If I were an Atheist

[Tobie]

Atheists claim there is no evidence and then contort themselves attempting to explain away facts (evidence) in favor of theism. The fact alone the universe and sentient life exists is evidence that favors the theistic theory over we're the result of mindless mechanistic forces theory. I know the 'no evidence' claim of atheists is a hallowed and sacred doctrine. That doesn't make it true. What would you point to as evidence we are the result of natural forces that didn't intend sentient humans to exist? You might argue the laws of physics account for the existence of the universe, stars and planets and ultimately humans. Fine, that can be used as evidence that favors your conclusion. I can use the same fact and argue its evidence that favors my conclusion. The fact there are laws of nature that allow a universe to develop and support human life is evidence they were purposely created and designed to do so. Why would mechanistic forces care if humans, planets or stars exist...they wouldn't.


Suppose we come into a room and we see a window is open. I claim the window was opened by someone, you claim the wind blew it open. At this point either conclusion is reasonable based on the available evidence. But suppose you also enter in the fact that tree limbs are broken outside the window, leaves and debris is all over the yard. Now your building a persuasive (albeit) circumstantial case that supports your contention. On the other hand if we don't see those things but observe fingerprints on the window then I would be making a persuasive case. However it would be nothing more than a debating tactic to argue there is no evidence a personal agent opened the window. You can say the evidence in favor of theism doesn't persuade you but since you're an atheist we already know that. Evidence doesn't become non-evidence just because it doesn't persuade you.

The fact that life exists is not evidence for a god of any kind. In the physical world, it is common to find pockets of order within a sea of disorder. Life is something that requires a very specific and fortunate set of circumstances to occur, but in a system the size and age of the Universe, it isn't hard to see how a complicated system can occur due to the results of "random" processes. We only think we are special in some way because we have the ability to think. 

Life existing doesn't mean the purpose of the universe was to create life. If something designed the universe this way, they did an awful job, since the likelihood of life occurring at a given place is minuscule. 

Your window analogy is poor at best. Apply Occam's razor; the simplest solution is most likely the correct one. For the window, it is much more likely that someone opened it than a freak gust of wind with sufficient energy came along and blew it open. If the latter was the case, you'd probably notice stuff like fallen over buildings, or mislaid farm animals. In the case of life, the simpler solution is that it is the result of an entirely possible (though unlikely) set of events, rather than it being the work of a extra-dimensional super-powerful being that defies all logic and science.