Atheos Millions Can't be Wrong

If a belief is popular, it is likely to be true.

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Almost everybody on this planet is religious.

I'm more interested in your beliefs. Surely you aren't a theist just because lots of other people are?

While it’s true that a belief’s popularity makes it more likely to be true, this doesn’t apply in every domain of thought.

What does that mean? That almost everyone on this planet is delusional in some fashion?

Are you suggesting that the popularity of a belief about reality is a good indicator of its truth?

On this planet, maybe, but what about people on other planets?

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Every single US president in history has believed in God.

If that was all that stood between you & the presidency, then you'd lie too, wouldn't you?

Or so they say...

Haven't those presidents held widely diverging ideas of 'God?'

How does that increase the likelihood that God exists?

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Hundreds of millions of people believe in God.

How is the number of people who believe a claim related to the claim's truth or falsity? Most people believe koalas are bears (they're not).

Billions of people believe in different Gods (who make conflicting claims) & they can't all be correct, right?

The band-wagon fallacy isn't a reason to believe a fairy-tale.

The same is true of all religions, they are all wrong.

How could hundreds of millions of people be so misguided & delusional?

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If God didn’t exist, there wouldn’t be so many people who believe as I do.

Couldn't that also be said of Santa Claus?

If you understood the appeal to popularity fallacy as atheists do, wouldn't you understand the flaw in your logic?

Doesn't that say more about the nature of the human mind than it does about the truth of your beliefs?

Imagine a sixth-century person making the same claim about the Sun revolving around the Earth. Would their belief be justified?

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I’ve watched countless athletes thank God after they win a game. How can they all be wrong?

How does the behavior of athletes indicate the actual existence of God?

I'm not sure that professional athletes are ideal role models.

Millions of Christians believe a billion Muslims have false beliefs. How does the number of believers indicate the truth of a belief?

I've watched countless athletes do drugs, have copious amounts of sex & cheat on their significant others while wasting their money...

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Many intelligent & highly educated people have faith.

Isn't it better to come to one's own decisions than to mimic the behavior of others? Help me understand, please.

Did you know that many intelligent & highly educated people fake their faith for political reasons?

Are all beliefs & actions of intelligent & highly educated people virtuous? What about intelligent people who steal, cheat, lie, etc.?

That is another wonder of the world, for which I would love to discover the reason.

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Many, many famous scientists believe in God.

Does a scientist’s belief in something make it more likely to be true? Newton believed in alchemy.

Then they weren’t good scientists.

Have you looked into their reasons for believing? I find it interesting that one might find another person's belief so compelling.

That is indeed a curiousity; perhaps their exceptional imaginations allow for that.

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Many people believe it.

Aren't many people wrong?

If everyone believed the Earth is flat, woudl that make it flat?

Don't many people believe many things that aren't true?

Almost everyone (if not everyone) has some beliefs that are false.

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More than 90% of the world’s population claims to have some sort of belief in a God or Gods. God is real.

Many people believe in deities, but there isn't much agreement about what those deities are like, is there? Why do you think that is?

If that were how everyone decided what was true, wouldn't we all be stuck in the Dark Ages, or worse?

Yes; there sure are a lot of ignorant people in the world.

Haven't vast majorities historically held false beliefs about reality? Should we just follow the crowd without thinking for ourselves?

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People have died for their faith. Why would they die for a lie?

Yes, that's true. Perhaps they didn't think it was a lie. What might they've accepted to discover they were mistaken?

Don't people do stupid things every day? Why should those cases be any different?

Those people were unaware that their beliefs were false. Isn't it tragic that their lack of logic lead to their death?

This only proves that people believed their faith was true, not that it was true. If people died for Bahá’í does this mean it's true?

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Smart people believe.

Can’t smart people be mistaken as well?

Aren't there smarter people who don't believe?

Let's pretend that everyone with a high IQ believed the same thing. Would that make it true?

There are some who do, but don't we all have our intellectual shortcomings? I am humble.

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The majority of people believe that there is a deity. There must be some truth to that.

Does that make it true though? At one time a majority of humans used to believe bloodletting was effective.

The only truth is that there are many others whose reasoning is as broken as your own.

Isn't there a big difference between suspecting 'there's some truth to it' & believing it's true?

Everyone in the past has desired an explanation for why we're here. Did we not create religions & their narratives ourselves?

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The overwhelming majority of civilization's denizens believed in a God or Gods.

In this case, isn't there no strength in numbers?

What's the relationship between majority opinion & the truth? If enough people believe something does that make it true?

If the overwhelming majority of people throughout time believed the world was flat, does that increase the likelihood that it's flat?

The more the people who believe, the more the people who are delusional. Right?

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Who is everyone praying to, then?

People pray to different Gods & most think all other Gods are false Gods. Isn't it likely that most theists are mistaken?

That's what I'm trying to figure out. It makes no sense!

Themselves; they were talking to themselves.

Different people pray to different Gods. How do you know yours is the true God?

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Why is religious iconography everywhere?

Throughout all of history, people have desired an explanation for why we're here. We have created religions & their narratives.

These days I see far more corporate logos than religious icons. I'm not sure what you're saying should be inferred from widespread symbols.

I’m not sure what you mean. Are you looking for an historical, anthropological, or cultural explanation?

Why do people paint pictures of trees?

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Why would we have creationist museums in the U.S if it weren’t true?

Is your belief really grounded in the existence of a handful of creationist museums?

That's one museum, led chiefly by one lunatic, for one purpose: The propagation of his delusion-based agenda.

In America, creationists like to try to discredit evolutionists. Why wouldn't they have a museum?

Say, good point! Well, I'm convinced; let's go look at dinosaur saddles.

There are way more non-creationist museums. There are also UFO museums. I'm not sure why that'd be a good reason to believe.