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Thread: Is Atheism Irrational?

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    Is Atheism Irrational?

    Is Atheism Irrational?

    We know well atheistic attempts to explain religion away. Marx, for example, claims that religion is the opiate of the people. Religion, Nietzsche contends, is weakness lying itself into power. According to Freud religion is a defensive illusion created in the face of “the crushingly superior force of nature.” As influential as these ideas are, they are little more than guesses based on utter speculation.

    Times have changed. From the Agency Detection Device (ADD) to Theory of Mind (ToM), the cognitive faculties involved in the production and sustenance of religious belief are now well known. ADD and ToM, when taken together, are sometimes called “the god-faculty.” The god-faculty produces belief in kin, predators, mates, and enemies, and it produces manifestly false beliefs in such things as ghosts, goblins, and even gods. According to philosopher Daniel Dennett, the god-faculty is a “fiction generating contraption.”

    ...
    Well that wandered off into fantasy land pretty fast but the question remains and is valie, I think, and think so even as an atheist.

    I think of it this way, based on ways I see atheists argue.

    Many atheists define God in some way that they then declare is irrational. Example, God is omnipotent so how can he allow evil and suffering and such. I've never seen a case where the definition fits what those with faith believe. So it's a strawman.

    For the rest, they say God doesn't exist without saying what God is. But if you don't know, how can you argue unknowns, it's a logical fallacy.

    Arguing strawmen and unknowns is irrational.

    Maybe someone has another argument.


    I'm an agnostic atheist, btw. I don't know God, lack faith, chose not to believe.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    My close friend who passed away a couple of years ago was an atheist. I asked him what he thought happens when we die, he said we wont know we'll be dead.

    To each their own, people can believe what they want, my friend who runs the computer shop is a religious guy, his son is an atheist, nicest man you would ever want to meet, hes 41 just a great person all around.
    LETS GO BRANDON
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    Quote Originally Posted by Common View Post
    My close friend who passed away a couple of years ago was an atheist. I asked him what he thought happens when we die, he said we wont know we'll be dead.

    To each their own, people can believe what they want, my friend who runs the computer shop is a religious guy, his son is an atheist, nicest man you would ever want to meet, hes 41 just a great person all around.

    Absolutely agree, to each his own, which is, basically, liberty of conscience.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    An agnostic atheist is not a position that makes a clear statement, but a confused one. Agnostics are not sure if God exists. Atheists are certain He does not. Atheism is about the most arrogant position one can adopt. Why? Because one cannot prove that God doesn't exist. All of the evidence shows that He does indeed exist.

    It requires no rationality at all to be an atheist. If it did, one would not be an atheist.

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    Quote Originally Posted by CWF View Post
    An agnostic atheist is not a position that makes a clear statement, but a confused one. Agnostics are not sure if God exists. Atheists are certain He does not. Atheism is about the most arrogant position one can adopt. Why? Because one cannot prove that God doesn't exist. All of the evidence shows that He does indeed exist.

    It requires no rationality at all to be an atheist. If it did, one would not be an atheist.
    I think you confuse clarity with knowing. The atheist is clear in his assertion God doesn't exist but has no knowledge to base that assertion on. It's not the case that theagnostic atheist is unclear, he asserts the existence of God is unknown, and chooses not to believe.


    Because one cannot prove that God doesn't exist.
    Depends on what you assert God is. St Anselm's ontological argument is easily countered, see Douglas Gasking's argument.

    All of the evidence shows that He does indeed exist.
    What evidence? Who is He? What do you mean exist?

    Though this is not intended as an argument pro or con about theism.
    Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. ― Gustav Mahler

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    Quote Originally Posted by CWF View Post
    An agnostic atheist is not a position that makes a clear statement, but a confused one. Agnostics are not sure if God exists. Atheists are certain He does not. Atheism is about the most arrogant position one can adopt. Why? Because one cannot prove that God doesn't exist. All of the evidence shows that He does indeed exist.

    It requires no rationality at all to be an atheist. If it did, one would not be an atheist.
    I would suggest that religious zealots are arrogant because they CANNOT prove god exists.
    Where is all this "evidence" that god exists? If you have it, produce it as no one else ever has.
    Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I digress....

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    Quote Originally Posted by AZ Jim View Post
    I would suggest that religious zealots are arrogant because they CANNOT prove god exists.
    Where is all this "evidence" that god exists? If you have it, produce it as no one else ever has.
    The real question here though is are atheists rational enough to prove God doesn't exist?

    I don't think so. To argue you can't prove A, therefore ~A, is not logical.
    Last edited by Chris; 10-25-2017 at 03:50 PM.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    The real question here though is are atheists rational enough to prove God doesn't exist?

    I don't think so. To argue you can prove A, therefore ~A, is not logical.
    I cannot prove either existence or non-existence. My only compass is my gut.
    Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I digress....

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    Quote Originally Posted by AZ Jim View Post
    I would suggest that religious zealots are arrogant because they CANNOT prove god exists.
    Where is all this "evidence" that god exists? If you have it, produce it as no one else ever has.
    If evidence actually existed, then faith would be redundant, and they don't want that. Faith is believing what you know isn't so. (Twain)
    News: Rich people paying rich people to tell middle class people to blame poor people.

    They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Chris View Post
    The real question here though is are atheists rational enough to prove God doesn't exist?

    I don't think so. To argue you can prove A, therefore ~A, is not logical.
    Proving the non-existence of gods is superfluous since there is no evidence that they do exist, other than in the imagination.
    News: Rich people paying rich people to tell middle class people to blame poor people.

    They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance.

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