The most important reason anyone is an atheist

[Zazzy]

No the version of God central to the Abrahamic faiths. That's the the one you're not understanding if you're comparing it to Zeus. Not the same thing even if Zeus was real, this should be stressed.

Yeah- I'm getting that you don't like that comparison. Why don't you say exactly what it is about that that is so offensive? And as I said before, you are upset that apparently no one shares your particular view of god, a fact that should not be astonishing to you since you cherry-picked it for yourself. And that's perfectly fine if it gets you through the day- I don't care what you believe, but getting pissy at others for not getting it is pretty narcissistic.

It's not something necessarily confined to human understanding.

Even yours, apparently. But that's a nice way to sign off of the conversation- humans can't understand it.

But again if you're comparing it to Zeus or any created being you're completely off tangent. You may see Sam Harris or whoever do this but as far as this subject is concerned he is an ignoramus he doesn't know a lot about it.

Hard to believe as this may be, I am actually not Sam Harris. But nice of you to assume that he is my intellectual master. You just keep going with those really bad judgments.

It's not "my version" it is what God is meant to be in Abrahamic faiths. Yes there are disagreements about it but no-one agrees its the same thing as Zeus.

Yeah, you're upset about Zeus. Either explain why it's so annoying or drop it. There are disagreements, all right- if you count everyone's personal understanding of god there are THOUSANDS of different sects of Christianity, and they clash over really, really significant things, and those clashes have real consequences in the world. Have you studied every version with great care, and of every other religion, too? Or are you avoiding that question? Since I know you haven't, how does that make you different from me?

We don't believe in created gods that's the very first thing the Bible throws out. You could say angels and what have you are kind of like created gods and that's a fair comparison. The difference is no-one worships angels but they did worship Zeus.

You are going to have to explain this a little further, since it doesn't do anything to address why this comparison upsets you so much.

I don't know what kind of theology class you took. You don't compare Zeus to Yahweh you really ought to have known better than that.

Standard Christian apologetics. I will grant that I was not the most attentive student in it, and it was years ago, but I did read the Bible with great enthusiasm. It's a zippy read. We did not discuss Zeus in those classes, but I know my Greek mythology pretty well- it's more interesting than Christian mythology.

So you are simply not going to address your erroneous judgments about atheism and presupposition, or explain to me about how your knowledge of all world religions/sects has convinced you that yours is right?

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Hold on there, cowboy. The fact that religion is widespread across time and cultures shows that it meets the evidential standard determined by convention or community. This definition goes against your position.

John- I know you're busy in this conversation and I don't wish to derail you, but religions across time and cultures are very, very different. What IS consistent is the notion of a deity as someone powerful and immortal.

Some reasons for this:
1.) Attempts to explain the natural world (thunder, disease, earthquakes, etc)
2.) Spiritual experiences (many of which I am convinced are very real neurological experiences, and which are not confined to theists).
3.) Brains wired to look for pattern and meaning
4.) Most significantly: indoctrination from birth by one's cultural/religious group.

These explanations are all you need to explain god-phenomenon, and the rising numbers of atheists and new sects show that these experiences are no longer as powerful as they once were. Of course, I know that you probably have had a personal experience I do not understand that proved god to you (#2), but since I can't share or understand it, all I can say is that the only person convinced by it is you.

I don't expect a reply- just throwing in my 2 cents.