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If a person absence the belief at least one god exist, he must also believe no god exist?
- Thread starter Pudding
- Start date
Hi, Pudding.
Unfortunately, I fear that this thread's OP is difficult to parse.
I take it that by
* If a person absence the belief at least one god exist, he must also believe no god exist?
You mean something close to
" If a person does not believe that there is at least one god, does that mean that that person must also believe that there are no gods at all?"
and that by
* Not necessarily, he can turns out to be absence the belief no god exist.
You mean "Not necessarily, he (or she) may turn out not to believe that there are no gods".
The actual answer will be very dependent on who is being asked, so I chose "Other".
Unfortunately, I fear that this thread's OP is difficult to parse.
I take it that by
* If a person absence the belief at least one god exist, he must also believe no god exist?
You mean something close to
" If a person does not believe that there is at least one god, does that mean that that person must also believe that there are no gods at all?"
and that by
* Not necessarily, he can turns out to be absence the belief no god exist.
You mean "Not necessarily, he (or she) may turn out not to believe that there are no gods".
The actual answer will be very dependent on who is being asked, so I chose "Other".
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
Depends. If the person believes each god is different, then one can believe the god of abraham doesn't exist but believe in Vishnu.
Or, if you believe all gods are the same, then if you don't believe in one god, how can you believe in any others if they are the same. That's like if someone believes that Jane Doe doesn't exist, he must also believe Jane Doe doesn't exist. (If they are all the same by different name).
If not, someone can believe in Jane Doe but still believe in Bob Smith.
Gods are no different in regards to religion.
psychoslice
Veteran Member
Its quite easy for me personally, there is no god.
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
You do, but I don't.
Curious George
Veteran Member
Unless for some reason the person is incapable of such a belief, yes. If a person believes the statement at least one god exists is false, then by consequence they believe no god exists is true in that moment.
Cobol
Code Jockey
There is the same amount of evidence for any deity claim. None
No, dismissing one god doesn't mean dismissing all gods. Though atheists may say something like, they are all equal to saying unicorns, exist but I don't find it's that simple to discredit all possible gods. We have to have a source so depends on how we find suitable for labeling that source.
You would have to be able to spontaneously read every human mind that is or ever was in order to make that claim..
What you're really saying is that you have seen no evidence etc, etc, .. .
FunctionalAtheist
Hammer of Reason
I do not believe any god exists!
I do not believe at least one god exists!
I do not believe no god exists!
I AM convinced no god exists, but convictions are open to modification via previously undisclosed information. As unlikely as it may be, I would be open to hearing NEW arguments.
FunctionalAtheist
Hammer of Reason
I must misunderstand you. If I read you correctly, then if I disregard the flying spaghetti monster, I must disregard Ra? If I disregard Thor, then i must equally disregard Ala?
Cobol
Code Jockey
Your implying there is a mind out there with evidence.
Why hasn't this mind come forward with evidence?
FunctionalAtheist
Hammer of Reason
But that is not the question, at least as I read it;
In the absence of the belief at least one god exist, is the presence of the belief that no god exists a necessity?
Cobol
Code Jockey
Yes, one claim for a deity is no different than the next, if evidence is lacking.
I'm implying that there's a whole world outside the confines of your own skull.
Cobol
Code Jockey
I'm fully aware there's a whole world outside of my own mind.
What's that got to do with the topic?
FunctionalAtheist
Hammer of Reason
Since when is 'must equally disregard' equated with amount of evidence?
Cultural background, so called common sense, etc. etc. I think it should be obvious that, while there may be no evidence for any god, there are certainly differences in the the level of ludicrously of some deities. There are a few deities that can not be disproved, and there are many that can be summarily dismissed based on specific beliefs. For instance, we know for a fact that the world is not supported on the back of a giant elephant. We don't know that god hasn't created a perfectly orderly universe that operates by physical, chemical, and biologigical laws, and remains completely alloof.
Evidence for neither, one easily disproved.
Curious George
Veteran Member
I admire your tenacity in trying to sort this out in your thinking. Although, I am not sure a poll will help that. You have to understand that first we are dealing with the dichotomy A) "at least one god exists" vs. B) "No god exists." Next we are adding another layer a person's belief. To believe something means to hold it as true. This creates three options regarding the propositions regarding a gods existence. Either the person holds the proposition as true, not true, or does not hold the proposition at all. If a person holds A as not true, they must by consequence hold B as true. If a person holds B as not true, they must hold A as true. There is no in between. By law of excluded middle. Belief however adds another dimension or limitation. To believe something is true or not true one must be capable of belief. Here is where agnostics and what some people confusingly call Implicit atheists come in. These categories of people are unable to evaluate the proposition as true or untrue. Some of this last category have no reason to hold one proposition as true over the other. They are truly fence sitters. They believe that the propositions are equally likely or unlikely and therefore the propositions are unknown or unknowable. Others are not aware of the propositions so they are also incapable of evaluating the proposition. Either way these groups lack sufficient knowledge to evaluate the propositions. So we have four categories those who believe at least one god exists, those who believe at least one god existing is equally as probable as no god existing, those who believe no god exists, and those for whom belief is not applicable.
Now I think we can agree so far. However the problems come when we try to group these categories. Many want to label these categories in terms of two groups. Theism: those who believe at least one god exists and Atheism: everything else.
A grouping like this causes problems. Because you have grouped one category of things incapable of belief with another category that does believe. You have also grouped one category who believe the propositions are equally possible with one category that does not. And the reason for this grouping is arbitrary. Thus confusion abounds.