Atheism: Why People Don't Believe In God <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/DN53Txg-xhk&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/DN53Txg-xhk&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> This topic seems to be very popular here so I thought this video from Professor Paul Vitz may find interest here. Enjoy and feel free to post your comments on it.
here we have a christian apologist starting from a belief position that his god exists speculating about why athiests do not see what he sees. the simple answer is all available evidence leads them in that direction. there has never been a shred of scientific evidence found that would point to any supernatural deity. Why We Believe in Gods - Andy Thomson http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iMmvu9eMrg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3wGY8UrElE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRs-CTEn1yg
He does not use his belief to support his hypothesis. An atheistic psychologist could as easily posit the same hypothesis. "all available evidence"... to whom, you? Your criteria for acceptable evidence makes it a subset of all human experience. You can't feel the presence of any more (apparently you cannot even imagine the possibility, which is really weird), but billions have, can, and no doubt will. I'm not arguing ad populum here, but a billion is a very large number.
every objective test that has ever been applied to any supernatural deity has failed. if you have something new? i am all ears. what you describe is emotions not evidence. millions of people from every religion "feel' their religion based on the testimonials of those who believe. they cant all be right.
Exactly. It's amazing how so many people can't separate their emotions from evidence that's right in front of them (or not present, as the case may be). Billions of people once believed the world was flat. It didn't affect the shape of the earth one tiny bit.
Atheists don't believe in god because we believe in facts, not fiction. I choose not to base my life on a book that someone wrote thousands of years ago. I have much better things to do with my Sunday than to spend time listening to stories.
From a certain perspective, people still see the world as flat. Teetering on the lip of the Grand Canyon it's not nearly flat or spherical enough. Are they wrong? Who cares, as long as they are not launching satellites. Purpose, a form of observation, alters reality. What is a tree? Is it shade, is it wood, is it food? Could it be anything more, maybe something you didn't imagine? Could it ever be something you could never imagine?
what you describe is intellectual laziness. "it looks too complicated to me to have been a natural process to it must have been a god that did it". it is easy to believe in superstition. it is hard to educate yourself and understand why things happen the way they do. can a nation survive in this competitive world if its people are not intellectually curious?
What I describe is intellectual openness. That doesn't mean we can't build a better mousetrap. The atheist says, "it can not be." The agnostic (the position of a true scientist, imho) says, "it could be, but show me the evidence." The believer says, "it is, whether you see it or not." Who of the three is the most open?
Purpose is not observation, purpose guides observation. What is a tree? Ask a botanist. I'm sure he or she could tell you some things you never imagined. That doesn't mean no human has or ever could have imagined them. Scientific imagination is guided by reality. Religious imagination is guided by fear, wishful thinking, deceit and lust for power.