07-22-2003, 09:21 AM
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#20 (permalink)
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My future is coming on
Moderator Emeritus
Location: east of the sun and west of the moon
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Quote:
Originally posted by lumpenprole
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.
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Bravo!!! This is about as perfectly as it could be said.
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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