"Atheists believe there is no God"

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Talishi
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"Atheists believe there is no God"

Post #1

Post by Talishi »

Many Christians like to say, "Atheists believe there is no God." But atheism is not a belief there is no God because to have a belief is to hold a proposition. There are thousands of other things that Christians, like atheists, do not have a belief in, from Sasquatch to elves. If the mechanism is correct that the non-existence of God is a proposition held by atheists, then both Christians and atheists must also have matching propositions for the non-existence of all other imaginary things, which clearly we do not, since we can only name a few.

So for the record:

Christians believe in the existence of Yahweh and they do not believe in the existence of Zeus.

Atheists do not believe in the existence of Yahweh and they also do not believe in the existence of Zeus.


Perhaps the underlying motivation for some Christians to say atheists believe there is no God is a suspicion they have that believing in something is inferior to understanding something. And perhaps it is enabled by the same sloppy reasoning that results in some Christians saying evolution is “only a theory� as if that were a bad thing.
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Re: "Atheists believe there is no God"

Post #41

Post by Clownboat »

Bust Nak wrote: [Replying to post 7 by Talishi]

That's one possible response out of many. What about:

Theist: "What's it like to be an atheist?"

Talishi: "Do you believe in Shiva or Zeus?"

Theist: "Yes. We hate them because they are demons sent by Satan."

What would you say then?
"Huh, a Christian that believes in 3 make believe god concepts"... "Fancy that!"

Why stop at one after all?
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Post #42

Post by Bust Nak »

TheBeardedDude wrote: These poorly flung attempts at insult don't make me want to converse with you and only serve to make me have little to no respect for you.
TheBeardedDude wrote: If all you have to offer are thinly veiled insults, then we are indeed done.
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Post #43

Post by H.sapiens »

It is rather amusing to watch the religionists scurry about unable as they fail to comprehend that the existence or non-existence of gods is far from the forefront of atheists' concerns. It is, in fact, way down the list, well below "what shall I have for breakfast" and "where will my next bathroom break be available?"

Once one has rationally reduced the probability of the existence of gods to a value approaching zero as a limit, the topic embodies no further interest except when religionists attempt to shove their bilge-water down your throat.

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Post #44

Post by TheBeardedDude »

H.sapiens wrote: It is rather amusing to watch the religionists scurry about unable as they fail to comprehend that the existence or non-existence of gods is far from the forefront of atheists' concerns. It is, in fact, way down the list, well below "what shall I have for breakfast" and "where will my next bathroom break be available?"

Once one has rationally reduced the probability of the existence of gods to a value approaching zero as a limit, the topic embodies no further interest except when religionists attempt to shove their bilge-water down your throat.
I am far more concerned with the religious trying to inject their religious views/opinions and/or "morals" down my throat and into my life. This is why I choose to engage in these debates, to remind the religious that they aren't the only ones who live on this planet. We have to live WITH one another.

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Post #45

Post by Kenisaw »

William wrote: [Replying to post 29 by Blastcat]
The reason that I am an atheist after all these years is because NONE of the apologist's arguments demonstrate that any god beliefs are true. If apologetic arguments were in any way CONVINCING, I'd be a theist. No question about that.
This is where the default position of atheism branches off into subsets.

One does not need to lack belief in GOD(s) because one has not been convinced GOD(s) actually exist.

Furthermore, when one demands some kind of evidence in order to be convinced but refrains from saying what evidence that would have to be, there leaves little to nothing to respond to.
It's been my experience that most atheists at this website have spent a great deal of time and effort describing all kinds of evidence that would work. The best way to sum it up would be to say: "any evidence". Literally any piece of empirical data would do.

If anything like this actually existed, however, we'd all know about it by now. It would have been on every news channel and billboard on the planet. You would have even posted it yourself, instead of complaining about the need to define what constitutes evidence.

Anything verifiable will do. Anything. One little scrap of empirical evidence is all it takes to change everything. You got any?

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Post #46

Post by Blastcat »

[Replying to post 43 by H.sapiens]




[center]It matters to me, I hope that it matters to you[/center]

H.sapiens wrote:
It is rather amusing to watch the religionists scurry about unable as they fail to comprehend that the existence or non-existence of gods is far from the forefront of atheists' concerns. It is, in fact, way down the list, well below "what shall I have for breakfast" and "where will my next bathroom break be available?"
Well, I agree and I don't.

As an agnostic and a skeptic, I worry a lot about the subject matter "God".
I think religion's impact on the world is HUGE and there's almost nothing more deserving of study about humans than that. Billions of people are convicted believers.

That's a phenomenon worthy of study, even while smelling yummy bacon. I do it all the time. I usually look.. "preoccupied". But I get your meaning.

To ME, personally, the idea of a REAL god never crosses my mind. What I do want to study, though is how so many people fall for that stuff.

Cognitive errors... epistemology... rhetoric and language, the psychology of belief, the neuroscience, the moral issues, the other social issues, the damage, the arguments, the bad logic, and on and on and on.

