The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #131699   Message #2974063
Posted By: John P
27-Aug-10 - 12:42 PM
Thread Name: BS: The God Delusion 2010
Subject: RE: BS: The God Delusion 2010
mousethief: See, this is an in to a conversation about what it is reasonable to believe, and what counts as "evidence" for any given proposition. I would love to have a real discussion with any atheist about what is required for a working epistemology that can take into account the ways people actually work vis-a-vis believing, knowing, etc. It's almost impossible to do that online, and without a little background reading. So I'll be polite here: thinking that you have "evidence" for everything you believe, and that they don't have "evidence" for believing in God, is a weeny teeny bit naïve.

I have some questions:
What do I believe that I don't have evidence for?
How is it polite to call me naive and tell me I can't understand the subject matter?

What evidence can you offer that:
God talks.
God listens.
God has a personality, in that it takes notice of individual humans.
Jesus died for your sins.
Jesus died and came back to life.
God is everywhere.
God is in heaven.
God is, in some way, three beings in one. Did that arrangement pertain before the birth of Christ?
The Bible is divinely inspired.
Anyone knows what happens to us after we die.
Hell exists.
Heaven exists.

You'll notice that I'm not talking about what place religion or belief has in peoples' lives, or whether or not it inspires them to good deeds. I'm also not talking about spiritual experience, which is a well-documented phenomenon and is available to anyone. "Christianity" is defined primarily by a belief in the resurrection of Christ, by the concept that he died for your sins, and by the notion that he is part of a Trinity. Why do you believe that?

John