RE: What made you become an atheist?
December 10, 2019 at 3:08 pm
(This post was last modified: December 10, 2019 at 3:09 pm by Simon Moon.)
(December 10, 2019 at 11:16 am)Atomic Lava Wrote: I don't consider myself an atheist, however more of an agnostic. I can't say that God exists, but I also can't deny it. Because I really don't know. I'm not all knowing. But I'm curious to hear why you became an atheist, or even why you are an agnostic like myself.
So, as a follow up to my post #19, let me ask you a question. This will relate to belief, not knowledge.
Given that 'belief' is defined by cognitive scientists and philosophers of mind as, the psychological state in which one accepts a premise or proposition as being true. In other words, if one accepts a premise or proposition as being true, they can be said to believe said premise or proposition.
Also, given that belief is a binary mental state*, i.e., one either accepts a premise or proposition as being true, or they don't accept it as being true, do you accept the premise that a god exists as being true?
*I have yet to have someone coherently explain how one could possibly be in some middle ground between accepting a premise as being true, and not accepting it as being true, simultaneously.
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.
