(December 22, 2011 at 4:43 am)Darwinning Wrote:(December 22, 2011 at 2:46 am)whateverist Wrote: I too have noticed that some atheists treat the existence of god as something science can help us decide. I agree that if god has any meaning at all it has to be subjective and ontological. It isn't 'out there'
where science can get at it.
God is the assumption about reality that atheists are not willing to make.
I personally believe that assuming God adds nothing. It does not help me explain the world I perceive in any way. Scientific models based on realism seem to be able to predict the world just fine without Him; and predictions do not become more accurate when we do asume He exists.
So I think you are right that science cannot disprove God. Philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality cannot be rejected based on proof. But we can apply Occam's razor and infer probability. I believe reality is a set of simple rules applied to matter. God seems way too complicated.
That must make me an atheist then since I don't have any reason to think god has any objective reality whatsoever. I agree that god adds no flavor to the broth or accuracy to a trajectory. If one is afraid that the god contagion will cause a relapse into faith then by all means borrow Occam's razor and cut it off. But if you wish to understand where the notion of god came from and why it is so pervasive in human history then it would be better not to begin my labeling it as "stupid stuff we used to believe".
