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Well, religion is a based on faith. What is the basis of atheism? Is it evidence based? Is is gut feeling based? What the general or most commonly cited bas

Well, religion is a based on faith. What is the basis of atheism? Is it evidence based? Is is gut feeling based? What the general or most commonly cited bases of the validity of atheism by atheists?

soylentcola 6y ago
The way I've always seen it is that lack of belief in something doesn't really demand evidence. How would one prove that they don't believe in something? At least from my (personal) perspective, the lack of belief in gods stems from not having found or experienced sufficient reason to think there likely are gods. It's not that I'm claiming to know or believe that there are certainly not any gods out there in the universe. I just can't find anything to back up the claim that there are.
- jgalt212 6y ago
  > that lack of belief in something But isn't that more agnosticism that atheism?
  - soylentcola 6y ago
    It's probably a matter of semantics, but in my experience and usage, "theism" is belief in a deity/deities. "a- theism" is lack of belief in such, much in the way asexual reproduction is reproduction without the use of sex rather than "at odds with" the use of sex. Gnosticism and agnosticism refer to knowledge or lack thereof. If I cared to use labels, I'd classify myself as an agnostic atheist. I don't claim the certainty of knowledge that there couldn't be deities, but I don't personally believe there are any (at least not in the sense of ultra-powerful entities that have/had some sort of interaction with the doings of humanity).
- markjohn123123 6y ago
  visit: https://tangent.com/mail/yahoo-mail/ https://tangent.com/mail/yahoo-mail/
dimitrios1 6y ago
This is a good point. I went from cultural religious - agnostic - atheist - religious in my life. The thing I realized is it takes the same part of my inner being to believe the claims of Jesus Christ as it did to believe the claims of theorists make about things such as the origin of the universe, the GUT, macroevolution, the origin of consciousness, and so many other models of physics and evolutionary biology. It all requires faith in a certain viewpoint and model of the world from our standpoint.
bitcharmer 6y ago
You have it all wrong. Atheists don't have to provide evidence for anything. It's the religion that should offer proof supporting the existence of the absolute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot
- Dirlewanger 6y ago
  "That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence"
mrkeen 6y ago
1) Either faith can be used in an argument, or it can't 2) If it cannot, then it cannot. 3) If it can, then I have faith that it cannot. 4) 3 contradicts itself so we are left with its alternative 2.

Well, religion is a based on faith. What is the basis of atheism? Is it evidence based? Is is gut feeling based? What the general or most commonly cited bases of the validity of atheism by atheists?

soylentcola 6y ago

The way I've always seen it is that lack of belief in something doesn't really demand evidence. How would one prove that they don't believe in something? At least from my (personal) perspective, the lack of belief in gods stems from not having found or experienced sufficient reason to think there likely are gods. It's not that I'm claiming to know or believe that there are certainly not any gods out there in the universe. I just can't find anything to back up the claim that there are.

jgalt212 6y ago
> that lack of belief in something But isn't that more agnosticism that atheism?
- soylentcola 6y ago
  It's probably a matter of semantics, but in my experience and usage, "theism" is belief in a deity/deities. "a- theism" is lack of belief in such, much in the way asexual reproduction is reproduction without the use of sex rather than "at odds with" the use of sex. Gnosticism and agnosticism refer to knowledge or lack thereof. If I cared to use labels, I'd classify myself as an agnostic atheist. I don't claim the certainty of knowledge that there couldn't be deities, but I don't personally believe there are any (at least not in the sense of ultra-powerful entities that have/had some sort of interaction with the doings of humanity).
markjohn123123 6y ago
visit: https://tangent.com/mail/yahoo-mail/ https://tangent.com/mail/yahoo-mail/

dimitrios1 6y ago

This is a good point. I went from cultural religious - agnostic - atheist - religious in my life. The thing I realized is it takes the same part of my inner being to believe the claims of Jesus Christ as it did to believe the claims of theorists make about things such as the origin of the universe, the GUT, macroevolution, the origin of consciousness, and so many other models of physics and evolutionary biology. It all requires faith in a certain viewpoint and model of the world from our standpoint.

bitcharmer 6y ago

You have it all wrong. Atheists don't have to provide evidence for anything. It's the religion that should offer proof supporting the existence of the absolute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot

Dirlewanger 6y ago
"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence"

mrkeen 6y ago

1) Either faith can be used in an argument, or it can't 2) If it cannot, then it cannot. 3) If it can, then I have faith that it cannot. 4) 3 contradicts itself so we are left with its alternative 2.