(September 6, 2014 at 5:00 pm)Blackout Wrote: 1 - Atheism is right because most scientists worldwide don't believe in gods - This is as bad as saying theism is right because most people believe in some type of god
2 - Religion is wrong because it hurts society - Just because something is bad it doesn't mean it is wrong - God could exist and be an evil bastard
Are these arguments atheists actually make? In the second example, you're more likely to see "Religion is bad because it hurts society", though you may see a variation in which fundamental claims of a religion are shown to be wrong or false because conditions in the world are completely incompatible with a god who is supposed to be wise and loving. That's similar to the argument you suggest, but not the same.
Quote:4 - Demanding idiotic evidence to believe in god - EG 'I demand that god literally shows up in front of me' - I think a bit of sustainable evidence would be enough
The demand for evidence is only idiotic if it is unreasonable compared to the claim being made. When the claim is "I know that my specific God created the universe and speaks to me", that is a claim so astoundingly huge and absurd that there really isn't any way to make an unreasonable demand of evidence for it. If the claim is for a god who has the power to do anything, then it has the power to appear in front of me and show itself.
Quote:5 - Generally pointing out flaws and issues with a specific religions or all religions, just because religion is wrong (or at least we think so) that doesn't mean gods do not exist, in fact a god could exist and not be the god of any known religion. Proving religion wrong doesn't prove theism wrong
In my experience, people treat the god claims as separate from the religious claims, for the most part. After all, the religious claims are completely worthless anyway, since no religion can prove that their god exists.
