I need help with refutations for this

[MrJatt]

1. I think belief in God is properly basic.
2. The likelihood of my cognitive structure structure retaining true beliefs is greater than on theism, than given atheism).

now i do not have the knowledge to refute these except the 5th one, so i need some help to understand and perhaps refute this.

Hi there, MrJatt. If you are looking for more information about 1 and 2, you will want to read up on Alvin Plantinga, who argues for these main points (and others) in a multi-volume work on epistemology. The first is an argument that theism can be rational without knowledge of a good argument for theism; the second is normally called the "Evolutionary Argument against Naturalism" (EAAN) which argues that the conjunction of evolution and naturalism is self-defeating. I don't know how familiar you are with philosophy and these arguments in particular, but if you've not come across Plantinga before there are some good interviews of him at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7377jU2a8Y and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yNg4MJgTFw where he explains his views on the two arguments. If your friend is a philosopher, you will want to make sure that you understand the strongest form of his arguments before you attempt a refutation.

Thank you for the links, i understand them now yet i don't see how anyone could believe these to be true.