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Originally Posted by El_Mariachi64  Most agnostics think this (at least I do)..While I cannot disprove god, I acknowledge it is highly unlikely that one exists. Much more unlikely than me winning the lottery. Its the same deal for all deities and fairies and leprechauns. |
I don't think God can be figured out through probabilities. Precisely what data could be used to figure out the statistical probability? Using probability to refer to God is meaningless or else it translates into a subjective value judgment.
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Originally Posted by renderator But when do you really have to advance such a hypothesis? |
In reality, you don't need to advance any hypothesis, but obviously it is helpful to advance a hypothesis on occasion. So, when would it be helpful to advance the hypothesis of God? My answer is when you've had a non-rational experience that can't be explained in any other manner. This doesn't prove the hypothesis, but it might cause you to take the hypothesis more seriously. However, if you've never had a visionary or spiritual experience, then the hypothesis of God is nothing other than a meaningless conjecture.
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For example, you cannot start the engine of your car. There is something wrong with the engine. When do you have to advance the hypothesis that there is a dwarf settled in it or God does not allow your engine to start. Never! It explains absolutely nothing. It gives you no idea how to fix the problem. So this hypothesis is always absolutely improbable, cause there can never be the situation, you have to advance these ridiculous hypotheses.
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Unless I observed a dwarf or God in my car engine, I wouldn't randomly advance this as a hypothesis. If I did observe something that fit the description of a dwarf or of a specific god, then I would advance several hypotheses and explore the matter further. It might turn out that there is a dwarf in my engine, but he is only there because he was trying to fix my engine. It would certainly be rude of me not to believe in him when he was trying to help me out.
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Originally Posted by El_Mariachi64 Agnostics and atheists have a lot more in common than is at first is evident. Its just mostly a disagreement in terminology. But If we could all look inside each other's heads...I'm pretty sure we'd all think the same. |
Absolutely. But I have read a lot of postigs here stating that atheism is some kind of religion. I think it's because of misunderstanding of what atheism really is.
The absence of God is a necessary premise for rationality, not a belief. [/quote]
Which postings here have referred to atheism as a religion?
Could you rationally explain why the absence of God is a necessary premise for rationality?
(I was talking to God the other day, and he said watching us humans makes him have severe doubts about rationality all together.
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