tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11099066.post8675585962298191910..comments2023-10-18T05:08:47.149-04:00Comments on Atheism - That's for ME!: Pascal's WagerScotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04503021039715479802noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11099066.post-87817511890072760402010-05-18T17:02:32.236-04:002010-05-18T17:02:32.236-04:00I recently wrote the following to a theist friend,...I recently wrote the following to a theist friend, after he encouraged me to take Pascal's Wager (he had also used the "but your atheist stance is a faith stance, too" line, so I commented on that also: <br /><br />"I want to respond to your comment that my atheist stance is simply another faith stance. <br /><br />First, to say I BELIEVE there is no god is incorrect. Rather, in the absence of any proof and any personal experience that there is a god, I HAVE NO BELIEF in god. I’m guessing you will say that is purely semantics, but there really is a critical difference. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof. The person who believes in a supernatural god bears the burden of proof, not a person who makes no such claim.<br /><br />I don't believe in the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy but I can't prove that they do not exist. Would you say, then, that I'm a person of “faith” in their nonexistence? You see, I don’t see it as a question of semantics.<br /><br />But if you insist on sticking with your statement that I have “faith” in my atheism, and I go with that for the sake of dialogue, then I would have to say this. There would seem to be a difference between my “believing” in something that has behind it empirical evidence (or, actually, the absence of empirical evidence) and your believing in something just because you want to. (Some believers would say they believe because “they talk to God everyday” or, to quote the hymn, “He lives within my heart”, or other things like that, but I don’t put you in that camp). Put another way, what you say is my BELIEF, I would call my CONCLUSION that there is no god—KNOWLEDGE based on evidence from the real world.<br /><br />And I want to say again that, as an educated non-believer, can you see how I simply cannot “decide” to believe, a la Pascal’s Wager argument (which you have posited before)? That is simply not applicable. It’s not a logical, or even an honest choice for me. It’s like a kid who doesn’t believe in Santa Claus, but says he does so he’ll get more presents!"<br /><br />Rich PAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com