Getting random stuff organised
People who make claims about ‘supernatural’ or ‘paranormal’ phenomena often try to dodge their obligation to present evidence by maintaining that these phenomena are ‘non-physical’, and hence can’t be expected to leave physical traces. Obviously this contradicts many of the other claims they make; for instance, if you can see a ‘ghost’ then it must …
Continue reading “How can we test for the occurrence of ‘non-physical’ events?”
There’s a simple and obvious way to determine whether something exists or not, and that’s to look for it. If you find it, then it exists. If you don’t, and you’ve looked hard enough, then it probably doesn’t. Millions of people have been looking for gods for thousands of years, and they haven’t found any yet. …
All the evidence supports atheism. There are no reliable observations which require the postulation of gods to explain them. That’s as good as it gets for a negative claim. The evidence for atheism is exactly the same as the evidence that there are no live fully-grown elephants in your bathroom, right now. You can go to your bathroom …
The existence or non-existence of gods is an empirical issue, and empirical issues can only be resolved with empirical evidence. The quickest, simplest and easiest way for someone to prove that a god exists is for them to produce that god, in person and in public, for an extended period of time. They should ensure that …
It’s certainly much easier to live a life where you don’t have to reconcile bizarre Bronze Age beliefs with observed twenty-first century reality. But the main reason that people become and remain atheists is the same reason why you don’t believe in a mountain-sized rock levitating just above the place where you live—and why you would continue …
It really depends what you mean by ‘proof’. Many people—possibly including the people who ‘taught’ you this—seem to think that ‘proving’ something to them means ‘making me say something I don’t want to’. If you accept that definition, then it’s clear that you can’t prove a negative, or a positive, or anything else, to someone who’s stubborn …
Probably not; nor is there any reason why they would particularly want to. Whatever you believe, if you have access to the Internet, you can easily find cases where other people cling strongly to convictions which you regard as self-evidently wrong and deluded. If they haven’t been convinced by your arguments, why should others expect you to be convinced by theirs? …
Continue reading “Can atheists convince me that God doesn’t exist?”
Q: Since there isn’t any proof that there’s no god, how can some people be fervent atheists? It seems like placing faith in an unsubstantiated claim that there is no god. Would you say that the claim that you don’t have two heads was ‘unsubstantiated’? Is it something you find yourself unsure about, or disinclined …
There are certain slogans and catchphrases that theists — and not only theists — get stuck in their heads, and bring out as if they were genuine arguments rather than merely unsupported claims. Sometimes these are truisms or tautologies that are simply being misunderstood or misapplied. But others are simply wrong; and so egregiously and obviously …
Continue reading “Absence of evidence IS evidence of absence”
Imagine the situation that would arise if physicists were subjected to the same demands for ‘proof’ of their claims that atheists are: “Prove that gravity exists!” “If it didn’t exist, you’d be floating in space.” “Well, prove that I’m not!” Getting into a situation like this is a sure sign that you’ve given your opponent …
Continue reading “‘Prove it!’ doesn’t mean ‘Make me say it’s true!’”
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