Does anyone agree that the existence of god is a 50/50 chance? I have heard atheists say that theists have said this in the past, but I have never heard it. I just want to make sure it isn't a straw man that atheists have come up with, so I can avoid using it in the future.

Thanks!

What?

Never heard that claim. And which god anyway? My sig reads agnostic, meaning I can't rule out the existence of something. But that doesn't mean that I believe in something actually existing. Or even give it a 50/50 chance. I consider it highly unlikely, based on everything I know.

I found one!

(August 30, 2015 at 4:32 pm)abaris Wrote: What?

Never heard that claim. And which god anyway? My sig reads agnostic, meaning I can't rule out the existence of something. But that doesn't mean that I believe in something actually existing. Or even give it a 50/50 chance. I consider it highly unlikely, based on everything I know.

It was in the God Delusion, which admittedly is not the best. I have also heard it around on the YouTubes.

(August 30, 2015 at 4:36 pm)Shuffle Wrote: It was in the God Delusion, which admittedly is not the best. I have also heard it around on the YouTubes.

People assuming to speak for everyone. It's on the same lines as theists painting us all with the same brush.

(August 30, 2015 at 4:38 pm)abaris Wrote:

(August 30, 2015 at 4:36 pm)Shuffle Wrote: It was in the God Delusion, which admittedly is not the best. I have also heard it around on the YouTubes.

People assuming to speak for everyone. It's on the same lines as theists painting us all with the same brush.

True dat.

I've heard many arguments that start out "Either gawd exists, or he doesn't..." While not implicitly stating a percentage chance, it sure does imply 50/50.

Personally, I don't believe you can put a percentage on the likelihood of gawd. You'd reach the message length limit before you had enough zeros after the decimal but before the one.

I think it's a take on the Pascal's Wager argument.




Of course Pascal's wager ignores you having the wrong faith, where No Faith is considered better than the wrong faith.  It also doesn't count the loss of living your life to the fullest.  Atheists are more likely to do things that make them happy, even if it's against the laws of god.  While theists are more likely to not do something that makes them happy if it goes against the laws of god.

Let's just say, the only thing I don't rule out entirely, is some neutral conscious force with tremendous power. That's about the only thing not seeming entirely impossible in lights of what we know about the world and the universe at large. And neutral meaning totally uncaring and certainly not interested in something like us.

Possibly for some deistic god, but not something like Jesus/Yahweh, where we've been told so much  that has been proven wrong. I'm pretty sure the chances of the Abrahamic god existing is far lower than 50%. No one as obsessive as he is about being worshiped would have belief rely on faith. He'd be in your face so hard, no one would be debating this thousands of years after people started writing about him.