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Do atheists need some faith?
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1. Yes, lack of evidence for the fairy tales keeps me from believing them.
2. No, it does not take faith not to believe in something you see no evidence for. The opposite is true. You probably know that. Good day, sir.  Quote:With all of the desperate religious nuts out there, if there was evidence, I assure you it wouldn't be overlooked. How can you be sure that you have not overlooked or misunderstood something that may be evidence for theism if not on faith?  (July 18, 2012 at 5:26 pm)nazra7 Wrote: Hello everyone. I have a question that I've been very curious about for awhile, and I'm opened minded to being persuaded one way or the other. In general, atheism is a provisional position. As long as there continues to be a lack of evidence, reasoned argument and valid logic to support the claim that a god exists, atheists will continue to not believe the claim. It does not require any faith at all to respond, "I don't believe you. Please support your claim for the existence of a god", when a theist claims one exists. When speaking of particular religions, there is evidence against them. You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.   (July 18, 2012 at 6:13 pm)nazra7 Wrote:Quote:With all of the desperate religious nuts out there, if there was evidence, I assure you it wouldn't be overlooked. If you have some evidence for theism, I'd be glad to give it a look. I don't actively look for evidence of theism. Do you actively look for evidence that other theistic philosophies and doctrines are true? Are you actively looking to prove Scientology or Zoroastrianism? How could you be sure you haven't overlooked or misunderstood anything, if not on faith? 42
 RE: Do atheists need some faith?
July 18, 2012 at 6:24 pm
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2012 at 6:27 pm by Mystic.)
The answer is "no", you don't need faith to be an Atheist. Atheist are not required to believe evidence of God is improbable. That is a choice, not required of Atheism, and may or may not be rational.
Atheism is just lack of belief in God. It doesn't have to be due to anything either but simply being unconvinced that God/gods exists. It's also rationally possible to come across a sound argument proving God but not to be convinced of it, honestly. Just like the problem of evil may be a sound argument, but theists and even many/most agnostic atheists, are not 100% convinced of it. RE: Do atheists need some faith?
July 18, 2012 at 6:31 pm
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2012 at 7:14 pm by Simon Moon.)
(July 18, 2012 at 6:13 pm)nazra7 Wrote: How can you be sure that you have not overlooked or misunderstood something that may be evidence for theism if not on faith? Even if (huge 'IF' here) this was true, it still doesn't take any faith to not believe. The fact is, we would still be missing that evidence, so our disbelief is still based on what we do have to go on. We also can't be sure that we have overlooked or misunderstood the evidence that we exist in the stomach of a quantum goat*, but it surely does not require faith to disbelieve that we do...right? *thanks to NoMoreFaith for the quantum goat Theists have been trying to prove the existence of gods for 1000s of years. So far, they have failed miserably. If you have anything new, please submit it. You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.  RE: Do atheists need some faith?
July 18, 2012 at 6:33 pm
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2012 at 6:35 pm by jonb.)
![[Image: SuperStock_1889R-4565.jpg]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=wwwdelivery.superstock.com%2FWI%2F223%2F1889%2FPreviewComp%2FSuperStock_1889R-4565.jpg) Like I went down the shops, and it was on special offer, buy one get one free. So I thought what the hell and I got five, but they didn't get along, and all started fighting with each other, and then the vets bills came in, and I found myself having to do all this stuff to try and keep it up, so it was all more work than it was worth, and I lost it, and quite frankly I wouldn't want one back if you paid me, so it is just about rebuilding my life now, and I am happy to be without that sort of thing.  Quote:If so, isn't there a little faith involved that there really isn't any evidence for theism that may have been overlooked or yet to be discovered? That's really a silly argument and a thinly disguised take on Pascal's Wager which has been thoroughly debunked. Produce some evidence for your god and we'll discuss it. Do not expect me to waste my whole life waiting for you...or anyone else...to invent evidence for your god because let's face it, you aren't talking about allah or Odin.  Quote:If so, isn't there a little faith involved that there NO. When I say " I do not believe in god(s) due to a lack of credible evidence" the phrase 'as far as I know' is implicit. If somebody has come up with some in the last few days,I'd love to see it. I will re evaluate my position immediately. |
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