The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #131699   Message #2980628
Posted By: Steve Shaw
05-Sep-10 - 06:43 PM
Thread Name: BS: The God Delusion 2010
Subject: RE: BS: The God Delusion 2010
Who says we believe in nothing? All the time we get this juxtaposition of religious beliefs versus something that religious belief has to kick against. If you really twisted my arm I could tell you that I believed in the laws of physics as we understand them now and will be delighted, though not at all surprised, if and when new interpretations of them are demonstrated to be true. You believe in God and I think that's a big delusion, though I'm not going to tell you that I don't believe in God. I'm going to tell you instead that you have an interesting idea that, unfortunately, just doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. It's a bit like Bertrand Russell's celestial teapot. The chances of its existence are, er, not 50:50, though I have to concede that there is a chance, no matter how vanishingly small, that it really is out there. I can't demonstrate, ever, that it isn't there (not helped by Russell's imaginary opponents shifting the goalposts, just as religion is serially wont to do), but I can say that the burden of proof is on you, not me. It's you who wants all the known laws of physics to be broken, not me.