To atheist, what is your proof?

Question

Not judging here, I just want to hear what atheist have to say. Atheist always ask what proof do you have that God exist so I would like to ask what proof do atheist have that He does not exist? And if you believe in the evolution theory, isn't it just a theory and not fact. Scientist have proved alot of things, but they have yet to prove exactly how we were formed. And so they rely on a theory. I am just wondering and would like to hear from atheist on this matter. To those who are not atheist please no quoting verses here that is not what this question is for.

Answer 1

Firstly, thanks for asking this question. I've probably answered it about twenty times already, but i think you're the first person I've seen with an actual interest in the answer.

You're asking two questions here.
1) What proof do we have that God does not exist?
2) Isn't evolution just a theory and not a fact?

Both of these questions touch on a more fundamental question:
"Why do atheists believe what they believe?" I'd like to address that question first, because it will make it easier to answer the other two.

I can't speak for all atheists (I'm actually agnostic), but many attempt to base their beliefs in scientific reasoning. Modern science is based on the facts that human knowledge is limited and human perception is faulty. All the tools that scientists use to discern the truth (falsifiablility, replication, lab controls, measuring devices, statistical analysis, the scientific method of inquiry, etc.) are all designed specifically to limit errors in human perception.

Nonetheless, mistakes are made and scientists are often wrong. That's why scientific belief is pliable. You may hear people talk about "margin of believe" and "index of suspicion". Basically, these terms represent the degree of belief, which varies with experience. For instance, I have a high index of suspicion that the sun will rise tomorrow. There is the slightest possibility that it won't. Based on historical records, mathematical calculations, and what we know of the natural world, it's a good bet that it will. Similarly, I have a high margin of disbelieve in the theory that aliens abduct cows on Earth. There is a very small possibility, but it's very unlikely.

When we consider a belief's worth, we're really just raising or lowering our margin of disbelief. Generally speaking, most beliefs are given an "a priori" possibility of 50%. Evidence that does not support the belief (it fails to conform to theories that we already have good reasons to believe, it is internally inconsistent, it violates known natural laws, it fails to explain certain phenomenon within its scope, it doesn't make accurate predictions, etc.) raises our margin of disbelief. Evidence that supports the belief (it makes accurate predictions, it's reproducible, it supports existing theories and known natural laws, etc.) lowers our margin of disbelief. Once the margin of disbelief is high enough, we can treat the belief as an untruth for practical purposes. (Bigfoot ate my baby.) If our margin of disbelief becomes low enough, we can treat the belief as fact. (My car still has gas in its tank). Basically, not all beliefs are created equal. We should have more faith in beliefs with lots of evidential support, and less faith in beliefs with little evidence to back them up. Conversely, we should doubt beliefs that the available evidence doesn't support.

Contrary to what many atheists say, it is possible to prove a negative and prove negative existence. Assume that I state that you have no quarters in your pockets, then force you to turn out your pockets. If there are no quarters in there, I have proven (within the limits of perception) negative existence. The problems with disproving the existence of God are matters of definition and perception. I can say that there is no god in your pocket and show it to you. You could reasonably respond that God is invisible and we can't see him. It all depends on how we define "God" and how powerful our ability to "see" him is.

Speaking specifically of the the Judeo-Christian god, we can say that it is very unlikely that it exists. The existence of an omnipotent intelligence defies the Law of Conservation of Energy. The concept that the universe was created out of nothing defies the Law of Conservation of Matter. These laws, together, establish the basis for all of physics. We have a very high index of suspicion that they are correct. Thus, our index of suspicion in the existence of an omnipotent being is very low.

Because of the difficulties inherent in disproving existence, the scientific burden of proof normally falls to the "pro" side of the argument in an existential debate. If you want people to believe in God, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, evolution, or the Big Bang, you must first provide evidence that supports the belief.

I've heard the "evolution is just a theory" argument more times than I like to think of. The statement belies a basic misunderstanding of the scientific method. A theory is not an idea, an opinion, guess, or a belief. It is a system of beliefs that attempts to explain a natural phenomenon. It must conform to certain rules for consistency and testing, and it must be supported by measurable evidence. That's what distinguishes a theory from a hypothesis. A hypothesis is an educated guess, based on observed phenomenon. A theory is a hypothesis that has withstood the testing and experimentation and is continuously supported by evidence.

