Why are some people overlooking the fact that you can't be 100% sure that you're right, atheist or theist?

Question

Firstly, I know that this is probably inducing the wrath of the entire R&S community, so I'd like to make it clear that this question is ONLY for those people (on either side of the debate), who claim that they know for "certain", or have complete 100% indisputable proof that they are correct [on whether God exists or not]:

How can some people forget that God, by its very nature, is unprovable (and un-disprovable)?

Even Richard Dawkins says that you can only ever be 99.9% sure that you are correct on your opinion about God's existence, or on some kind of sliding scale between the two:

Science experiments can always be done to one more degree of accuracy, when better equipment is developed for example.

And religion requires faith to believe in it, i.e. it isn't 100% either, faith bridges the gap in your uncertainty.

It just really annoys me how people forget this so easily.

For the record, I'm an atheist.

I would say that I am very far up the sliding scale towards being disbelieving of God's. I'm just questioning those who feel they are at 100%.

Answer 1

your right-and good point-if you cant admit to the possiblilty of what you know to be false it gets real hard to learn anything new-just my thoughts-99.9% atheist----smile and enjoy the night

Answer 2

Most religions, true or not, are conveyed via memes. A meme is like a mind-virus, though the idea or notion being conveyed via the meme isn't necessarily false just because it's meme-replicated, however the parts of it that are meme replication can be considered nothing less than parasitic and destructive. Same holds true for any notion about the world if the strength of one's belief in it ultimately rests upon the strength to which the meme has taken hold on them.

Only those who require no basis for their faith can be 100% certain that their faith is "true", and even then, the truly open-minded would have to admit that there's no reason for anyone else to accept their conviction alone as evidence for the truth value of their faith. Most religions demand 100% obedience and strive to ensure this via fear, sentimentality and chant-or-song induced hypnotic trance-states. Rationality rarely ever stands a chance against such conditioning.

What people need to learn how to do in order to cure their meme - or at least to make sure their faith is genuine and not simply a human-bred mind-virus - is to study criticisms of their faith made by adherents to other faiths. Not just to ask their preacher or rabbi what folks of other faiths believe, not just to take the word of apostates from other faiths, but to read actual books and articles by people who are or were of that other faith when the book or article was written, and which seek to define why the author disbelieves the reader's choice of faith.

Answer 3

I'm not making a claim that gods don't exist with 100% certainty. I just look at human culture and see how religion is not a reflection of reality. All holy books can be falsified if we assume they must be entirely correct about physical claims if they are divine in origin. Physical processes are the domain of science. Science shows us a complex world that does not conform to any ancient religious text. No book prior to Darwin guessed evolution or a 14 billion year old universe.

So I do claim that religions are wrong (and the definitions of god in each of them), but I only lack belief in gods. What is a god? How would you define something that is not believed to be subject to physical parameters? What would be the point if it has no intervention into physical laws in the universe?

Could one exist? Possibly. But God is not very well defined outside of a religious context, and the notion of complex intelligence in a universe that goes from the simple to complex through things like evolution lends me to believe that any god is unlikely. My atheism is a lack of belief in all concepts of god. Religious gods are much easier to show as false.

Answer 4

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a hoot if I'm 100% or 85% right. Actually, I don't even care if I'm wrong. In my reality there is no god, therefore there is no god. If I had some insecure need for everyone to believe exactly as I do, then the numbers would be relevant.

Answer 5

While it is true that at this time, humans lack the capacity to prove or disprove the existence of god, since there has been no single scrap of evidence suggesting the presence of an invisible sky deity, atheism will be remain our status quo.

Answer 6

The whole world is overlooking the fact that I can now 100% prove through modern science that the God Yahweh exists.

Answer 7

Nobody can be certain that God really exists, but you have one choice:
Become a believer and create your God by your belief,
or accept the uncertainty that there is, and accept the possibility that there actually is no God.
The latter is harder to do, because it means that you take personal responsibility for everything you do. But in my opinion, it's closer to the truth.

Answer 8

You are absolutely correct. I'm about 95% sure that God is God and in charge of all things, but I won't be 100% sure until I die and see Him for myself. On the other hand, I'd rather be wrong about God and live my life for Him anyway than the other way around. I find the foundation of the Bible and my belief in His nature improves my life anyway, whether I get to go to Heaven in an afterlife or not.

Answer 9

yes i agree that no body has the ultimate truth

But i believe that there is GOD ,he died for me and loves me
maybe i am wrong maybe it's illusions but inside of me i feel it's right and i just share what i really experienced

and remember it is not about religion and who's right and who's not
it 's all about God ,if God exists the only thing that will matter is do you know him
that;s why i cant tell u i am right or wrong but i follow God i believe in him ,i changed and iam changing since God made me close to him so i guess that;s the proof and the only proof

Answer 10

On this subject we know what we believe through faith we accept. So if somebody says he knows 100 percent, he he means he has 100 pc faith in the idea he believes.

Answer 11

Because Christianity is a religion of faith and trust in God. There is no percentages, inbetweens, etc. You cant put a percentage of certainty on a Christian's faith. You either believe or you don't.