Why atheism over agnosticism?

[PickelledEggs]

This thread is so derailed it's not even funny.
Everyone relax and quit it. Get back on track with a civil/on topic discussion about agnosticism and gnosticism or this thread will be closed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VorC_GHQnSc

[Moloth]

Different people have different thresholds of 'evidence' that leads them to non-belief (or active disbelief) or agnosticism. The less evidence you require, the more gullible you are...

for me, i divide this way:
I am a-theist towards god. why? because the very concept runs counter to all that we know about the cosmos. It's existence defies the laws of physics and logic.

I am a-gnostic towards extraterrestrial life. why? because, while i do not have evidence FOR its existence, its existence could easily exist in the cosmos as we understand it. It breaks no laws of physics and, in fact, seems very likely give the chemical composition of the universe.

The dividing line for me is whether or not something is actually possible given our current knowledge/framework of reality. Extreme claims require extreme evidence.

[Contemporary Protestant]

how do you know that? what god?

[the_antithesis]

This thread is so derailed it's not even funny.
Everyone relax and quit it. Get back on track with a civil/on topic discussion about agnosticism and gnosticism or this thread will be closed.

I completely support this plan.

[Moloth]

how do you know that? what god?

Any entity that could be described as a 'deity'.

if you have a specific one, describe it.

[Contemporary Protestant]

Not asserting any deity in particular, just questioning

[SGOS]

The Christian god does defy reason.  I have no question about that.  Similar to what I think CP is doing, at one time, I tried to invent my own god, one that was not so well defined as the one in the Bible, one that did not exceed my limits of reason.  And since I was raised as a Christian, I called this "the real" Christian god.  But there  are problems with inventing your own god and diverging from the definition in the Bible (which is supposed to be God's autobiography).  As recently pointed out, individuals have different thresholds for accepting the far fetched.  But you can't just go out and invent a god to suit your own needs.  That's what Alcoholics Anonymous does, and the philosophy of AA is about as logically incomprehensible as anything.

[Moloth]

Not asserting any deity in particular, just questioning

Was my answer satisfactory?
I want to make sure we're on the same page...

[the_antithesis]

how do you know that? what god?

What's a god?

[Mike Cl]

What's a god?

Something like the tooth fairy or santa claus or the easter bunny--you know, things  to fool the kids.

[leo]

Something like the tooth fairy or santa claus or the easter bunny--you know, things  to fool the kids.

Hey you should stop the blasphemies with the Tooth fairy.  Santa claus and the easter bunny are  Bullshit but the toothfairy is the real thing.

[Mike Cl]

                                                                                                                                                   Hey you should stop the blasphemies with the Tooth fairy.  Santa claus and the easter bunny are  Bullshit but the toothfairy is the real thing.

Damn--you're right!  I learned that last night! 

[Munch]

Well of course the tooth fairys real.. he's the rock!

[trdsf]

but i don't see how complaining about wars that probably didn't happen disproves god, it disproves a literalist view of some jewish stories for sure, but how does it disprove god (theism, not Yehweh, which is the god of war in some cultures)

Leaving these ancient writings out of it, then, what concrete incontrovertible evidence is there that any god does exist?  By stating that there is a god, you're positing that there exists something beyond that which is immediately evident to our senses or our experiments.

This is by definition an 'extraordinary claim' -- that there is something beyond observable, measurable physical reality.

So, absent these ancient writings, the literality of which you yourself have already disclaimed, what evidence is there to prove there is a god?  As atheists, we're not the ones advancing the extraordinary claim.  We're the ones saying the world that we see is that there is.  As such, the burden of proof is not on us.

[Contemporary Protestant]

I know that I have the burden of proof, I recognize that stating there is something greater is an extradinary claim, and i admit i lack sufficient intellectual justification.

What would be enough proof for you? the answer to that question is different for various people