What is Atheism?

[downbeatplumb]

I don't believe in god for the same reason I don't believe in fairies. I think its a silly idea that in no way conforms to the reality I see and has no evidence to support it. Now if some one was to actually capture a fairy and show it to me I'll have to admit I was wrong. I wont hold my breath. Is this fair enough?

No it's not fair.

Occasionally, I listen to paranormal podcasts just because they are fun, a minor vice I suppose. Some "researchers" think fairy folklore contains surprising parallels with the so-called greys. Fairies abduct people in rings. The abductees report time distortions. Etc. It's all very interesting. Maybe there is something to it, maybe not. I can't say they don't have evidence because they do. There is a lot of Medieval folklore. Lots of people report having been abducted. Have they reached the right conclusion? I don't know and don't care. I'm not going to waste
any time researching it myself. Whether fairies exist or not wouldn't really affect my life much. They kind of keep to themselves :-)

This is how I feel about god. It is an irrelevance.

On the other hand if God exists, then it does have profound significance, one touches every issue of a person's life. So to not seriously wonder about God would be rather incurious. There is lots of evidence presented to support the idea that God exists, so it's not a lack of evidence; but rather, that you do not feel the evidence supports the conclusion.

And this is what a fairy believer would say.

Presumably you have seriously examined the evidence and found it wanting. That's okay. You're entitled to your opinion. Still, that means you have reasons not to believe. Those beliefs about why the evidence should not be accepted are every bit as subject to scrutiny as claims that they should. It's one thing to say "Don't know, don't care" in response to apologetics. It's another thing say, "I don't believe because...." since that now creates a burden of proof to show that your objection is valid.

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I have never even seen a coherent description of god let alone evidence for one.