What Is The Positive Evidence For Atheism?

I saw a back and forth on the argument from ignorance. Claiming that something is proved untrue, based on a lack of positive evidence is an AoI. Here's something on it from The Skeptic's Dictionary... Just keep in mind that doubt, or not believing in, is not the same as denial. Hence you can doubt, or just not believe in the existence of Gods based on a lack of evidence. You simply can't take one step further to claim knowledge that there isn't.

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h
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." - Robert E. Howard

C'mon, I'll tell you the same thing I always tell ya, get your head out of your ass and learn to debate like an adult.Jon

Check my post right above yours. I clarified the rules on arguments from ignorance from a source I'd hope most would trust (especially atheists).I'm not sure if crash said he knows or he doubts, or simply doesn't believe, so I'm not making a judgment call, just laying out the rules.I don't believe, and on many particular religions have serious doubts. But ultimately I don't know... and most of the time I don't care. I've heard the term apatheist bandied about recently. I may be more or less one of them.

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h
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." - Robert E. Howard

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GDR is asking why do we have such conceptions about God with more prevalence than other abstract ideas?

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No real evidence? What do we endlessly talk about more than anything else? We talk about God, whether it be good or bad, all the time. All the time. As a fellow Christian, I'm sure you can appreciate that. That's one explanation. Fear and ignorance could also explain why He is viewed negatively too. Probably so. Because without it, its just another faith-belief-- something most atheists are uncomfortable dealing with. "Faith" is like nails on a chalkboard to them. So for them to prospect that they have the same kind of faith about God, only in reverse, is not exactly a comforting thought.

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“This life’s dim windows of the soul, distorts the heavens from pole to pole, and goads you to believe a lie, when you see with and not through the eye.” -William Blake

An adult would have answered the questions posed to them.How do you know when you're out of milk, Jon?

I'm as sure that there's no God in my universe as I am that there's no milk in my fridge.I don't claim total certainty about either. Only enough certainty, respectively, to make a note to go to the store tomorrow and not to live my life by the whims of capricious, asshole deities. In other words I arrive at the practical, tentative, operating conclusion that "God" as described does not exist. People who think that anything short of absolute certainty is agnosticism call me agnostic. I don't think agnosticism actually exists (it's atheism in disguise, imo), so I call myself an atheist, or an "agnostic atheist" when I feel the need to please everybody at once. (I try not to pick fights with agnostics about it, since their hearts are in the right place, so to speak.)On Dawkin's 1-7 scale of belief/disbelief in gods, I'm a 6. (So is Dawkins.) 7 would be the adamant, certain assertion that God definitely does not exist in any form, and I cannot honestly claim that much certainty, and so I don't. I'm not a 7 but a 6.If you wanted to describe me as "faithless", "godless", or "irreligious", I would accept those as synonymous with "atheist" or "agnostic". Additionally, I try to comport myself according to humanism. But that's not strictly related to my atheism; it's more just an expression of who I am.

Gays?

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GDR is asking why do we have such conceptions about God with more prevalence than other abstract ideas?

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I am not at all convinced that this is the case.

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He's saying, if people are generally fixated on God, even people that claim not to believe in God, isn't that evidence that something of that order exists?

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People who don't claim to believe in God aren't really "fixated" on God. What we fixate upon here at EvC is the poor logic and faulty reasoning used by most believers to try to prove God's existence.Such as GDR's idea.

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Why does the notion of God illicit such strong, negative emotions in many atheists, but warm, comfortable notions in the believer?

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I can't understand why you think that unbelievers have strong negative emotions about something they don't believe in.I never think about superstitions in my day to day life. The only time I talk about God is here, and that's just because I like the debate and analysis.

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That doesn't explain why God is a common theme among humans, whether pro or con.

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You left out the part of my post that gave an explanation: Why wouldn't really smart, problem-solving social animals, who grow up and live their whole lives in tight clan-like family units, who also are frightened and confused by all of the powerful natural phenomena that threaten them every day, wonder if there was an unseen creature pulling all the stings behind the scenes? I mean, we wonder that about other people, because we know they can do things without our knowledge, so it seems logical to a human ignorant of the natural causes of things to think that there must also be a magical person making the sun fly across the sky, or throwing the lightning bolts, or witholding the rains, or breathing life into creatures.

