Quote:
Originally posted by duckznutz
I think everyone is missing the point a little . . . . . . in order to have faith or to believe it is essential NOT to know for sure. Otherwise it would just be 'knowing' and not beleiving.
Believing is founded on the lack of proof. Believers have faith in something being true without knowing for sure.
Atheists (like me) refuse to accept that we should ever just 'believe' and take someones word for it. If it cannot be proven then it is just an abstract concept.
I was watching CSI last night and wondered if a modern Court of Law would find for the case for the existance of God. In fact thats a great thread-starter . . .
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Actually, everybody takes everybody else's word for a tremendous amount of things. I firmly believe that nuclear weapons work, even though I've never seen one used. I'm taking the word of my history teachers, textbooks, etc.
I think the point is setting a reasonable standard of doubt. Though I do not share it, I can understand how a belief in a god might meet that standard in an individual.
In a day to day setting, belief in a god doesn't really require any extraordinary external evidence. Really it just more or less relies on your feelings. People who argue that proof is the antithesis of faith fail to see that the feeling that god is with you, is a form of proof. It's just only proof enough for the person who has it.
If that person then wants to convince someone else, the burden of proof shifts to why the consensual reality that the two people share supports that feeling. If the second person already shares that feeling, then the standard is set pretty low. If the second person doesn't, then it gets set higher.
However, since god is mostly an unprovable assertion, (i.e. immaterial, omnipresent, omniscient) it still pretty much comes down to the feelings of the parties involved. When you're talking philosophy, proof is pretty slippery.
I think for most aetheists, any scientific proof that god exists, that was properly vetted by independent sources would be enough. Otherwise, it's just down to whether you feel like it or not.