Is it reasonable to believe God does not exist?

[historia]

Is it reasonable to believe God does not exist?

Note, the question here is not whether you think it is true that God does not exist, but simply whether such a belief is reasonable or not.

[historia]

The question here is whether you think it's reasonable to believe that God does not exist?

If you do not accept the answer I gave, for which I went over/above/beyond, to directly answer, then I cannot help you.

But that's just the thing, you went "over/above/beyond" in answering a different set of questions than the one I asked, going on about Shiva and Christianity.

The closest you came to directly answering the question posed in the OP was your reply in post #12:

I'm sure it may be?

Which is odd. If you are a 6.3 (out of 7) on the Dawkins scale, then you are pretty far to one end. You think God's existence is "very improbable," and you live your life "on the assumption that he is not there," so the God Delusion (pg. 50).

You also suggested that someone who is a 3 or a 4 on that scale might think belief in God is reasonable. So, conversely, wouldn't then someone who is a 5 or a 6 think believing God doesn't exist is reasonable?

And yet you're hesitant to say that it's reasonable to believe that God does not exist. Why?

[POI]

The question here is whether you think it's reasonable to believe that God does not exist?

If you do not accept the answer I gave, for which I went over/above/beyond, to directly answer, then I cannot help you.

But that's just the thing, you went "over/above/beyond" in answering a different set of questions than the one I asked, going on about Shiva and Christianity.

The closest you came to directly answering the question posed in the OP was your reply in post #12:

I'm sure it may be?

Which is odd. If you are a 6.3 (out of 7) on the Dawkins scale, then you are pretty far to one end. You think God's existence is "very improbable," and you live your life "on the assumption that he is not there," so the God Delusion (pg. 50).

You also suggested that someone who is a 3 or a 4 on that scale might think belief in God is reasonable. So, conversely, wouldn't then someone who is a 5 or a 6 think believing God doesn't exist is reasonable?

And yet you're hesitant to say that it's reasonable to believe that God does not exist. Why?

Hahaha. I did answer. More than once. But since you would like to beat this 'dead horse', why don't you just go ahead and say why I'm not "giving" you the answer?

[historia]

And yet you're hesitant to say that it's reasonable to believe that God does not exist. Why?

Hahaha. I did answer. More than once.

The only direct answer you gave was, "I'm sure it may be?"

You then went on, in post #12, to say you think it's reasonable to "lack belief in God." But that is irrelevant to my question, since the fact that someone lacks belief in God doesn't tell us whether they think it's reasonable to believe God does not exist.

In post #17 you said it "seems pretty unreasonable to believe in Christianity," which is also irrelevant to the question. The fact that someone doesn't believe in Christianity doesn't tell us whether they think it's reasonable to believe God does not exist.

In so far as you think your comments on these tangential issues constitute answers to my question reflects some confusion on your part.

But since you would like to beat this 'dead horse', why don't you just go ahead and say why I'm not "giving" you the answer?

I have no idea. Other atheists in this thread have had no problem clearly saying they think it's reasonable to believe God does not exist. Some have said it's unreasonable to hold that belief. So your hesitant response and attempts to reframe the question strike me as odd. Only you can shed light there.

[TRANSPONDER]

Maybe it's because the term 'believe' has a bit of a penumbra or grey area. It can be 'crediting a thing to be more likely than not, given the evidence' or 'Holding a thing to be true, because of the evidence or not'. The problem being that technically the philosophical nit - picker can argue that one can't be entirely sure, which is why agnosticism is underlying all belief - claims and no - one can (technically) claim to know anything for certain.

What we can do is apply epistemology or the sliding scale of credibility based on the evidence. Thus I have a high degree of confidence that dinosaurs existed rather than their bones are all fakes created by Satan. It's based on evidence and reason. On the other hand, while I think that on reason and evidence , something from nothing as a cosmic origin hypothesis is preferable to the others, I have no high degree of confidence about it. I certainly could not be said to believe it. Thus it follows that I can't be said to disbelieve in the goddunnit -claim. Though of course the cry of 'Then you must think that God did it!' would be wrong. I don't 'believe' that, either. I Don't Know, which is the only honest and rational answer. Because the Believers don't know, either, though they may claim that they do.

On the other hand I believe that God did not do it, even though I just said that I didn't believe that. It is because that implies a particular god, that of the Bible and given that (technically) I cannot claim to know 100% for certain, my degree of confidence that Biblegod - as described - cannot and does not exist, I can say (and have done) that I do believe that the God as depicted in the Bible does not exist.

As I have also said, this normally wouldn't matter, except that we have to be extraordinarily careful with the semantics of what we (atheists) say, or the theists will take any opportunity to put meaning into our mouths that weren't in our heads.

[SacredBishop]

Its reasonable to believe God doesn't exist, if the atheist has no reason to believe God exists. Courtesy warrants we at least presume an individual won't believe in what she finds unreasonable, but common logic warrants this as well. I can't fathom a healthy mind believing in something it finds unreasonable, be it atheism or otherwise.

[JoeyKnothead]

Its reasonable to believe God doesn't exist, if the atheist has no reason to believe God exists. Courtesy warrants we at least presume an individual won't believe in what she finds unreasonable, but common logic warrants this as well. I can't fathom a healthy mind believing in something it finds unreasonable, be it atheism or otherwise.

This is one thing I find goofy about a god who punishes nonbelievers.

Surely a rational God would know I did my best with what I've got to work with.

And if he's irrational, he's not so worthy of worship anyway.

[TRANSPONDER]

Its reasonable to believe God doesn't exist, if the atheist has no reason to believe God exists. Courtesy warrants we at least presume an individual won't believe in what she finds unreasonable, but common logic warrants this as well. I can't fathom a healthy mind believing in something it finds unreasonable, be it atheism or otherwise.

This is one thing I find goofy about a god who punishes nonbelievers.

Surely a rational God would know I did my best with what I've got to work with.

And if he's irrational, he's not so worthy of worship anyway.

The old saying has it "God hates the same people you do".