So, evolution is not a theory. Evolution is a natural phenomenon. The Theory of Evolution attempts to explain how that phenomenon works. In much the same way, gravity is not a theory. Gravity is a natural phenomenon. The Theory of Gravity attempts to explain how gravity happens.

Note that neither one of these theories are complete. There's quite a lot that we don't know about gravity, especially on the subatomic level. There's also a lot that we don't know about evolution, especially in the distant past. Regardless, there is a lot we DO know about evolution, ideas that are supported by the fossil record, the genetic record, and observation. Evolutionary theory also helps us make predictions. (Prediction is considered to be the ultimate "field test" of a theory.) For instance, evolutionary theory suggests that we should see transitive forms, organisms that bridged the gaps between major evolutionary stages. When we find transitive forms in the fossil record (such as fish with legs - check out the links below) it strengthens our belief in evolutionary theory. Within the scientific community, it's generally agreed that our index of suspicion for the existence of evolutionary processes is high enough to consider the concept of biological evolution a fact for all practical purposes. It's true that there is disagreement between biologists on exactly how some evolution occured, but the basic ideas of natural selection, survival of the fittest, and speciation over time is universally agreed upon by experts in the subject.

Yes, the Theory of Evolution is "just" a theory and we don't know everything about it. Fortunately, science leaves room for doubt. It gives us the ability to admit when we don't know something. That's the first step towards learning anything.

Again, thank you for your question. If you want any clarification of what I've said or feel the need to refute or comment on any of it, feel free to contact me via my profile page.

Answer 2

The fact that there is no proof of god is proof that there is none. Science has proven many things, and the only thing religion has proven is how gullible humans are. Are you really that weak minded that you can't come to your own conclusion. Or just look at evolution, there is proof in DNA, and fossils that we evolved. Yes evolution has some missing links, but religion is so ignorant that it has nothing to link. Yes evolution is a theory, one based on facts. The cult belief of god is madness. We do rely on a theory backed by facts. Religion is a fairy tail with no proof, that is why you must have faith. Religion is a scam, which is why most religions do not allow you to question them, they do not want you to see the truth. Science has hard facts, religion has contradictions beyond count. I don't believe in religion for the same reason I would not listen to you if you said 2+2=5. It is contradictory to known fact. The concept of religion is so ridiculous, that I could not show you all the reasons not to believe if I took every minute of the rest of my life.

Answer 3

First off, I've got to get you're evolution is just a theory thing out of the way. Do you ever doubt gravity? Guess what, gravity is not a "fact." It's a theory, even today it's still "the theory of gravity" Same thing with atoms, or DNA, or anything that we think of as "fact" today.

Now on to "proof" Well at first our beliefs are normally based on the fact that there is no proof for any god of any religion, and so they are all equally probable of being true (no, I don't say that's 0%, but why even bother flipping the coin between Christianity and Hinduism, or Islam and Judaism?) Then as we start to read into the religions we doubt, we discover that they can't keep their story straight. The Bible (indirectly) says that the Earth is somewhere between 6 and 10 thousand years old, yet science says it is 4.6 BILLION years old. That's a huge difference. If you were in a court and you said you were, say, at a seven eleven, but the cops have a video tape of you being at the scene of the crime doing the murder at that time, who do you think the jury will believe?

There is so much in the Bible that can be discredited as false to believe it for me. They need to get their story straight first, then we can talk.

Another thing is we have to wonder if we would even want to follow God (or any other god/goddess) For example, the pleasant story of Noah. Aw, two of each animals on a big boat with eight humans (noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives) Aw, it's raining. Aw, everybody else on the entire planet is dying. Aw, God just killed almost every living thing on the face of the planet.

Think of how few people Hitler killed when compared to that kind of statistics. If you put those two against each other, Hitler would seem to be the "loving" being.

That really wants us to abandon logic and follow God.

Answer 4

No one is announcing there's a Leprechaun or a 'guy within the sky' or any of that. Most people are easily announcing there's a likelihood of a supply to all this and in time we would discover some thing find it irresistible -- it's going to traditionally no longer be AS outlined via many people, however I'm inclined to guess $one hundred proper now that inside 20 - 30 years there might be a step forward in physics suggesting we're certainly concerned with some thing within the phrases of God. Plus, if religion offers a 'placebo end result' then allow individuals have it considering that individuals of religion have a tendency to be as an alternative more healthy in step with Time. Typically, all you'll do is name us 'idiots' without a proof (mental) that there's some thing flawed with our brains -- despite the fact that with a few of us I'm definite there's. Ha-ha. Don't get me flawed. I strongly dislike extremism. Otherwise, we comprehend the burdon of evidence is on us. A lot people are looking to end up some thing that's past our present information. BUT there are theories nonetheless that can lead us to this.