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I think it is a completely unneeded leap to conclude that based on our cognitive abilities, that it should explain why the concept of God not only exists en masse, but prevailed through the millennia.

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Uh, Juggs? You are familiar with the idea of cultural indoctrination and sociental control, aren't you? Edited by nator, : No reason given.

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but in the case of the early Jews it represented a very different world view than that established by their more powerful and sophisticated pagan neighbours.

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OK, but so?Why does it require divine intervention for someone to have an idea that maybe we should be kind to each other?

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What do we endlessly talk about more than anything else?

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Religion's interference in science education?Creationist's dishonesty and ignorance?Sex, particularly homosexuality and reproductive rights?

All the posts on this thread are "rhetoric" by some definitions of the word. It's worth mentioning that you don't require positive evidence for your lack of belief in all the Gods ever invented, except for one.Others lacking belief in your God doesn't require blind Faith. We cannot know exactly what it is you believe in, because we cannot see inside your head. Not at all. I lack faith in the billions of Gods that exist in other peoples minds, and I know of no evidence for them. Evolution is only evidence against proposed creator Gods who are supposed to have created a universe in which no evolution takes place. It is not evidence against proposed Gods who created a universe in which evolution does take place. Obviously. Wrong. Evolution is evidence for evolution, and against the Genesis type creationism. It does not disprove all Gods, but is evidence against some of them. You need to learn that your delusions aren't objective truths. Why should I care if Christians look fools? Many are. According to bluegenes, for those who can read English, Atheism and disbelief in elves operate on lack of faith, not blind faith.What is this mysterious positive evidence for your God that you keep mentioning? Voices in your head?You ask why all Atheist are evolutionists, then you quote my answer.bluegenes:

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Given the evidence for evolution, everyone without a superstition based mental block who is aware of that evidence would be an "evolutionist".

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It's all very simple, Ray. Thinking people will believe in something if there's evidence for it, and only then. Belief is active.Believing people believe in whatever they feel like believing, regardless of evidence. That's why we have so many religions and Gods.

Weather, sports, food, kids, the ignorance of Creationists, lots of things Nem. And as to abstract ideas, there are subjects like morals and behavior and straight lines and fairies and djinn.
There is no indication that people have conceptions about god any more than any other abstract idea.Then I said Huh? What the hell does your response have to do with what I wrote?How can someone who does not believe in something have a negative reaction to it? Only for believers. Atheists do not view God negatively, they do not view god, period.then I asked: Nonsense. It's not a comforting thought, it is an absurd thought and another example of the mental gymnastics that Biblical Christians are so adept at.Atheists do not believe in something just like you do not believe in something. Do you have any positive evidence for the non-existence of giudgsugdzugdygsugsds? How about jgigiuygyufesy3y3tfryugl87? Or kjhjuiyi? Or jiduysyuiydsggy?Positive evidence is not required for the non-belief in tooth fairies or jkhsdkdsydshdks?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Look nator. Where have I ever said that my view represented any proof of God's existence. Read my keyboard. -- I CAN'T PROVE IT!!!
Everyone here gets asked to give reasons for why they believe as they do. Just because people don't come to the same conclusions as you is not proof of faulty reasoning. I did not say that it requires it, I just believe that it makes more sense than anything else.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

I would venture to say that the vast majorities of Christians over the years would say that if you think that is the case then you are not reading the Genesis story of creation correctly. Through the ages from St. Augustine to CS Lewis and today to N.T. Wright contend that to be the case. Even the 1st century Jewish historian said that Moses wrote Genesis using allegory and metaphor.I'm not a biologist so I'm not the least bit qualified to critique evolutionary theory but I'm certainly not going to dismiss it because of the Bible.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

Then you have no disagreement with bluegenes. Note more carefully what he wrote: He is agreeing with what you say; what is incorrect is the creationists reading of the bible. So evolution is evidence against creationism of a literal genesis type. Which is what I read you as saying.