To all,
It appears this thread has run it's course. There has been one major misconception since I first created this post The Case for Theism that it was my intention to persuade atheists that theism is true. Short of irrefutable evidence God caused and created the universe it is nearly impossible to persuade someone who has adopted an opposing belief to the contrary. Likewise minus compelling evidence to the contrary there is little reason for me to reject one belief in favor of another...curiously few atheists try. They believe our existence is the result of mindless forces that without plan or intention caused our existence but how that occurred remains mostly a mystery. They seem to think that just disparaging belief in theism alone is sufficient. They rely almost exclusively on the fact theists can't 'prove' God exists and created the universe as reason to reject such belief.
My intention was to show theism is a reasonable belief from the available evidence and also to give reason why theists believe in theism. Its not just because they were brought up to believe in God. Nearly everyone alive endures circumstances that would rightly make them question the existence of God, at least in a benevolent God who cares about his creation. Most adults who grow up question and scrutinize beliefs passed down by their parents, why haven't they abandoned theism? Its exactly because what I have argued over 30 pages. It makes more sense to most people that we exist and live in a universe that supports our existence because it was planned, designed and created to host our existence then the counter belief that our existence is unintended freak accident of nature and instead we owe our existence to the most fortuitous stroke of serendipity imaginable. Whether true or not, that makes more sense from people's experience.
There is another reason atheism remains unpopular. Look at it this way 30 years ago homosexuality was mostly reviled, it was viewed as sexual deviancy and 30 years ago same sex marriage was out of the question. In only 30 short years it is now viewed as nothing more than an alternative lifestyle and almost certainly same sex marriage will eventually be the law of the land. Why have peoples minds changed so radically about that but not about atheism? The reason is because Atheism as a PR campaign is a disaster. The most visible actions from atheists is attempting to remove displays of Christmas from public viewing which affects mostly children. Can anyone possibly think that will endear atheists to the public? Secondly atheists tend to express atheism as a fact not a belief and mock and ridicule those who don't share their belief in the non-existence of God (stated as if it were an obvious fact). If it was such an obvious fact that God doesn't exist atheists would make a solid case in favor of atheism instead of hiding behind the atheism as a lack of belief dodge. Why would anyone be persuaded that God doesn't exist if the people who are promoting that belief themselves are only willing to state it as a lack of belief? These means that even those who call themselves atheists concede God might exist...they just doubt it. Thats weak alright. I believe many atheists only claim to be weak atheists because it excuses them from having to make a case for the belief God doesn't exist and as a result they say the burden rests with the theist. Again that isn't going to move anyone who is a theist or anyone who is on the fence.
What would atheists do if they wanted to see their movement grow or at least not be as loathed as it is? First drop the mocking and ridiculing of folks who do believe in God. If there was an overwhelming preponderance of evidence that we owe the existence of the universe and our own existence to naturalistic forces there might be cause to mock and ridicule but since many atheists themselves admit to only lacking belief in the existence of God, where is there room to mock and ridicule? How would insulting folks intelligence possibly persuade them? Claiming there is no evidence we are the result of a Creator is demonstrably untrue...it is just a slogan of atheists. Instead if atheists respected other people's beliefs but sincerely shared why they disagree, at least there would be a dialog instead of a confrontation. Trying to make a comparison between belief in God and Santa Claus and Fairies is again exasperating and insulting and not the least persuasive. Theists don't believe in Santa Claus or fairies any more than atheists do. The fact is people of all walks of life, professions and intelligence believe we owe our existence to a Creator.
It appears this thread has run it's course. There has been one major misconception since I first created this post The Case for Theism that it was my intention to persuade atheists that theism is true. Short of irrefutable evidence God caused and created the universe it is nearly impossible to persuade someone who has adopted an opposing belief to the contrary. Likewise minus compelling evidence to the contrary there is little reason for me to reject one belief in favor of another...curiously few atheists try. They believe our existence is the result of mindless forces that without plan or intention caused our existence but how that occurred remains mostly a mystery. They seem to think that just disparaging belief in theism alone is sufficient. They rely almost exclusively on the fact theists can't 'prove' God exists and created the universe as reason to reject such belief.
My intention was to show theism is a reasonable belief from the available evidence and also to give reason why theists believe in theism. Its not just because they were brought up to believe in God. Nearly everyone alive endures circumstances that would rightly make them question the existence of God, at least in a benevolent God who cares about his creation. Most adults who grow up question and scrutinize beliefs passed down by their parents, why haven't they abandoned theism? Its exactly because what I have argued over 30 pages. It makes more sense to most people that we exist and live in a universe that supports our existence because it was planned, designed and created to host our existence then the counter belief that our existence is unintended freak accident of nature and instead we owe our existence to the most fortuitous stroke of serendipity imaginable. Whether true or not, that makes more sense from people's experience.
There is another reason atheism remains unpopular. Look at it this way 30 years ago homosexuality was mostly reviled, it was viewed as sexual deviancy and 30 years ago same sex marriage was out of the question. In only 30 short years it is now viewed as nothing more than an alternative lifestyle and almost certainly same sex marriage will eventually be the law of the land. Why have peoples minds changed so radically about that but not about atheism? The reason is because Atheism as a PR campaign is a disaster. The most visible actions from atheists is attempting to remove displays of Christmas from public viewing which affects mostly children. Can anyone possibly think that will endear atheists to the public? Secondly atheists tend to express atheism as a fact not a belief and mock and ridicule those who don't share their belief in the non-existence of God (stated as if it were an obvious fact). If it was such an obvious fact that God doesn't exist atheists would make a solid case in favor of atheism instead of hiding behind the atheism as a lack of belief dodge. Why would anyone be persuaded that God doesn't exist if the people who are promoting that belief themselves are only willing to state it as a lack of belief? These means that even those who call themselves atheists concede God might exist...they just doubt it. Thats weak alright. I believe many atheists only claim to be weak atheists because it excuses them from having to make a case for the belief God doesn't exist and as a result they say the burden rests with the theist. Again that isn't going to move anyone who is a theist or anyone who is on the fence.
What would atheists do if they wanted to see their movement grow or at least not be as loathed as it is? First drop the mocking and ridiculing of folks who do believe in God. If there was an overwhelming preponderance of evidence that we owe the existence of the universe and our own existence to naturalistic forces there might be cause to mock and ridicule but since many atheists themselves admit to only lacking belief in the existence of God, where is there room to mock and ridicule? How would insulting folks intelligence possibly persuade them? Claiming there is no evidence we are the result of a Creator is demonstrably untrue...it is just a slogan of atheists. Instead if atheists respected other people's beliefs but sincerely shared why they disagree, at least there would be a dialog instead of a confrontation. Trying to make a comparison between belief in God and Santa Claus and Fairies is again exasperating and insulting and not the least persuasive. Theists don't believe in Santa Claus or fairies any more than atheists do. The fact is people of all walks of life, professions and intelligence believe we owe our existence to a Creator.