Answer 5

Atheists can not prove God doesn't exist, nor can they prove much of anything (even laws of Gravity have had to be changed, Newton to Einstein). They simply reject God, for all anyone can do is accept or reject the Word of God, "let he who has ears to hear let him hear".

In the same manner all concepts are based on faith and acceptance. You, I, and most intelligent people know the Holocaust occurred but there are some who don't believe it did or at least not the way we're told, if in some future generation everyone considered it a myth, it would be considered truth as well.

This is why faith alone is what matters.

Ephesians 2
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.

Scientists actually have not proven much they simply adhere to so called "truths", such as establishing the age of something. There is no proof that anything is more than about 5000 years because before that there are no historical records, everything could have been created at any point prior to that.

Science also does not advocate a world flood; therefore, it rejects any evidence of one or any changes in the world as a result there of (i.e. accelerated rate of fossilization)

Evolution is not just a theory, it's a joke. The modern theory of evolution is built on Darwin's theory (species specialization over time) and Mendell's genetic studies. Through this they created a new theory that genetic mutations slowly spawn new species (no proof), and through the notion of natural selection (also a so-called truth) outcompete other species.

Natural Selection (survival of the fittest) is also not true. Species that survive are randomly selected by nature for the most part through acts of God or sometimes because of loss of genetic variance in a group causing physical problems for later generations. For instance the Dodo, it became extinct as a result of monkeys and pigs being exposed to the Island (by man but could have eventually happened by act of God), which ate all the dodo eggs (brood size of one) and therefore caused extinction, it had nothing to do with the dodo being fit or unfit for it's environment.

Answer 6

If believers can't prove that He does exist, and atheist can't prove that He doesn't, why can't we leave it at that and let people believe what they want to? You can't reconcile the lack of proof on either side, so might as well go on with your own beliefs. Why try to prove someone wrong when you can't even prove yourself right? And I mean that for both believers and non-believers.

Science proves nothing, but IMPROVES theories.
I could just as easily say that Christianity is a theory with no real proof yet. That's not going to stop people from believing it and following it. You can say that evolution is just a theory with no real proof yet, but that's also not going to stop people from believing it.

Answer 7

I'm not an atheist, but you've already answered your own question. The atheist' "trump" card is that God's existence cannot be proven, in anyway, shape, or form.However, it's impossible for atheists to prove a "negative", For instance, I could say , "On the dark side of the moon are purple unicorns." Even though "instinctively" we "know" this isn't true, it can't be proven because of time. There is no one who has or can, sit on the dark side of the moon ,for all eternity, to prove there are no "purple unicorns" there. Someday , in a million years from now, purple unicorns could pop up on the far side of the moon and we would never see it. So, it's not just a "positive" for God ,that can't be proven ,but the "negative as well. He could be hiding on the dark side of the moon, partying with the souls of Pink Floyd fans everywhere, we'll never know because of time or because we're all not Pink Floyd fans. We simply can't check all the variables for the "negative" or the "positive"of an "object" to be proven or disproven.

Answer 8

It's impossible to prove a negative so I can't offer you proof. I think the most obvious evidence that god doesn't exist (or at least not a good one) is all of the evil in the world. If there was an all good and all powerful god, there would be no such thing as evil. It makes more sense not to believe in god. It's impossible for an all knowing god to have free will. It's also impossible for there to be an all knowing god AND for us to have free will. Anyways, it doesn't matter, the burden of proof is on the believer.

Answer 9

That's the big problem there. The burdon of proof lies in the hands of the person making the claim not the person denying the claim. If you claim to have a billion dollars in your bank account and I say that you don't the burdon is on you to prove you have the money, not on me to prove you don't. But since logic seems to be lost in many religious debates lets suspend the rules for a bit.

Here is my "proof" regarding the nature of god and how much he loves man.

