I Know That God Does Not Exist

A direct answer would fill in the blanks as I asked you to do. It is becoming pretty clear that you can't do it.

The fact that there are places we haven't looked. I don't care if you alter your conclusions. Most of us seem to recognize already that your conclusions are wrong. I'm just adding my two cents to the reasons why they are wrong.

Yes. Of course I disagree and I've already explained why. Nothing in that post shows irrational thinking, which is why I keep asking you to point out exactly what is irrational about it.An idea you don't like is not necessarily irrational. An idea that is flat-out wrong is not necessarily irrational. An idea that is unfalsifiable is not necessarily irrational.So, will you finally debate in good faith and answer my question?

I think I could say I know it, based on the concept of "know" that I have been using. I could show you a stuffed passenger pigeon or a skeleton.

Proving or disproving an idea depends on evidence - i.e. premises - not on reasoning about the idea itself. What might clear things up is if you would answer the question that I keep asking you: What is it, specifically, that is irrational about the idea of God? List the errors in reasoning and explain why each is an error.

Let's try a different tack:In your world, is the idea of beauty rational or irrational? Can you falsify the idea of beauty? Is the idea of love rational or irrational? Can you falsify the idea of love?

It doesn't make any difference whether or not anything was faked. The Hitler diaries might have been faked but that doesn't mean that the idea of Hitler diaries is irrational.I can say I know that passenger pigeons once existed because there is evidence. I can not say I know something based on a lack of evidence.

Don't be silly. There's the cake, right in front of you. You don't have to look for it at all. I am demonstrating to you that I can bake a cake. It isn't likely to be in both of our imaginations at the same time. We can add as many witnesses as you like to make it as objective as you like. We have to look in enough places. If you can't find skarkfin soup on the McDonalds menu, you can't say that you know sharkfin soup doesn't exist. You haven't looked in enough places.

I don't even care whether the idea of a deity is rational or not. But it's interesting that you can't show us exactly what is irrational about it.

I think it's a good sign that we're not just taking sides. Tangle and I have disagreed with each other too on many occasions.

Don't kid yourself. You're not off the hook yet. I'm still waiting for an answer to my question and until you provide one I'm going to continue pointing out that you can't. What's the difference with God? The question was: Is it a rational idea or an irrational idea? And can it be falsified?

Not at all. It's like looking into an empty peanut butter jar and saying I'll have to look elsewhere for peanut butter.

I couldn't care less about your opinion. I've been asking you for facts.

Now you're just being dishonest. You know that argument works for what you can see but not for what you can't. You can't "demonstrate" a negative like that. Nope. Not near enough. You haven't looked behind the dark matter yet. It's exactly the same argument though. You didn't find sharkfin soup where you looked. You didn't find God where you looked. But you looked in the wrong place for sharkfin soup. Who's to say you're not looking in the wrong place for God? The same reason we have for suggesting that sharkfinsoup may exist somewhere else besides McDonalds.

This is a discussion forum, not a pop quiz. We expect a little more than, "I already answered that." Elaborate. I'm trying to figure out what you think a rational idea is - but you resolutely refuse to answer, so I can't help but think you haven't thought it through. Use any definition that your little heart desires. I'm asking why you think the idea of God is irrational, so your definition is more relevant than mine. We're not talking about any "statement". We're talking about the idea of God. You're the one who brought up falsification as a supposed argument that the idea of God is irrational. So tell us how you would falsify the idea of God or drop the argument about falsification.