Thoughts On Atheism and Faith

[pocaracas]

[Excited Penguin]

You must have faith that the tooth fairy or santa claus don't exist huh?

No, its called the burden of proof. It is up for those that claim something to exist to show others said thing exist.

Good try on the old "atjeists have faith too" canard. You guys never bring something new to the table, like, Evidence for your god claims. Heck, you cant even properly define what a god is.

Most of this is ad hominems, but I will respond to the one rebuttal you made:


"No, its called the burden of proof. It is up for those that claim something to exist to show others said thing exist."

The idea of a "burden of proof" is a matter of preference.
Just because one is not able to prove something, does not necessarily mean it isn't true.

The one who says "God does not exist" is presenting an assertion that can either be true of false. Therefore, for that statement to be accepted as true, it must be proven to be true, or the opposite of the statement can be proven to be false, or proof by contradiction.

---

That wich is Asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

It doesn't require faith. Faith is believing something without evidence. Disbelief requires therefore no faith. Pretty easy.

"That wich is Asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence."
The idea of a "burden of proof" is a matter of preference.
Just because one is not able to prove something, does not necessarily mean it isn't true.


"It doesn't require faith. Faith is believing something without evidence. Disbelief requires therefore no faith. Pretty easy."
I would say you do believe in something, you believe "There is no God".
I am proposing that the only way to be 100% certain of this assertion is to formally disprove God. Do you have a formal disproof of God?

Ray, you're engaging in a bit of strawmanning yourself. No one here, as far as I know, is an absolute atheist. All of us are agnostic atheists. What that means is, we're not 100% on the non-belief scale concerning God(s) in general. Some of us can say with 100% that certain types of God(s) don't exist, however. The only evidence we have for that is that they are logically impossible and self-contradictory, the way they are described in their holy books. That's all the evidence you need, really, if evidence is to even mean anything at all in this world.

[Crossless2.0]

It's interesting how the OP, like so many others, wants to argue against a vanishingly small subset of actual atheists when there are so many believers who claim gnosis with regard to their religious beliefs. Hell, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting someone who "knows" there is a god, that Jesus was the Christ and rose from the dead, etc. OP would find more fertile ground arguing with members of his own camp.

[downbeatplumb]

So I will ask the atheist:
Have you formally disproved God?

And the atheist says to me:
No, that's incredibly difficult, and perhaps even impossible.

I reply:
Does the difficulty of the process exempt you from having the disprove something to call it disproved?
Is something that is impossible to disprove automatically assumed to be false in every case?

The atheist:
No.

I reply:
You have not logically or factually disproved God.
Not all things that are impossible to disprove are assumed to be false.

Therefore, it takes faith to believe the assertion "God does not exist".

The atheist:
Can you formally prove God does exist?

I reply:
As far as I know there is not a mathematical proof of God, the theists require faith as well.

And so:
The christians, in their faith, proclaim "God is real".
The atheists, in their faith, proclaim "God is fake".

Define god.

I want to know what it is. where it came from. What it is made of . How it does any of the things ascribed to it. How big is it. What does it look like and why I should give a fuck.

[The Grand Nudger]

[Thumpalumpacus]

So I will ask the atheist:
Have you formally disproved God?

And the atheist says to me:
No, that's incredibly difficult, and perhaps even impossible.

I reply:
Does the difficulty of the process exempt you from having the disprove something to call it disproved?
Is something that is impossible to disprove automatically assumed to be false in every case?

The atheist:
No.

I reply:
You have not logically or factually disproved God.
Not all things that are impossible to disprove are assumed to be false.

Therefore, it takes faith to believe the assertion "God does not exist".

The atheist:
Can you formally prove God does exist?

I reply:
As far as I know there is not a mathematical proof of God, the theists require faith as well.

And so:
The christians, in their faith, proclaim "God is real".
The atheists, in their faith, proclaim "God is fake".

Wrong ... I'm an agnostic atheist.

Next!

[ray3400]

I have respect for all those who seek truth.
I may disagree with atheists, but I can still respect them as people regardless. I do not see how disrespect will accelerate our arrival at absolute truth and understanding of the universe, if that is your greater purpose.

With that said, having read all of your responses, I would like to finish with expressing my stance on any form of skepticism in a God, or atheism.
(Knowing full well it will be mocked and picked apart, I accept the critical analysis, but do not understand the necessity of disrespect.
I am simply doing this to express my belief, not to prove it. Some may not care, and that's fine by me, but I personally think everyone's belief has some value as we are all going through the experience of being human and existing in the universe.)

God exists and is truth itself. Moreover, not just any God, but only God as referred to in the bible.
Those who seek truth and find truth, whether by means of skepticism, science, or faith, will ultimately arrive at the Christian God.
And thus, if the atheist was successful in finding truth, they would find the Christian God.
If the scientist was to one day know all, they would come to the conclusion of the Christian God.

[pocaracas]

Bahahahaha!
Haha
Hee hee
hoo hoo

Oh boy...a standard LOL just would not convey how funny that was!

[Whateverist]

God exists and is truth itself. Moreover, not just any God, but only God as referred to in the bible.
Those who seek truth and find truth, whether by means of skepticism, science, or faith, will ultimately arrive at the Christian God.

I guess it is when expressions of faith invade empirical claims that theists just look foolish.  Can't you distinguish between what you wish for and what you have reason to be certain of?  Guess not.  

It should be funny but I just can't help feeling sorry for this guy.  The poor bastard really doesn't have a chance, does he?

[robvalue]

God is truth itself? What does that even mean? I have no idea.

It's pretty good at hiding, I'll give it that. I've noticed not one trace in 39 years and it's had zero relevance. So I think I'll be okay.