Atheists, tell me, a Roman Catholic: why should I become an atheist?

[Tonus]

She's rockin' that corncob pipe, tho.

[The Grand Nudger]

No way "it" could have happened "naturally"?  Textbook argument from ignorance.

[Mr Greene]

Indeed, ditto for the origin of the Universe.

[AceBoogie]

Pffft

"You're unattractive because you're Catholic. No offense though!" 

[robvalue]

I don't doubt that people have experiences. Ones that may well seem very unusual to them.

What I do doubt is that they have the ability to correctly identify what the experience was, and what caused it.

[Asmodee]

I don't doubt that people have experiences. Ones that may well seem very unusual to them.

What I do doubt is that they have the ability to correctly identify what the experience was, and what caused it.

You said it there.  I've talked to so many "believers" in so many things and they all have flawed ways of thinking.  One of the most common things in the UFO community is to determine what a UFO IS by proving what it IS NOT.  That same logic is used in the argument, "There's no way that could have happened naturally."  If they can just find a good excuse to dismiss any alternative explanation, and they can ALWAYS find a "good excuse" to dismiss any alternative explanation, the only explanation left is theirs.  But in my experience and, in fact, in the experience of the entire world, there is always a "natural explanation" or it's just unknown, which some fill with a made-up explanation, the entire basis for the "God of the gaps".

One example I had, I was outside one night looking up at the sky, as I often do.  Movement caught my eye.  I saw a dozen or so lights in the sky, moving together.  They made no sound and they moved "unnaturally".  My mind raced to figure out what they could be.  They were not airplanes.  They were not helicopters.  They moved like no craft I had ever seen.  And the dots were small.  They appeared to be very high, perhaps in orbit.  It was a truly awe-inspiring moment.  That is, until, one of the geese in the flock "honked" and I realized what I was looking at.  It was the city lights reflecting off their white bellies.  My mind came up with all kinds of explanations, dismissing the mundane ones in turn, leaving only the fantastical.  But there is no possible way I could have guessed all the possible mundane explanations and, in fact, I did not.  I was drawing on my experience, what I knew, what I thought, and it seemed fantastical.  But not only was it terrestrial, it was downright boring.  I've eaten geese.  They're not that exciting.

There is a reason that not fantastical mystery has ever been solved with an answer that was not mundane and did not destroy the fantasy.  It's because fantasy isn't reality.  What we think something is has no bearing whatsoever on what it really is.

[Minimalist]

You said it there.  I've talked to so many "believers" in so many things and they all have flawed ways of thinking.  One of the most common things in the UFO community is to determine what a UFO IS by proving what it IS NOT.

Over 2 millennia ago, Julius Caesar said:  Men willingly believe what they wish. 

The question is, why are they so eager to believe it?

[robvalue]

It's interesting that the experiences are almost always interpreted in such a way that they reinforce beliefs that are already held. Christians experience Christian miracles. Muslims experience Islamic miracles. They'd probably come to those conclusions about the same event.

And whatever way you slice it, millions of people are wrong in their interpretations due the contradictory nature of different religions.

[Asmodee]

It's interesting that the experiences are almost always interpreted in such a way that they reinforce beliefs that are already held. Christians experience Christian miracles. Muslims experience Islamic miracles. They'd probably come to those conclusions about the same event.

And whatever way you slice it, millions of people are wrong in their interpretations due the contradictory nature of different religions.

Obviously they didn't arrive at their beliefs via logical and intellectual means.  So why would they use logic and intellect to interpret an experience when they can just use it to reinforce what they already believe instead?  After all, not thinking about things has gotten them this far and, hey, it may not have been a Nigerian prince who died and left them millions, but it WAS the prince of the world who died and left them eternal life!  Any minute now THAT will be arriving on their door step.  Any minute now...

[Ben Davis]

...hey, it may not have been a Nigerian prince who died and left them millions, but it WAS the prince of the world who died and left them eternal life!  Any minute now THAT will be arriving on their door step.  Any minute now...