(July 11, 2009 at 5:52 am)Arcanus Wrote: If I don't stop soon, I'll end up writing an entire book. But before I close this off, I want to underscore what is perhaps the greatest irony of all. His book is titled The God Delusion, and he opens the discussion with his feeling that 'delusion' is most fittingly understood in this context as a "persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence." Yet in the entire 400-page tome, he does not present a single solitary piece of evidence that contradicts God-belief! There is a lot of material that allows for skepticism and disbelief, but absolutely nothing that proves God-belief as false with strong contradictory evidence. Not a thing.
Nor does he provide one single piece of evidence that proves the FSM-belief 'as false with strong contradictory evidence either', shocking! I know the book's not about the FSM, it's about God; but if it was about the FSM; if it was called 'The FSM' delusion and how it's delusional to literally believe that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created and governs the universe, and just like with God he failed to provide evidence of absence... (for what there's absence of evidence of!!): Would you also be saying that you couldn't call actually believing in the FSM delusional because there's no evidence against its existence either?
So if I believe there is a monster under my bed, is that not delusional because you have no evidence to disprove it, because I can just say it's invisible, inaudible and completely intangible and undetectable by any means whatsoever? Am I not delusional for believing in this hypothetical monster because there's no 'strong contradictory evidence' against it??
If however; that would make me delusional, despite the lack of 'strong contradictory evidence', then why is it not the same with God?
EvF
