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Atheist Christmas Challenge?

• Skeptics & Atheists

Are there atheists silly enough to waste their finite time alive trying to prove that God - whatever might be meant by that in a given instance - doesn't exist?

For everyone else, there would appear to be three theological options. 1) You can believe, as I do, that the universe is presided over by a being that is 100 percent malevolent but only 80 percent effective (which explains pretty much everything). 2) You can agree with logical positivists, who claimed that "God exists" is cognitively meaningless and hence neither true nor false. Or 3) you can become a Unitarian.

Which puts me in mind of a joke. Q: How do you protest the fact that a Unitarian family has moved into your neighborhood? A: You burn a question mark on their lawn.

Jim Holt, Slate: Can you prove God doesn't exist?

Richard Evans Lee
November 25, 2003 •
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How very odd. Why on earth would I want to go around 'proving' that the weird postulate of 'a god' is untrue? It irritates me when theists throw the burden of proof upon the atheist, when this god hypothesis is the extraordinary claim which needs to be supported. Gaahh. Terri

Posted by: Terri | November 25, 2003 11:29 PM

The abstract idea of a god is actually quite simple to disprove. I share the knowledge to do so with others daily. Here's where everyone goes wrong. Everyone begins debating the god idea on superficial levels, such as the validity or errancy of scriptural texts, etc. You cannot intelligently discuss that which is not accurately defined. Meaning, the god idea has no context - it is nothing more than an abstract idea adorned with incomprehensible attributes, such as omnipotence, benevolence, omniscience, and the like to make it appear valid. However, these attributes themselves are all that we have to define the otherwise baseless idea of a god. Since each of these attributes themselves elevate love, knowledge, and power to irrationally imagined superhuman levels, they automatically collapse into self-contradiction. In turn, so does the god idea. What you are left with is a word - the word "god" - without context; without a coherant definition; without meaning. The word itself is no better than the sound of a whistle in its place. It's simple, you see. The idea of a god is impossible because it has not been successfully defined. To say that there is a god, is to say nothing at all. Don't waste your life debating universal unknowns. How life began is certainly a complex issue; one requiring expert knowledge in many fields of science just to speak intelligently. However, you need not be a genius to disprove the god idea because it disproves itself at the lowest possible level - the word. Don't get caught up in complex, circular logic, just keep it simple. The desperate rambling of fools who know not what they speak only pulls you away from enjoying the real world. Lay to rest the mind-made ideas of gods and come back to reality to rest for a while; you'll enjoy it here.

Posted by: Awakened | December 2, 2003 11:39 PM

So called intellectuals often waiste thier cognitive powers trying to prove the unprovable. Thier pride makes them foolish in spite of thier intellegence. Also... If you spend too much time looking into a microscope you sometimes fail to see the big picture. To me its as simple as this. Its not likely the universe WOULD(implying a cognitive desire) or could have spontaneously generated itself from nothing. Its also just as unlikely that life WOULD or could have spontaneously generated itself from inanimate matter. It is easy to see there is great conformity in the structure of the universe. Gravity, the speed of light, time, ect. All things act and react based on unbreakable and completely consistent laws. The Earth circling the Sun at exactly the right distance and its size, density, and composition being perfect for supporting life. Intellegent design is a rational assumption. The next question is who is the designer. There are many religions that try to answer that question. I am not knowlegeable enough to debate the validity of one over another. The Bible is compelling due largely to one major fact that is largely overlooked even by Christians. The Bible does not paint a pretty picture of life after death or reincarnation. It states that we will die and our destruction will be so complete that nothing will remain but dust. I don't think any athiest would debate that. It is from this premise the comcept of salvation is dirived. If we all sprouted wings and flew to heaven when we die what would we need to be saved from. To beleive or not beleive is all a matter of choice. That is the premise of faith. For me I thing believing is having hope. Without God there is no hope for continued existence. There is no true beauty and no true right or wrong as all things would then be subjective. What a lousy world view that would be.

Posted by: Believer | December 6, 2003 11:33 PM

How do you feel?

Feel free to share your feelings about Atheist Christmas Challenge?. Please stick to the theme of the entry. Disagreement is fine. Homophobia, racism, and kindred expressions of hatred will be deleted. This site is one of my hobbies. I genuinely enjoy hearing from people and hate moderating or killing comments. Forthright disagreement is fine as long as it is civil.
My thanks,
Richard

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