Wednesday, October 26, 2011

What do Athiests and Theists have in common?

Both factions commit the fallacy of holding a strong belief in something for which there is no scientific proof. Theists believe that god absolutely and necessarily exists, while atheists contend the opposite, that he absolutely does not exist. Now, you may be saying, "But there is no proof for god, so how can you lump the atheists in with the theists?" I'm sure you've all heard the phrase, 'Lack of evidence is not evidence of lack.' There is no proof for god, which is why the theist claim is invalid. However, there is also no definitive proof for the non-existence of god, which renders the atheist argument invalid as well.

This concept will draw a lot of heat from the atheist crowd, but I ask you to consider the following: You will deny a theist's beliefs while citing the lack of evidence for the existence of god, but you must hold yourself to the same standards. What solid evidence do you have that god necessarily does not exist?

The lack of evidence for god does not support your belief as much as you'd like to think, atheists. It does not invalidate your belief (like it does to the theists). It is compatible with your belief, but you must remember that a strong belief requires strong proof... and lack of evidence is NOT evidence of lack.

Love,
Your friendly neighborhood agnostic

6 comments:

  1. Most atheists are agnostic, therefore you are arguing against a strawman.

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  2. I am here to let you know that almost every atheist in the world agrees with you. You see, atheism is a blanket term which contains within it agnostic atheism and gnostic atheism. Just about every atheist you will ever meet is an agnostic atheist. What this means is that we don't claim to know whether or not a god exists, but we choose not to believe it.

    I can also go into 2 other distinctions, to whit, strong and weak atheism. Strong atheism is the positive claim "I believe there is no god" while weak atheism is characterised by "I do not believe there is a god". The difference is subtle, yet important. The former is a positive claim, while the latter is the rejection of a claim. Most atheists are weak atheists.

    What does this mean for you? Not much. I'm not going to argue that you should identify as an agnostic atheist. In any case, I reckon your position falls closer to agnostic apatheist. The only contention that I have is that your definitions are causing you to mischaracterise the position of atheists and I would like you to reconsider your definitions.

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  3. Tufty that was a very insightful comment. Thank you!

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  4. lol, nice agnostic gif. Indeed, there's no proof of either, but there is MORE than enough evidence that suggests that we have no more reason to believe the things taught to us by the monotheistic religions than we do to believe that the X-Men exist.

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  5. Depeche mode said it quite clearly.. everyone should have their own personal jesus.

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  6. I never thought of it that way. Nice.

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