Atheists: Is it Possible...?

Question

While I understand that Atheism is the Belief in No God(s) -- or rather, Disbelief in Any God(s) -- I was curious to know the "logical" reasoning behind the belief/disbelief. The answer I got was pretty unanimous....

From what I have perceived -- please correct me if I am wrong -- Atheists believe that it is a Fact that their is absolutely no Empirical Evidence that any God(s) exist, and that it is illogical to believe in something for which there is no evidence. Thus, an atheist will conclude that God(s) cannot exist because there is no Proof.

Now, while I do understand that these are all perfectly reasonable and logical viewpoints, what I don't understand is why an Atheist is so adamant about throwing out the word "Possibility" (Or what can be called "Logical Possibility," since so many atheists like to say Logic is their backbone)

From what I have gathered, many atheists are dead-set on the conclusion, as stated above, that "God(s) cannot exist because there is no Proof." This, to me, leaves absolutely no room for Possibility!

I mean, just think about all the things, centuries ago, that man never thought possible, that are now Proven Fact with all the Empircal Evidence to boot!

Why Is it so hard for an atheist to allow Logical Possibility (a more Agnostic view) into their viewpoints?

((An Atheist will say, "I don't believe it, because I can't see it!" I say, "You'll see it, when you believe it!"))

To the gentleman who said "Why don't I tell you all why I DO believe."

I believe in Truth! I don't necessarily believe in any particular "God" as a being, but more so as an energy field. AND, I believe that there IS inter-connectedness within us all because I have seen it with my own eyes!

Hence my quote... "You'll see it, WHEN you believe it!

Reply to Stumpy::
This is where you a wrong, at least in my sense, I HAVE accepted the Possibility that no God exists.

To understand Truth, we must merge together all the paradoxical opposites!

Answer 1

Paschal's Wager

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Answer 2

As they say "anything is possible".

Actually, I just had this conversation with a friend of mine. He kept saying the same thing, that shouldn't you allow for the possibility that god exists, and created the universe?

That's all well and good, but there is no logical reason to believe that "god" did create the universe. It could have been created by a magical teacup. Or a giant space amoeba. Or any of a million other "possibilities". There is no reason to believe that a super-powerful being did everything. Nothing supports that conclusion.

What we need to do, is let the evidence lead us to the conclusion, not jump ahead to a conclusion and then try and find evidence for it. In the case of god, no evidence has lead us to a conclusion that god even exists.

Think of it as a murder case; the police don't pull a random person off the street and say "I have faith that Bill did it" and then keep insisting that Bill did it, even it there is no evidence to support that. They let the evidence lead them to the murderer's identity.

Let's jetison the whole idea of "god" and see if our investigations and studies lead to that conclusion.

Answer 3

What is God? What is the definition of God? How can an atheist go about looking for something that his very literal-minded system of thought cannot define? God would have to be defined in terms of something else. Usually this something else would be an arbitrary show of goodness or reversal of the world's difficulties, healing amputees, and so forth. But I don't understand how this could prove or disprove God, per se. In fact, anyone who came along who could perform these miracles could claim the mantle of God and satisfy *some* former atheists. What is the definitive way to quantitatively say, "*this* is God?" Until a good universal definition arises that can be tested, I don't think you'll ever get an atheist to believe in God. How does one believe in something that can't be tested or even defined? Many physicists don't believe String Theory could be scientific because of its untestability and they call it a "philosophy." But there's hope that someday an experimental protocol will arise that will prove or disprove the tenets of String Theory. So, maybe one day the same thing will happen with God? I wonder, how could a mathematical equation be drawn up? I'm totally not qualified here...

Answer 4

It is not "disbelief". To "disbelieve", you have to admit that something is real. Its just no belief at all.

There is no logical evidence, or reason, to believe in any god.

There WAS evidence centuries ago of most of the things we see today. Things like the earth was round... thats obvious isn't it? If you want something, you can see it getting smaller in the distance because the earth is round. You can SEE it. But people were dismissing the evidence.

Now that we've proven it with science, most people have learned to accept it.

But there is no evidence for your god. There never has been evidence for your god. The only thing you consider evidence is the bible and the bible was written by sheepherders 2000 years ago who still believed the earth was flat. It also has more fantasy in it than a Piers Anthony novel.

There is NO EVIDENCE of any god. Period. None. At all.

So, where the possibility for all the things that have logically been proven existed long ago (but people denied the evidence), there is no possibility of your god because there is NO evidence.

Btw, nice attempt at trickery on your part to get Atheists to admit the possibility of a gods existance which would then make them not Atheist. It just didn't work.

