Atheists: isn't it blind faith to say "Definitely an invisible creator of the universe doesn't exist"?

Question

How can you take a complete lack of evidence and draw a conclusion on that basis?

Zero Corr - good point, it is reason of course - Let me tell you: I am eating something right now - what are the chances it is spaghetti and what are the chances it is something else? Because their are so many different foods the chances it is spaghetti is very very small. If you say "it is definitely not spaghetti" you are being quite reasonable.

But really - am I eating something, anything, right now? You have no way of knowing. Just because you can rule out the specific possibility that "I am eating spaghetti" on the basis that it is very unlikely that doesn't mean you can rule out the general possibility that "I am eating".

Similarly just because we can rule out the specific possibility that "a spaghetti God exists", there is no way of knowing whether the general posssibility: "a God exists" is true or false.

brother_morr - then your not an atheist

gordon - yes it is
unafraid - yes it does, your right
deztruct - that's what I mean - we shouldn't rule stuff out just because we can't see it
Juan - exactly
molten - well you can be religious and not have blind faith but ok, most religious people have blind faith
carl - exactly
frederick - how can you have an overwhelming probability when there is no evidence either way whatsoever
grumpy - please only use words with less than 4 syllables
yhcrana - no, e.g. the atheists use faulty logic to back up their faith
phoenix - how can you believe the possibility miniscule when there is no evidence either way
the next person - then your not an atheist
decidal - true that is pretty arrogant
aurora - what? it's not blind faith but it is blind faith. You might want to think about that one.
Bambina - again, there is no evidence so no reason to say the probability is low
bad - the same, no evidence. Next.
atheist - you have devoted your values to something without evidence, y stop now

beth - I think you have read someone else's question and posted on this one by mistake.

Mr mastershake - may I direct you to a dictionary, try www.dictionary.com

Answer 1

The SAME thing could be said to Christians, or any member of any religion, for that matter.

Answer 2

No, because there is no faith in that question at all. you're basically saying that there is no creator. you're also asking 'how can u say there's a god without any evidence?' the answer to that is there is evidence! The evidence is the bible. It's a living(a REAL source)dcoument that people all over the world are reading to get a better understanding in god and there faith. Another evidence peice is people themselves. many people are risking there lives to worship the one and only GOD. They are constintally telling others of their faith, not just telling them but by their actions! I hope this will be of help!

Answer 3

That's why a lot of people simply fail to believe in deities.

This is quite different from believing in no deities.

Personally, I find the possibility that a deity exists so minuscule that I'm comfortable just saying they don't. Any reasonable person will accept that we could always be wrong.

Answer 4

No. It's not faith, but REASON, which motivates me to assert such a claim.

Religious folks like you generally can't tell the difference between faith and reason. It's quite unfortunate.

By the way, though I'm sure you've never said it, you'd probably agree that "definitely an invisible Flying Spaghetti Monster which created the universe doesn't exist". Do you take this on faith or on reason?

Answer 5

Yes, they operate on faith just as we believers do. The opposite of faith is fact and since they have no factual evidence of God's non-existence, they are left with faith, same as us. In that context, atheism is as much of a religion as theism.

Answer 6

Yes, it would be.

That's why I don't say that, and neither do most atheists. To claim to know that would be to claim to have ultimate knowledge of the entire universe.

By the same token, I don't know that Santa Claus doesn't really live at the North Pole. But I'm pretty secure in my belief that he does not.

Now, if I were to say to you (and I assume you don't believe in Santa Claus) that if you DON'T believe in Santa Claus, you will spend eternity being tortured in hell, would that make you change your mind? Would you start to think "Maybe I should rethink my stance on Santa Claus... I mean... hell would really suck..."

As I said, I'm pretty confident I'm not going to Santa hell, no matter how scary it might be.

Answer 7

'Fraid not, sorry. Blind faith means believing in the perfect absence of evidence. We can say that with mountains of evidence to support out case. So it ain't blind or faith.

Next.

Answer 8

Yes, atheists DON'T believe in God and it takes faith to not believe in God just like it takes faith to not believe in Zeus, unicorns and leprechauns. But at least atheists don't say they know God exists, not only that, but they KNOW what God wants and is thinking (Bible and the Koran). Arrogance indeed.

Answer 9

Only positive atheists say that. The majority of atheists simply acknowledge that there is an overwhelming probability of god not existing, so we might as well say he doesn't exist.

Answer 10

When did I say "definitely?"

All I want is evidence of existence before I devote my life to something.