RE: Atheists, what do you believe is the best argument for the existence of a deity?
July 13, 2011 at 1:29 am
(July 12, 2011 at 1:04 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: Define 'diety' I have seen many differing descriptions many on this site. None had any argument in there favour that stood up to more than a pico seconds scrutiny.
In short I can think of no argument that could convince me of the existance of a deity, that doesnt mean that one doesnt exist I just havent seen it.
By deity I simply mean an "an immaterial intelligence that caused the universe". What attributes the deity has beyond intelligence and the ability to cause universes are besides the point.
I can't think of a specific argument that would persuade me either, what I can state rather clearly however is that I would believe in a deity if someone could demonstrate that a deity is the most likely explanation given the available evidence, for instance;
Everyone on earth suddenly receives a message from a deity informing us of his existence, each person receives precisely the same message at precisely the same time. What are possible explanations for this?
1. A deity really did communicate with us.
2. A mad scientist implanted chips into everyone's brain through the water supply or similar method.
3. All our brains are quantum entangled and this experience in one person's brain triggered the entangled particles to behave in the same way, causing the same experience in all of us.
4. It was a simple fluke
5. Some unknown explanation.
This event would cause me to up-shift the probability that a deity exists, that Global mind control is possible and that consciousness is inextricably linked, things that previously seemed unlikely and thus had low probabilities now have some relatively good evidence in their favour. Chance is extremely unlikely so we can essentially leave it aside. Suppose we manage to rule out 2 and 3, then I am left with a situation where I have to drastically up-shift the probability of it being a deity. I still cannot say that is is necessarily a God because that would be an argument from ignorance given 5.
If we can find more examples of phenomenon where the only known explanation was a deity then I would again up-shift my probability of a deity existing, eventually I would be left with a situation where, given the available evidence, a deity likely to exist (>50%) and I would then believe that a deity exists in the same way I now believe in Metaphysical naturalism as the most likely answer.
I don't think that resembles anything like theism, it's more along the lines of why DP and Cinjin believe in a deity.
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