A man can commit genocide, rape and murder and torture and then on his deathbed ask god into his heart and beg forgiveness for all of his sins and he will be accepted into heaven

A man can conversely live his entire life devoting it to helping his fellow man and aside from stealing a candy bar at the age of 15 never commit a sin in his entire life and make a wonderful impact on the world and change it for the better yet never believe in god and he will be cast into hell.

A god cannot be unconditionally loving if he casts those he loves into eternal torment just because they don't grovel at his feet. That is akin to a mother killing her children because they refuse to tell her that they love her. That reeks of someone with a jealous ego trip not someone that is all loving. Which brings me to my next point. Assuming that the reason god casts unbelievers into hell is because of jealousy then he is guilty of the sin of envy making him inperfect. If it is because of ego then he is guilty of pride making him inperfect as well (but that's not really proof just my own opinion of contradicitons in theological beliefs).

My second bit of proof

Prayer. God supposedly grants you what you need if you pray for it. Prayer is powerful, prayer is true etc... But what about atheists? We don't pray. I've had a wonderful life so far with many great things, in fact far more often than the average person hhave circumstances turned out in my favor yet I never pray. How could god be helping me out so much if I don't believe or even ask for it while there are millions of poor starving yet devoutly religious people out there that pray every day? Let me guess "God works in mysterious ways".

This is proof that Prayer doesn't work. If you pray for something and it happens it's coincidence. Correlation does not equal causation. If you take a group of 1000 people that pray all the time and a group of 1000 people that don't ever pray you'll see that there's no big difference in the amount of good things that happen to either group. There was just a big medical study regarding prayer for the ill. Those that had people pray for them actually had a slightly higher risk of complicaitons after surgery than the control group. Once again, proof there is no god.

My third bit of proof.

Evolution. Claiming that evolution does not exist is akin to claiming the earth is flat these days. There are kids in highschool that regularly replicate the process of evolution for science fair projects with fruit flies or different strains of plants exposed to different stimuli or environments. It's not some far out "theory" it's been proven over and over and over animals can and do evolve into new species. Just because there's a few gaps or unexplained steps in the evolutionary process doesn't mean that there is a god. That is a huge and dangerous logical fallacy. Back in the 1600s when someone had an epileptic seizure they were often thought to be "possessed" or a witch and sometimes killed. The people back then use the same logic as the evolution doubters today. "There is something happening that we can't explain therefore it must be divine in nature". This is absolutely silly.

The fourth bit of proof.

Human Nature. We see ourselves as being "special" because we can talk and drive cars and farm food etc... The thought that humans are just another type of "animal" is not pleasant to us. We want to feel like there is some purpose, like we're special and there's meaning to our lives. So we invent gods, each culture has their own explaination of why man is special and how because we are so special there is some magical land we get to go to after we die because the thought of just rotting in the ground is scary. So we comfort ourselves and reassure ourselves that we are special by making up gods and religion. It's human nature to be afraid and seek answers and when no answer is easily found using the generic "god works in mysterious ways" placates the masses and puts their confusion to rest. It is this nature that makes fairy tales and superstition and the concept of luck etc... Thus making god no more real than the tooth fairy or the luck of a rabbit's foot.

Answer 10

I have no proof that will convince other people. I only have proof that convinced ONE person----me.

Why would I want to convince you to be atheist? Atheism is right for me. It isn't for everyone, and I acknowledge that openly. If you are happy on your Path, then I am happy for you. :-)

You asked what proof I have that convinced _me_. Remember---this is my own personal proof. I am not claiming it will help prove my "case" to other people.

For me, the proof that caused me to switch from theistic wicca to agnosticism years ago is that I agreed with a theory that souls are dependent on the brain's operations (neurons, neurontransmitters, synapses, etc) for it's creation and evolution. If I agreed with that theory, then I also have to concur that there is more than likely no afterlife---if my brain dies, then my soul dies along with it too.

Then shortly afterwards, I had difficulties believing in deity cuz I always felt that deity and afterlife are a "package deal". One cannot be believed without the other. :-) Recently, I decided that after 8 years of being agnostic, atheism is more honest for myself.

Answer 11

Evolution has been proven. As for proof of whether god does or does not exist...I can't say. I do believe in god, even though I have no proof. It's just something I feel. However, I have no interest in organized religion. Tis not for me.

I also believe in evolution. I believe there can be god AND evolution.