(March 17, 2009 at 7:31 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: I just don't think its possible for an atheist to 'lose a debate' against a theist though...theists have already lost by default until they have provided evidence.That's such an arrogant statement. Sorry to say EvF, but you have no idea how debates on philosophy work. Nobody has "lost by default" because in the whole concept of philosophy is to give no absolute answers. The whole philosophical debate is all about presenting the best logical argument of your position.
Now if we were talking about scientific debate, then yes. You couldn't publish a scientific paper on "The existence of God" without providing empirical evidence to support it. It would get rejected, and the theists (and atheists) have both lost the scientific debate by default. This is why science has no position on the existence of the so-called "supernatural". As soon as it does have a position on something supernatural, that supernatural becomes natural.
Philosophical debates are all about scoring points using logic. It doesn't matter about the reality of the situation, because the debate isn't about reality, it is about logic. If you make bad logical arguments, you lose the debate.