Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: August 20, 2025, 4:31 am

Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Why I'm an atheist, a point of confusion for many theists
#29
RE: Why I'm an atheist, a point of confusion for many theists
(December 21, 2016 at 1:06 pm)Tonus Wrote:
(December 20, 2016 at 5:51 pm)RiddledWithFear Wrote: Question here, and I know it's a stupid question, but bear with me. When you analogize a god or a number of gods to the tooth fairy, etc. are you saying they are equally improbable? In that sense, are you saying straight-out they don't exist, or just that they are highly improbable of existing?

They can be compared.  A child will believe in the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus because they are told this --by authority figures they trust-- in such a way as to be convinced.  They are also convinced by a simple experiment where a tooth is placed under their pillow and is replaced by a coin.  The parents insist that they had no part in the exchange, and the child is bewildered that it could be done literally under his nose!  He now has physical evidence for the belief and no reason to suspect that he is being lied to and misled.  If he is suspicious and makes inquiries, the parents can weave all kinds of tales to explain any discrepancies because the creature in question is magical and this makes all kinds of explanations seem plausible.

Apply that approach to religion and imagine that, in the example above, the parents never tell their children the truth about the Tooth Fairy and they and their peers grow up convinced that it's true, complete with increasingly dissonant explanations for why they or their children do not get their teeth exchanged for coins anymore.

Good point, I've had more evidence to suggest that the tooth fairy is real in my life than Yahweh.
Feel free to send me a private message.
Please visit my website here! It's got lots of information about atheism/theism and support for new atheists.

Index of useful threads and discussions
Index of my best videos
Quickstart guide to the forum
Reply



Messages In This Thread
RE: Why I'm an atheist, a point of confusion for many theists - by robvalue - December 21, 2016 at 4:56 pm

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  How many of you atheists believe in the Big Bang Theory? Authari 95 14516 January 8, 2024 at 3:21 pm
Last Post: h4ym4n
  How many of you know that there is atheism in Sanatana Dharma ? hindu 19 3359 June 7, 2020 at 11:25 pm
Last Post: Paleophyte
Information [Serious] How many reasonable solutions are there to any particular social issue? Prof.Lunaphiles 69 12534 April 11, 2020 at 8:55 pm
Last Post: BrianSoddingBoru4
  Your point of living? joe90 82 17368 May 9, 2019 at 9:37 pm
Last Post: Gwaithmir
  Why do so many Christians claim to be former Atheists? Cecelia 42 9473 April 1, 2018 at 9:03 pm
Last Post: The Valkyrie
  Too many near death experiences purplepurpose 77 22952 November 13, 2017 at 8:48 am
Last Post: Little Rik
  How come there arent many atheists such as Bill Maher Roeki 30 10781 July 6, 2017 at 3:10 am
Last Post: Ben Davis
  Why so many "anti-feminists" in the atheist community? ketameankitty 887 246506 December 4, 2015 at 11:45 am
Last Post: Cyberman
  How many Atheist are also vote Republican from time to time? MattB 52 14404 July 18, 2015 at 12:43 am
Last Post: The Grand Nudger
  Are Deists more like theists or Atheist? Twisted 37 11737 May 28, 2015 at 10:18 am
Last Post: comet



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)