Atheists, do you see the difference between "I believe that it's false, a fairy tale, etc." and ...

Question

"I honestly don't know"? Most atheists believe that the existence of God is false, a fairy tale, etc. That's your belief. It is fine. You can add that you have plenty of evidence to support your belief. Theists do the same. It's fine.

Perhaps very few, but this seems to change from one question to the other, say that they honestly don't know. That's better, more open, but it seems to be rare.

In a previous question, I asked why some atheists say that God is a fairy tale, etc. and yet refuse to admit that they have a belief. So again, do you see the difference between "I believe that it's false, a fairy tale, etc." and "I honestly don't know"?

Here is a link to the previous question http://answers.yahoo.com/question/;_ylc=X3oDMTE1MmI4N2IyBF9TAzIxMTU1MDAxMTgEc2VjA2Fuc19ub3QEc2xrA3N1YmplY3Q-;_ylv=3?qid=20071005232439AAB9jbV

The first answerer implicitly admit that he believes that God does not exist, in the same way as he believes that beings in fairy tales do not exists. Of course, I do not agree that the comparison is fair, but one can express his strong belief as one wishes. It's fine. However, I hope it doesn't deny that it is a belief, even a very strong belief.

To phishpish: To be honest, I believe anything is possible. However, this is beside the point. One could answer that he believes that invisible pink unicorn cannot exist. That would be a belief. Thank you for the example. Again, I disagree that a comparison between invisible pink unicorn and God is fair, but this is another issue.

To \%%%/: What do you mean that you don't have to prove a negative? First, in science we don't prove anything, we only provide evidence. Second, "a negative" could mean a lot of things.

negative: A statement or act indicating or expressing a contradiction, denial, or refusal.

It could be interpreted as a refusal to take position, in which case it could be similar to say honestly that we cannot tell either way.

To whoseafunnymoose: I wasn't aware of the important difference between "we truthfully don't know," and "we can't say, in all truthfulness, one way or another." I don't see the important difference. I am sincere. Can you enlighten me here?

atheist: First, faith is only used to mean a religion or a belief in God or Gods. So, the use of "faith" in your last statement is kind of pointless. Perhaps science created its own terminology to qualify the theory. Perhaps in science we usually say "we accept a theory", but "we believe a theory" is still valid here. Certainly, science don't provide absolute proof. Moreover, the expression "I believe the theory ..." or something similar is often used by the scientists themselves in a non negative way. Some atheists accuse the theists of trying to discriminate the atheists beliefs by saying they are beliefs. It is not a discrimination. We simply want the atheists to accept the facts.

SuperAtheist: I guess I would say that you have a superbelief. What we believe, whatever it is, might be true, but it remains reasonable to call it a belief.

Answer 1

It isn't a belief when it is supported by the facts of science and the lack of evidence for god.

I don't have "faith" that there is no god, I am sure of it based on a reasonable examination of the evidence available to me.

Answer 2

Wow, nobody else seems to be answering the question. I'll explain why I'm an atheist rather than an agnostic, but I suspect my reasons aren't the same as others.

My atheism actually stems from a Bayesian view of epistemology. Essentially, I view all my beliefs as having a probability of being true between 0 and 1. We can assign my initial belief that God exists a prior probability (starting point) that is between 0 and 1 (but not 0 or 1).

Based on my experiences, the probability of such a belief being true has only decreased based on the evidence I have observed. As a result, I use the inductive hypothesis to infer that "If all evidence I have seen decreases the probability of my belief in God being true, then all evidence I see will decrease the probability of my belief in God being true." If I find a piece of evidence that challenges this inference, I will reject it. However, I have not yet found one.

The result of this inference is that the proposition "God exists" has a non-zero value, but that value is what is known as "infinitesimal." That is, any number I pick greater than zero will also be greater than the probability that God exists.

The result is belief in atheism. I don't want to explain the evidence or the inner workings of Bayesianism because I don't have time, although those are probably important to understanding my philosophy. I hope this at least clarifies a little bit of why I'm an atheist and not an agnostic.

Answer 3

You're playing with semantics. I may 'believe' that it will be a fine day tomorrow. Or I may 'believe' that elves will carry my off to the woods tonight for a party. Or I may 'believe' that I'm the some of Elvis.

My conviction that gods are impossible is considerably stronger than any of these. It's based on strong evidence, and is not a matter of whim or wish or dementia.

I am, for instance, satisfied enough on the matter to wager imperilling my eternal soul over it. If I'm wrong, I'm due to be very sorry, aren't I?

But I'm not the slightest bit concerned that I'll suffer as a result.

CD

Answer 4

Do you see the difference between I believe it to be true and trying to force others to accept your beliefs as the one true way? I believe that the Bible is an allegorical tale and do not believe God exists. I have never felt the need to slam another's belief by calling it a fairy tale though.

Answer 5

Why do undesirable Chrsitians reject evolution? vulnerable faith? Indoctrinated by a sect or cult consistent with probability? The Pope, Catholic Church, Church of england and mainstream church homes all settle for the great bang and evolution! Lord Carey the former Archbishop of Canterbury placed it o.k. – “Creationism is the fruit of a fundamentalist innovations-set to scripture, ignoring scholarship and intense studying, and complex distinctive understandings of reality”! effective that christians and atheists can agree and giggle at the same time even in spite of the fact that if it relatively is at fundie price! yet at the back of the laughter is the melancholy on the fundamentalists striving so perplexing to ruin christianity by turning it from a faith to an ideology! Surveys advise that 29% of yank christians are so extremist of their ideals that they fall nicely outdoors of the popular bounds of christianity!

Answer 6

Dear abc,

It seems you do not understand what atheism means.
Knowledge of the existence (or non-existence) of gods is not necessary to be an atheist.

All one has to do to be an atheist is to have no beliefs in any gods. This is not a statement of belief. It is a statement of disbelief.

Some atheists can and do go further, and claim that they believe there are no gods. Some atheists say they do not know if gods exist. Both types of atheists share one thing.....they do not believe in gods.

Answer 7

It is impossible to prove there is or isn't a God, but there is plenty of evidence against religion being true. Atheists do not support their beliefs with delusion are theists do.

Answer 8

Most atheists do not claim to know for sure that there is no God. They just don't see any evidence and therefore live with the assumption that there isn't one. However, if any evidence to the contrary shows up, they will quickly change their minds.

Answer 9

I just read all of the answers, and I believe that you may be in over your head, I do hope that with this question you brought some survival equipment.
Now this is only my opinion, but I think that the faeries have been dancing in the moonlight while sipping on moonshine and lotus blossoms.

Answer 10

Start at the beginning.

Religionists propose the hypothesis that gods exist.

Now it is up to them to support this fanciful and unfounded hypothesis with evidence,

Atheists can just sit back and patiently wait...no evidence yet.