Exposing the Intellectual Bankruptcy of Atheists Criticizing Religion

[LadyForCamus]

I am sure that Evie is familiar with logical positivism.  You can talk theories of knowledge, philosophies of science, and name drop until you are blue in the face.  None of it even comes close to evidence of a supernatural God.  Sorry.  And if your comeback is that we currently have no scientific avenues to reach god's reality, well, that is a pretty sad argument in favor.  It is way more generous than you ought to be.

Chad,

I have a microscopic leprechaun who lives on the tip of my thumb, and dances the jig all day.  Wait, you don't believe me?  Why not?  Just because you can't see the microscopic leprechaun dancing on my thumb, that doesn't mean he doesn't EXIST!  There is more to this world than what we may see with our eyes alone!

Oh, so you looked at my thumb under an electron microscope and...what do you know...there was NO microscopic leprechaun dancing on my thumb...well...that's because he can't be found through empirical scientific methods. He is a part of the nature of reality that we lowly humans haven't figured out how to access.  THAT's why you can't see him.  But he's definitely there!  

Chad, can you honestly say that the next logical step in a sane person's train of rational thought is to simply conclude:  my tiny leprechaun MUST certainly be real?  Am I the only one who sees a gap the size of the Grand Canyon here??

I think I've had too much coffee...

That exactly the subject Sagan and Druyan tackle, in their book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, except the example is the invisible, undetectable pink dragon in their garage. Essentially, though using lofty words and "deepity", what Chad is promoting is magical thinking. It's really no different from every other type of woo-woo... "If you believe in the power of herbal healing, then you'll be healed" ... "Tarot cards can determine your future" ... "There's a faerie world beyond what you can see in the natural world" ... "Jesus can heal you if you just believe" ... "Lord Shiva created the universe, is beyond all space and time, and will destroy the world at the end of days" ... and so on, and so on, ad nauseam.

WOW! Now tell me, which alternate reality does the dragon come from? Because, if I could have BOTH the pink dragon AND the tiny leprechaun I'd be the luckiest gal in all the land!!! .

Kidding aside, that sounds like an interesting read. It amazes me how theists can openly admit how improbable ALL other forms of the magical, and supernatural are, and yet make an exception in their rationality for "God." Why is that??