Are Here…And What We Must Do To Survive." Martin is an accomplished author, songwriter, singer and musician. (Not to mention a fellow atheist, but we will let him tell you that story.)

At the end of the interview, we will give you a link to page set up by Martin where you are able to purchase his book at a discount. Please check it out.

AAUPC: Why don't you start out by telling us a little bit about your
background?

Martin: I was born in a small town in the North of England. My parents were both
teachers. My earliest memories are marked by a skeptical questioning of
"why." Specifically why people lived by ideas and principles that were
purely receptive and not questioned. I excelled at math and science in high
school and went on to study Physics at the University of Oxford. I have read
widely in philosophy and have written for the best part of my adult life.

AAUPC: When we have talked before, you have said that you are an atheist.
Were you raise in an atheist home? If not, what led to your conversion
to atheism?

Martin: I was raised as a Christian in the English Protestant church, attending
Sunday school and weekly Sunday services, and eventually going through the
communion process (more intensive religious training). I accepted the
process as I accepted the process of going to school or sitting at the
dinner table or turning off my light at bedtime. But the premise of
Christianity always seemed somewhat odd and nonsensical to me. I remember
debating the ideas of Christianity with my communion teacher. And I remember
holding an atheist position with my classmates in high school. To summarize:
I found no reason to believe in God, but found every reason to believe in
the evidence of my senses and of my reason. My adoption of an atheist
perspective seemed so natural and uneventful that I didn't even think to
make a big deal of it with my parents. (When it did become clear, of course,
they didn't understand.)

AAUPC: One of the goals of the site is to promote the change of how atheists
and agnostics are viewed by people of faith, especially here in the
United States. What are some of the ways that you believe that this can
be accomplished?

Martin: I feel that it is very important for atheists to hold calm and considered
perspectives. The argumentative approach won't win ground for the atheist
cause. Our greatest weapon is reason. All but the most blinded
fundamentalists must admit that reason and rational analysis are an integral
part of our lives. When we brake at an intersection we rely on our
understanding that the brake pedal will slow and stop the car. Those who are
religious rely on reason on a day-to-day basis 99% of the time. One doesn't
need prayer and faith to turn on a light or bake a pie.

Another important goal is to speak up politely but firmly in support of an
atheist perspective. It is easy sometimes to stay quiet. But we must speak
up. Many atheists must live in religious communities, feeling isolated and
outnumbered. But I am certain that these people have more support than they
are aware of, either locally or through the Internet. The Internet is a
great leveler of geographic anomalies.

AAUPC: In your book, "Life! Why We Exist…And What We Must Do To Survive,"
you deal quite a bit with the concept of morality. As you well know, one
of the greatest misconceptions concerning atheists is that we lack a
moral compass without a structured belief in a god. How do you address
this misconception?

Martin: The religious rest their concept of morality on a system that has no
clear basis other than "it is so." But the tenets of religion have a strong
hold on the human psyche because they are, for the most part, quite sound
from a pragmatic perspective. Why is this so? Clearly morality is not given
by God. The foundation of our sense of morality does, however, come from
somewhere, and is remarkably consistent across faiths and through history.
Faith based morality is also remarkably consistent with the sense of
morality held by many of us who are not religious.

As I point out in my book, this is not mysterious at all. We have a sense of
morality because we understand the importance that life should persist. Our
moral codes, religious or otherwise, derive from this awareness of the
importance of life's persistence. The more evolved we are, the more we
accept that our own persistence is less important than the persistence of
our species or of life in general. But if we derive and analyze the origin
of moral feeling from first principles, and using reason, we are immediately
freed from religious tyranny and empowered to make nuanced and considered
judgments for ourselves and in society about what is good and what is bad.

AAUPC: Please feel free to tell our readers a little about your book.

Martin: LIFE! is a work of rational philosophy but it is also a work from the
heart. At the core is a very simple but powerful idea — the universe
exists as it does according to some very simple principles. (I use examples
from particle physics, cosmology and evolutionary biology to illustrate this
idea.) These principles, once distilled, are self-evident and
incontrovertible. They apply to the inanimate forms of existence as well as
to life. We exist in order that our form should persist. We can either
accept this and understand and live by the ramifications of the idea. Or
reject it and live outside the natural course of life's path.