All worthy of my fullest attention.
Just because they are wrong doesn't mean their beliefs aren't IMPORTANT.

Religious beliefs have always been important, as far as I know.
I wonder if there was a time when humanity did NOT have religious beliefs of any kind a la John Lennon's "Imagine"?

Maybe THAT was the real "garden of Eden".

H.sapiens wrote:
Once one has rationally reduced the probability of the existence of gods to a value approaching zero as a limit, the topic embodies no further interest except when religionists attempt to shove their bilge-water down your throat.
Right.
The politics of religion is important to study, too.

Religions have ENORMOUS impact on our world, and maybe, always have.
If you are trying to say that if there were NO religious people making a right mess of things, you and I might not be SO fascinated as we are to pump that water OUT of our shared ark called "planet Earth", I am in complete agreement.

Maybe I'm a dreamer, but I think that MORE skepticism would help just about everyone. Believer and non-believer alike. Let's get rid of the REAL demon that haunts our world..

"Irrationality" is it's name.



:)

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Re: "Atheists believe there is no God"

Post #47

Post by H.sapiens »

Clownboat wrote:
Bust Nak wrote: [Replying to post 7 by Talishi]

That's one possible response out of many. What about:

Theist: "What's it like to be an atheist?"

Talishi: "Do you believe in Shiva or Zeus?"

Theist: "Yes. We hate them because they are demons sent by Satan."

What would you say then?
"Huh, a Christian that believes in 3 make believe god concepts"... "Fancy that!"

Why stop at one after all?
Betch'a can't eat just one!

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Post #48

Post by William »

Kenisaw wrote:

It's been my experience that most atheists at this website have spent a great deal of time and effort describing all kinds of evidence that would work. The best way to sum it up would be to say: "any evidence". Literally any piece of empirical data would do.

If anything like this actually existed, however, we'd all know about it by now. It would have been on every news channel and billboard on the planet. You would have even posted it yourself, instead of complaining about the need to define what constitutes evidence.

Anything verifiable will do. Anything. One little scrap of empirical evidence is all it takes to change everything. You got any?
But that's the problem right there. You say ' any piece of empirical data would do'
but for what, you do not define.

Lacking evidence does not define atheism. Lacking belief defines atheism. This is why I said;
This is where the default position of atheism branches off into subsets.

One does not need to lack belief in GOD(s) because one has not been convinced GOD(s) actually exist.

Furthermore, when one demands some kind of evidence in order to be convinced but refrains from saying what evidence that would have to be, there leaves little to nothing to respond to.
When I wrote "One does not need to lack belief in GOD(s) because one has not been convinced GOD(s) actually exist." what I am saying is that it is the lack of belief rather than the lack of evidence which defines atheism as a position...the subsets are a different kettle of fish.

So how am I to respond to your asking me if I have any 'piece of empirical data'? Data for what?

Now you and others are the type of Atheist who think they are atheists because they have never had any 'empirical data' in which to convince you to be 'not an atheist' (I assume) so since the default position of atheism is 'lacks belief in gods' can I suppose you are asking for any piece of empirical data' which could possibly convince you gods exist.

That really doesn't narrow it down though.

Put another way, anything which has already been acknowledged as a piece of empirical data can be considered 'ordinary' (for the sake of the argument) so therefore the kind of piece of empirical data you are asking for would be 'extraordinary' in relation to the ordinary.

Am I getting warm? Help me out here. :)

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Post #49

Post by Monta »

TheBeardedDude wrote:
H.sapiens wrote: It is rather amusing to watch the religionists scurry about unable as they fail to comprehend that the existence or non-existence of gods is far from the forefront of atheists' concerns. It is, in fact, way down the list, well below "what shall I have for breakfast" and "where will my next bathroom break be available?"

Once one has rationally reduced the probability of the existence of gods to a value approaching zero as a limit, the topic embodies no further interest except when religionists attempt to shove their bilge-water down your throat.
I am far more concerned with the religious trying to inject their religious views/opinions and/or "morals" down my throat and into my life. This is why I choose to engage in these debates, to remind the religious that they aren't the only ones who live on this planet. We have to live WITH one another.
Well, thanks for the reminder but we already know you are here.
Meanwhile isn't there Discuss Atheism Forum?
Mind yu might be bit dull, the same thing again and again... at least here we discover something new every day; as God is infinite, so is love and wisdom and we all come from a different angle to share.

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Post #50

Post by wiploc »

William wrote: That really doesn't narrow it down though.
If you want us to believe in gods, you have the burden of proof. There is no point in asking us what evidence will suffice when, if we made up an argument for you, you would just say, "Wait, that isn't my argument."

If you come up with a real reason to believe, many of us will believe.

Failing that, if you produce a reason that you think is good enough, but that isn't really, then we'll tell you what's wrong with it.

But there's no point in trying to get us to take both sides of the argument.

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