Are all atheists this ill-informed about religion?

[robvalue]

Hint: if your method can also prove Santa or Lord of the Rings are real, you need a new method.

Things to remember:

1) Arguments are not evidence. When we think about reality, we often apply simplifying assumptions. It's generally unavoidable. We must use evidence to make sure that our assumptions have not simplified or mischaracterised reality to the point where our conclusion no longer applies to it. This is why scientific hypotheses must make predictions which can be tested and are falsifiable.

2) The more extraordinary the claim, the stronger the supporting evidence should be in order to be considered credible.

3) Textual or verbal accounts will never be sufficient evidence for fantastical events that have never been demonstrated to even be possible before. When assessing the likelihood, the person being mistaken, deluded or just plain making it up is always vastly more probable than "this account just happens to be true". To have some way to decide which of the sea of bullshit claims just happen to be true, supporting evidence is needed. For a fantastical claim, it needs to be really strong; or else you're just believing what you want to be true, or what matches your own unsupported claims.

4) Establishing the reliability of the author in other matters is not sufficient to make their testimony on extraordinary matters likely to be true.