Atheists, should disbelief be supported by more than a lack of evidence?

Question

While there is no evidence for elves or aliens, it seems most of us are "atheistic" toward elves and "agnostic" toward aliens.

What is the difference?

Does the deistic definition of God fall in the elf or alien category?

Answer 1

The definition of God does not fall in any one of these categories.

Answer 2

Neither.

You fall into the same trap as everyone else using the term atheist.

Atheists do not believe in a god - any god - not just the Christian one. But if you read the definition and understand it you will then realize they can follow any religion, belief or spiritual life that does not have an actual god.

Elves are a figment from fiction therefore they are imaginary. If they did actually exist as aliens might they would still not be god's or the product of gods so there is no problem there for atheists!!!

The only people worried by atheists are Christians whose faith is far too weak to accept anyone with a different opinion to theirs!!!!

If you follow your own reasoning then someone saying all followers of religion were stark staring mad would be deemed to be correct until conclusive proof was furnished to the contrary!!!!!

Answer 3

Elves were invented by man, then were talked about. Aliens were talked about then invented by man. What I mean by this is there was first a sighting of a UFO, before there was a term UFO, so the evidence predated the belief. The opposite is true with elves. People didn't see a little green thing, then come up with the belief in elves. Therefor, God is in the elf category.

Answer 4

With elves, we have a fair command of the realm in which they would appears. With aliens, it is the whole universe where we have no idea how many earth like planets there might be. We have not even begun to explore the realm in which aliens might appears.

We do not have a comprehensive theory limiting how intelligence might manifest itself in the universe.

The deistic or Deistic? Assuming no difference, I would say the concept has no function. How would you test for it? It makes no difference one way or another if it exists.

Disbelief need not be supported by more than lack of evidence if the existence of the entity makes no difference to any action.

Theistic belief or lack of belief seems to be only important in the realm of getting along with others.

The foundation for theistic belief is not simply direct empirical evidence (or its lack). Many base their theistic belief on scriptures and other empirical claims that are open to empirical test.

Answer 5

What is more probable, an all knowing Deity in the form of a grandpa in the sky, or an alien from a far off planet? If you break it down to what is probable, you should be able to see how atheists can deny the probability of elves and god, and remain undecided on the existence of aliens. As somewhat of a christian, I can understand that line of reasoning.

Answer 6

Alien references any life form that may exist outside of our own earthly domain. Since its definition is so broad and inclusive, not requiring any absolute evidence, as it defines a multitude of possible resolutions. God and elves are tangibly defined in a definitive manner as to characteristics and purpose thus easier to point to the lack of evidence and the subjugation of an authentic reality.

Answer 7

Probability is the difference. There is a much higher probability for the existence of alien life (in part for the simple reason that we exist) and little to no evidence for the existence of elves.

Belief in the existence of a god falls into the elf category, regardless of the specifics of the belief.

Answer 8

The same way one procures evidence to refute the existence of the flying spaghetti monster. The burden of proof lays on the one making the claim. Those who disbelieve in something that does not exist by proofs standards does not carry the burden of proving the non-existent doesn't exist. That said, disbelief in an afterlife is not an atheist thing. Some do believe in an afterlife. The only thing that makes one an atheist is disbelief in deities. That is it. Anyone who extends it to define other areas has taken liberties pertaining to their personal beliefs.

Answer 9

It is the level of the claim. Life on other planets seems to be a mathematical certainty to me. There is evidence that life at least at one time did exist on Mars. There has also been evidence of life a few other places. I don't think it is all that extraordinary of a claim. And we certainly have ample evidence that life can exist. If it can, it probably does somewhere.

Now aliens visiting here....that is pretty extraordinary given the vast distance and the speed of light limit. I don't believe that for a second.

There is ample evidence that humans are very creative in making up gods. I don't see any evidence to differentiate one from the others. So it is just reasonable to me that any one you want to pick was probably made up.

Answer 10

Here's the thing...

While one can assume the same position regarding a god(in this case the christian one) and extraterrestrial life, the main difference is that besides the lack of evidence on either side of the argument, is that one has a scientific and logical probability while the other is disproved more the more it is studied and analyzed.

While one could remain agnostic about aliens, you can know that the conditions in our planet can be repeated elsewhere and other lifeforms could exist hence we know there are lifeforms here on earth that do not share the same conditions for living.

Meanwhile for the christian god it has been pre-established its existing conditions and its deeds based on pure faith. In this case one can disprove it's existence not only due to lack of evidence (and previous evidence regarding it's deeds disproved) but this entity cannot exist based on the conditions given for it's existence.

As for elves they exist, I don't know where you get your cookies mister.

Answer 11

Atheists are a subset of agnostics. They're the agnostics who don't believe in God. When people say they think there may be aliens, they're talking about the size of the universe making it likely that there is more life than just ourselves. God, fairies and elves are mythological. The ideas arose from the deluded and wishful thinking minds of humans and are thus not worthy of consideration by rational minds.