Atheist Ants - True story!

In a certain building, in a certain city, in a certain country, there lived a VERY interesting community of beings. On the main floor of a 98 story office tower lived several thousand religious ants. It wasn't a perfect life. There were perils to be sure, but they lived and thrived for countless generations. More importantly, they thrived because they had faith in their Creator. Day after day, generation after generation, coming and going through a tiny crack by an elevator door, adult ants told their children that an amazing Creator had designed what the adults called, “Our Universe.” They knew there was a Creator because, well, because this building, their home, existed. As far as they knew, they were the only colony of ants in the whole structure. In fact, except for this tiny crack by one of the elevator doors, their universe was downright hostile to ants. Nevertheless, it seemed obvious to these religious minded ants that some kind of Being with powers and abilities far beyond their own had to have brought their Universe into existence and that Being had to be pretty special to design such an incomprehensibly large structure. While their ability to explore was hampered by the dangers, for all the ants knew, the Tower stretched up to infinity.

As time rolled by however, something changed. What was once a very religious community began to fragment. First one group of ants, a rather bookish group figured out that the bright warming light on the other side of the glass doors didn't circle the building. It was the building that circled the light. What was once seen to be a part of the Designer's special plan for their Universe was now seen as just a very lucky break for the ants. Then someone figured out the origin of all the strange life-forms that came and went every day. It was observed, tested and verified that lifeless, noisy steal boxes made these life-forms and brought them to the building. This was probably how even the ants came to exist. Another proof that a Creator wasn't necessary. Then, one of the more ingenious ants figured out how the lighting system worked. Yet another in a growing list of proofs (at least to these particular ants) that a Designer wasn't needed for their Universe to exist. Then another ant figured out the climate control system. This was a huge discovery! While it used to be believed (so long ago that no one could remember who came up with the idea – therefore it was obviously false) that a Designer was required for the system to respond to temperature variations, it was now known to be taken care of by a simple set of dials on the wall. Another nail in the coffin of those who believed their Universe was designed. And while there was a lot of controversy surrounding the nature of electricity, little by little it became accepted theory that a Designer was not necessary to ensure a steady current to keep things running. It seemed as though electricity just was. It seemed like electricity was everywhere in their whole universe! In fact, an ant genius stated that electricity had always been in existence, that it had never not existed and that was that. Most of the so called scientific ants said he was right, even though there was not a shred of evidence for his claim. It just felt really good to this community of ants that his theory did away, once and for all, with the need for a Creator.

The more religious of the ants felt irate at the sheer nonsense of ants thinking that all they observed could exist without a Creator. They were quickly accused of eschewing logic for emotionalism. On the other hand the scientific community certainly could explain how things worked. It was all rather intimidating because those who could explain how things worked were admired by nearly everyone. It was just as though the ability to explain something was more awe inspiring than the thing being explained.

It became axiomatic that if you can explain how things work, then no external or transcendent cause was needed for their Universe to exist.

To appease latent doubts, many, many suggestions were given as to how the ant's universe came into existence. Some suggested that this building came from a previous building. Others said that there was once a huge black hole in the ground and the building simply popped into existence out of the hole. Literally dozens of ideas were put forward but all of them ultimately required a Creator, a Designer as an explanation for the existence of the building / Universe. 

Eventually the anti-Creationists gave up trying to explain away a Designer and simply declared, "Nothing outside the universe was needed to make the systems work. Everything has simply fallen into place."

After all, if everything hadn't just fallen perfectly into place there wouldn't be any ants to observe and admire the grandeur of the Universe and how it worked.

“Who says anyone created it”? became the cry of the loud minority.

“Why do buildings need a cause?

“How do you ignorant old fools know that this building hasn't always existed?”

“And if it hasn't always existed, maybe it built itself.”

One anti-Creation ant even posited that since their Universe was such a fine and good universe, that goodness itself brought the Universe into existence. Many philosophically minded ants liked that idea a lot. It seemed to the religious ants that any explanation, no matter how absurd, was more acceptable to a growing number of ants than the idea of a Creator. Several ants went so far as to say, “The very concept of a Designer is not allowed in the way we go about understanding our Universe.” Victor Stinger

These secular ants put up Bill Boards along ant walkways proclaiming that "Belief in a Designer is stupid." Soon enough any mention of a Designer was prohibited from public discussion – and the rest of the ants went along with it for fear of being mocked and ridiculed. Places of worship were shut down. Religious ants were harassed and hounded into silence. They weren't even allowed to mention to their children the idea of a Building Designer. To do so would open them up to charges of child abuse. Slowly but surely the youngest ants were intimidated into accepting what the loudest and most aggressive ants said about the nature of their Universe.

Their parents withdrew into little groups, refusing to change their outdated (what some derisively call bronze-age) beliefs. They ended their days being mocked by those who had come to believe that knowing how things worked proved that ants were the pinnacle of knowledge and power.  

True Story!