Atheists Comment

Hi Mr. Fackerell,

Here's a brief response to "Faith in Atheistic Philosophy. Is it so smart?":

In your page, you claim that atheists cannot know that God exists, because they do not have perfect knowledge of all things. However, one does not necessarily need perfect knowledge of all things to prove a universal negative. Atheists can know that God does not exist with 100% probability if they can show that the concept of God is incoherent or logically inconsistent with states of affairs we do expereince, just as you, right now, can know with 100% probability that there are no such things as round squares, or gods that prevent all murders, even though you do not "know all things in the Universe." These are points you will want to address, since some atheists do believe the concept of God is incoherent or logically inconsistent with observed states of affairs. I'm sure you don't agree with their beliefs, but you should at least acknowledge that given those beliefs, they are not being irrational in disbelieving in God just because they buy into a universal negative.

Secondly, most people use the phrase "I know" to mean something less than knowledge with 100% probability - they use it to mean something along the lines of justified belief. And if we have not yet observed God or acts of God in the "rectangle" of human experience (which covers a lot of ground), then surely it is not unreasonable to conclude that there is a low probability of God existing - low enough for us to say "I know God does not exist" - just as you surely would say "I know fairies, elves, and magical 100-foot fire-breathing clowns do not exist" even though there may still be some corner of the universe (or some deep part of the Earth) in which they are tucked away. You should treat most atheists' use of "I know there is no God" in the same way as you would treat "I know there are no elves" uttered by a Christian - it is not an irrational statement, even when uttered by non-omnisicient beings.

In conclusion, then, I take strong issue with your claim to have demonstrated that "atheism is intellectual arrogance and foolishness of the highest order" - whether or not atheism ultimately turns out to be false, your objections have not even started to give atheism due credit.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to respond to your page (I do the same in the feedback section of my home page at www2.uic.edu/~vuletic). This e-mail is based in part on my article "Is Atheism Logical?" at www2.uic.edu/~vuletic/logical.phtml (soon to be moved to www.infidels.org/library/modern/mark_vuletic/logical.phtml), where I deal with similar claims made by Hank Hanegraaff.

Respectfully,

Mark I. Vuletic

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Steven Carr

Welcome to the list. I hope you don't mind if I link your page from mine. Please don't use the argument that atheists say that there is definitely no God and that to know that we would have to search the entire Universe. God is supposed to be omnipresent, so I could theoretically just such my kitchen. In any case, Christians have defined their God to be outside space and time (No, I don't know what that means), so it is impossible to falsify the idea of a God. BTW, that is a weakness of the Christian position and not a strength. Their God can not be disproved by any facts that anybody can ever possibly find. My page hardly deals with the idea of whether there is a God or not. I hardly ever think about it. I'm much more interested in history and the Bible, which is , after all, the oldest thing in my house and with the most interesting history. Actually, my DNA is older (older than the continents!), but that's a side-issue.

-- Steven Carr steven@bowness.demon.co.uk

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