RE: Question to atheists about some unexplained concepts
January 23, 2017 at 2:53 pm
(This post was last modified: January 23, 2017 at 2:55 pm by Simon Moon.)
(January 22, 2017 at 7:43 pm)arda101 Wrote: Hey everyone,
I am new to this form. I am an agnostic, and I was curious about something.
I have been reading a book called "God's Laboratory". This book takes place in Ecuador, and it makes it clear that Ecuador is a very Christian religious country. A large deal of the book talks about IVF technology in Ecuador, and how doctors believe God is the decider as to whether or not IVF will work for a family or not. One part of the book talks about a certain saint Ecuadorians tend to pray to when they cannot have children. Apparently, there is a place where people can go, pray to a saint. Then, many have said the next time they attempt to have a child, that it works. I know it could be a coincidence, but it works for many people. I am wondering how this could be possible, and if you think this proves Christianity is correct because the people pray to a Christian saint.
Thanks
Arda
A bunch of people claim they were able to conceive after praying.
Well, hell! Consider me impressed!
Seriously though, people in general have what is known as 'confirmation bias'. We tend to only count the hits, and ignore the misses.
So, people have not conceived YET, pray, then they concieve. There is absolutely zero way to tell if they conceived because of the prayer, or the conceived due to trying enough times.
Please site a study that shows that these people that prayed conceive at a higher rate than those that did not.
All you are doing is pointing out some anecdotal evidence, which is, by its nature, subject to massive confirmation bias.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
