(October 7, 2012 at 11:01 am)Norfolk And Chance Wrote: I know there is no god in the same way that I know there is no tooth fairy.
Both fictional characters out of books that have no evidence of existing in reality.
Of course the tooth fairy, if indeed it is the character in any book, was made up on purpose as a fictional character and is understood by all as such except by small children who we deliberately mislead.
God is a character in the bible but no one claims to have made him up on purpose as a fictional character. (That doesn't mean no one did, just that if they did they aren't letting on.)
I agree about the lack of evidence but it is possible for a believer to reasonably claim that this god is present in everything but not directly knowable except (perhaps) if she chooses to reveal herself to someone. It doesn't seem any more likely to me than it does to you, but the lack of evidence isn't going to seem like a gotcha moment to a theist who believes in a god who is only knowable where she wishes to be known.
So the tooth fairy and the bible's god are both fanciful, fictional characters from our point of view but they don't really seem so similar .. says the 6th degree atheist to the 7th degree one.
