[snips]
On Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:53:26 +0100, Bill M wrote:
> It is amazing how people can believe in so many different gods when
> there is NO objective verifiable evidence that any of the gods are real.
> The logial evidence is that NO REAL gods actually exist except in the
> imaginations of the believers.
Er, no. First, there's no such thing as "logical evidence" - although
one might argue the point with the use of "my bathtub is filled with
power tools, therefore there's a god" as the contrary stance. :)
Second, the only conclusion we can actually reach from this complete lack
of evidence is that there is a complete lack of evidence. That is, the
lack of evidence of gods simply says we have no reason to take the notion
seriously, that no self-respecting thinking person can honestly assert
"is too" based on what's on the table.
The closest we can come to "is not", however, is not quite what you
suggest - a conclusion - but, rather, simply applying the principle of
parsimony, to wit, if there's no good reason to think a thing exists,
don't behave as if it does.
This, for example, is why we actually allow ourselves to make right turns
when driving - lacking any reason to suspect the presence of evil
invisible aliens with destruct-o-rays who will va****ize us if we turn
right, we do not _assume_ such beings exist, therefore we can make right
turns with a reasonable expectation of surviving the process.
In fact, the same idea applies, day in and day out. We have no
particular reason to think that invisible pixies live inside our
computers, pixies which will cause the machines to explode should we ever
type the word "wildfire", so we don't simply assume such creatures exist,
we don't worry overmuch about typing said word.
The same for gremlins in the coffee maker taking a sudden - and lethal -
dislike to coffee grounds. And on and on and on.
Gods? We have bugger all reason to think they exist, any more than the
computer pixies, coffee maker gremlins or anti-right-turn aliens, so we
quite properly do what we do in all such cases - we get on with our lives
with no assumption such things do exist, unless and until evidence shows
otherwise.
No, we cannot actually conclude such things _do not_ exist. Indeed, one
can reasonably argue it is not possible to rule such things out
entirely. What we can do, though, is simply note there's no reason to
think they _do_ exist, and get on with our lives.
What I, personally, find somewhat amusing about the whole thing is that
there are actually people out there who would discount the anti-right-
turn aliens, or the coffee pot gremlins, or the computer pixies,
regarding these as "silly" or "unfounded", yet still happily claim that
gods are real, despite having no more basis for saying that than for
saying that your coffee pot is inhabited.
Some peoples' minds are truly marvels of inconsistency.
> If there was a REAL god he certainly would not permit all these false
> gods to misled his creations.
Depends. If one examines the claims about the god of the Bible,
particularly the OT god, one is led to the inevitable conclusion he's
evil, psychotic, and jealous, not to mention slightly retarded. *He*
might give a damn about such things.
On the other hand, a different god concept may simply not give a damn: "I
made the universe, set things in motion to produce life, my job's done,
I'm retired. Stop bugging me, I'm busy in the garden." Wor****p a
different god concept? Hey, whatever turns your crank.
> There are hundreds of different god
> beliefs. Which one, if ant, is real? If he acually existed he could
> quite easely communicat, directly from his heaven, that he is the real
> god and point out that all the others are fakes.
Assuming that this particular one is the real one. Although, that said,
any "god" concept sufficient to create the universe would, presumably,
have the capacity to drop in and say "hi" from time to time. Then again,
this assumes that the god concept involved a) actually exists and b)
actually gives a damn.
Since we have no reason at all to think either of those points is the
case, what do we do? Right: we get on with our lives without worrying
about gremlins in the coffee pot, aliens at intersections, pixies in the
computers, or gods in the clouds.
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