Do atheists need some faith?

[Felasco]

Do we have any competition from the grey squirrels in the area of nuclear proliferation? Let's not assign to ignorance those "accomplishments" which we have negative personal value judgements of.

If theists could be blamed exclusively for deliberately putting us in the position of being able to exterminate ourselves because of just one bad day, what word would we use to describe those theists? I'd imagine stupid might be one of those words.

Whether or not things exist that are beyond our ability to comprehend is beyond our ability to answer -by definition-, we do not know what we do not know. We may assume that there are such things, but why?

You've answered this yourself...

Experience tells us that while we often manage to get things dismally wrong our ability to pierce the veil of mystery surrounding us increases exponentially over time.

Why should we be in a big hurry to come to a final answer? It took us thousands of years to discover galaxies beyond our own. Sometimes, things take time.

Might there exist some things which we are incapable of perceiving by any means? Well, lets do a little thought experiment and assume that there are. In what way, if they are completely imperceptible to us, would they be a part of our reality, our universe, our cosmos? None at all.

Gamma rays would be part of our reality, even if we couldn't detect them.

If these imperceptible things were literally dancing a jig on my head right now it wouldn't matter in the least, would it?

It would matter, you just wouldn't know why your hair is always messed up, and that would remain a mystery.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating intellectual laziness, but if we're willing to invoke complete and utter inability to answer such questions then the question itself becomes meaningless.

If the truth is that we are immeasurably small and reality is immeasurably big, and that there may be things we'll never understand, that's hardly meaningless as it directly affects our relationship with reality.

The best theists get this situation, face it, and use it constructively to enhance humility and awe etc. The less best theists try to fill in the unknown with all kinds of fantasy knowings so that they can parade around pretending they are superior etc.

Finally, it may be possible to resolve the question if not answer it. Why do we ask the question in the first place? Why do we promote gods, or rebel against them? If we can understand that need and meet it somehow, the question may melt away naturally without ever being answered.

If we can't figure out how to explain to a child why there are no monsters under the bed, we give them a bunch of hugs, and they gradually lose interest in monsters under the bed, without needing a logical proof of non-existence.

Now, all that being said, are you entirely sure that the god question deserves this much respect and consideration? I certainly don't think so.

And yet, here you are, here we are, considering it together. Whether we are for or against or in between, we are interested in considering, or we wouldn't be on a forum like this.

Billions of people over thousands of years have shared this interest, creating the largest cultural event in human history. I'm not sure what the logic would be in ignoring the largest cultural event in human history.

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But I have to be able to base my beliefs on something.

It seems fair to ask why we have to have a belief on this subject, one way or the other. Please understand, I'm not challenging your personal decision to have a belief, but asking the question in a general way about all of us. Why are we in such a big hurry to have an answer? What's so wrong with "I don't know"?

The single best method humans have to determine if a belief is true, or at least likely to be true, is demonstrable evidence, reasoned argument and valid logic.

And yet, after thousands of years, neither reason or faith have resolved the question. The conversation remains right about where it's always been. The evidence, reason and logic seem to be saying that what we're doing is not working.

Now what?