Answer 5

> From what I have perceived -- please correct me if I am wrong -- Atheists believe that it is a Fact that their is absolutely no Empirical Evidence that any God(s) exist, and that it is illogical to believe in something for which there is no evidence. Thus, an atheist will conclude that God(s) cannot exist because there is no Proof.

Let me correct you for being wrong. Atheists typically believe that not having encountered any empirical evidence for god's existence, then there is no need to leap to the conclusion that a god must exist. It is a complete misunderstanding to assume that atheists conclude anything, for example that god cannot exist for whatever reason. Not believing due to lack of evidence is not the same as believing not due to lack of evidence.

Answer 6

"Thus, an atheist will conclude that God(s) cannot exist because there is no Proof."

Nope. There might be some who say that, but I think that's way off-base from what most of us say.

I say "because there is no evidence that any gods exist, I do not believe that any gods exist".

I do not claim that it is impossible for gods to exist, and I think only a relatively few atheists would make such a claim.

Your logic in the second paragraph is simply wrong. The facts that
- there is no empirical evidence for the existence of gods and
- that it is illogical to believe in things for which there is no evidence

do not imply that "God(s) cannot exist because there is no Proof". First of all, we're talking about evidence, not proof. Secondly, "illogical to believe in things" is not the same as "those things cannot exist".

Your underlying problem is that you've confused several things (evidence/proof, nonexistence/impossibility), and apparently also assume that one cannot say one knows what one cannot prove.

The atheist is simply taking on the most open-minded position about the existence of gods: we don't claim to know for sure that they exist or that they don't exist, and we accept the fact that the lack of any evidence for their existence implies that they do not exist.

There are believers who acknowledge that they do not know for sure, but they fail to follow the trail of the evidence properly. Agnostics make the same mistake. Both groups are apparently too swayed by cultural assumptions to properly acknowledge the implications of the lack of evidence.

Answer 7

Much the same reason that other people don't believe in demons, UFO's, ghosts, ESP, and the loads of other theories for which there exist some sort of theoretical "possibilities" but which have defied proof for so long that skeptics choose not to give them any credibility--unless a real proof were found.

By the way I am not an atheist, but my family are, so I know how they think.

Answer 8

Soooo many uneducated in this forum. First off, whoever said that the only thing that is infinite is space (universe) is an idiot. Every single scientist agrees that the universe is expanding...by definition, if something is expanding, then it cannot be infinite.
Second, religion is based on faith. God gave us free will to choose every action we do, including believing in him. Take an astrophysics course one time and you will learn that in order for the universe to have expanded and cooled EXACTLY the way it did was about one in a billion chance. There had to have been an outside hand in it...God.

"If you do believe in God and he doesn't exist, you lose nothing, but if you don't believe in God and he does exist, you lose everything."

Good luck

Answer 9

"You will see it when, you believe it" Sounds like make believe. Kids see their imaginary friends because they believe it. You are delusional. I don't say god cannot exist, I say the universe can be explained without a creator. In as it can be explained without one and not one has been found it is only logical to say fall back on the notion that there isn't a god. I don't have proof of a god, so it lacks the essentials to be fact. Anything stated without proof can and should be dismissed without reason.

Answer 10

Most Atheists would agree that Atheism is, at its core, a matter of faith. On the other hand, we all do this all the time.

Most people have no problem believing that unicorns do not exist. But because this is not controversial, no one goes around debating aunicornism. We all just accept the "fact" that they are a myth. Still, there is no way to prove that they don't exist.

Note that this is only applies to Atheism as a general statement about all possible gods. If you accept scientific evidence then it is perfectly possible to prove that, for example, Yahweh did not create the universe in 4004 BCE or that he caused a world-wide flood in 2348 BCE that wiped out all animals except those on the ark. Specific god myths can be considered scientifically. So far, all god myths from all religions that can be tested have been shown to be false.

Answer 11

You asked me to correct you if you were wrong, well...........

Yep, you're wrong all right.

Next time consult me when you try to Shepherd and bunch all the atheists into one comfortable category do that when you say your prayers at night you'll be able to sleep better in case you decide to have a bowel movement in the middle of the night that happens to be the shape of Jesus on the cross so it must be a miracle instead of coincidental "organic pottery" or somethin' like that....

What are you doing, keeping a little black book so that when the next Congressional witch-hunt is brought to the public, you'll have evidence??????????

Just leave us alone. You don't and will never understand the very independence that we stand for. I'm not speaking for ALL Atheists. I am only speaking on behalf of me.