North Korea 'executes Christians'

[Anto Kennedy]

Truthfulness is not something a theistic choice offers.

You don't know if God exists or not so you don't know if the "theistic choice" is true or not. Unless, in Tiberius's words, "you are omniscient".

I agree with you that there is no evidence that God doesn't exist; the existence of such evidence would be illogical since you cannot prove a negative unless you are omniscient (we aren't).

Your statement is about as silly as saying one should not criticize a child for believing there is a monster in their closet because you can't offer the child a truthful alternative.

But you can offer the child a truthful alternative: look in the closet and if there isn't a monster, then otell the child there is no monster in their closet.

You can't provide a truthful alternative to the theist. In fact, you have no idea wheither that theist's beliefs reflect reality or not.

Although you can look in the theistic "closet". All you have to do is, in the words of the J-Man, "forget self, carry cross and follow me".

A transcendental experience of the divine is scientific, using perception as a means to validate reality, however you cannot share you're findings with others, although others may percieve the same reality, only never simultaneously. Therein lies the problem for the theist in providing evidence that God exists. If, however, the entire human population were to experience the divine simultaneously, that would be conclusive proof that God exists.

So either experience it alone, or not at all.
Medititate; or watch Sex in the City reruns
Withdraw from society into a cave in the middle of the desert; or go to a shopping mall.

Personal evidence that God exists is available to all, but it is only personal, only subjective.

The question for an atheist then is; Is it better to seek the subjective truth than to live in objective ignorance?

I suppose this where the weak atheists place themselves; "I respect you're faith, but I don't have it myself," as opposed to the out and out opposition to any and all manifestations of faith in public life.