Atheos Faith Bomb, Part 1

Belief without sufficient evidence, or pretending to know things one doesn't know.

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Faith fills people with wonder.

Unfortunately not enough wonder to advance humanity's knowledge.

Do you mean to suggest that without faith I can't experience wonder or awe?

What about all the atheists who are likewise filled with wonder & awe at the universe?

I actually agree with that: It fills me with wonder how so many could believe without good reason.

What if it fills people with wonder about the wrong things? Like faith in the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, Angels, or the Happy Hunting Grounds?

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Faith helps me to be grateful when life is hard.

It provides an escape from reality, you mean?

Can one appreciate & value what one has without needing to feel gratitude toward a particular entity?

Do you imagine that I, as an atheist, am unable to have gratitude in my life?

If you understood faith as non-believers do, you'd see why your statement makes no sense.

Why would you want to be grateful for life's difficulties?

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Faith is a virtue.

How so?

What's virtuous about pretending to know what you don't know?

Aren't there other virtues that are more honorable than faith?

I'd rather not respond until I'm sure I understand what you mean. Would you mind elaborating?

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There is no higher virtue than faith. Join me, brother!

No, faith is a virus & you’re infected. You don't want that, do you?

What belief can we not confirm if we use faith as our means of accepting that belief?

Isn't correctness an even greater virtue?

If pretending to know what you do not know is virtuous, then I prefer to be wicked.

I'm not convinced. Could you please explain why you think that?

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Faith made my belief in God possible.

What makes you think believing on faith is a good thing?

Similarly, not examining my reasons to believe is what made my belief in Santa Claus possible.

That’s a deepity.

So, faith in God's existence is what made it possible for you to believe in God? Can you please explain that to me?

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Faith offers me hope.

Hope in one hand & feces in another. Which one will overflow first?

What's your definition of 'faith'?

Your hope is predicated on that which is also certainly false. Hope offers me faith.

But isn't that hope ultimately rather unsatisfying if it's not supported by solid reasoning or evidence?

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Faith & reason are compatible (or at least complementary) ways of knowing & thinking.

Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once said, 'Were faith rational, it would be reason.' What are your thoughts on that?

If that's correct, why do so many reasonable people have a problem with the idea of faith?

Faith is an oxymoron of knowing & thinking.

Isn't faith actually a way of avoiding thinking?

This is far from correct, if you were trustful of reason you would dismiss faith, right?

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God always has a plan for you.

I'm more of a spontaneous person. Planning sucks.

What is your evidence for this?

Did He have a plan for Hitler?

It creeps me out when people I don't know claim to have a plan for me. Tell God to leave me alone.

How do you know that?

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God never rejects the sinner. He loves you.

Didn't God reject Satan?

I'm not ready for that kind of relationship with a guy who doesn't exist. I'll stick with my hand, thank you.

You're a step ahead of me. I'm still not sure why one should believe in a God. What evidence is sufficient to convince every rational person?

May I ask how you determined this?

I guess then Hitler went to heaven, eh?

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Humans are wired to have faith. Faith is our default.

Wrong. Disbelief is our default position; we believe only once convinced. Faith bases unwarranted inferences from insufficient evidence.

While superstition & pattern-seeking behavior are natural, we can learn to replace them with logic & rationality, right?

Wouldn't that be all the more reason to double-check that our faith beliefs actually correspond with reality?

Humans may be wired for many things—like tribalism, or xenophobia—but shouldn't we rationally evaluate these tendencies & revise our mindsets?

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Humans want to have faith.

Humans want to be comfortable & they'll believe without sufficient evidence to achieve that.

Is desire a good reason to think something is true?

Not all of us. Why would I want to have faith?

Humans want to know why & how things work. If necessary, they'll bridge the gaps with delusion.

Does a desire for faith ultimately tell us anything about the truth of faith claims?

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I don't have enough faith to be an atheist.

How do you define the word 'faith'?

Yet 'If you understood atheism you would understand faith' is nowhere in the equation. Hypocrite.

Atheism isn't the claim that there are no deities; in fact, it’s not a positive claim at all. So it requires no faith.

Faith has nothing to do with lack of belief in a God, it is the reason we don't believe.

Why would we need faith when we have science?

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Atheists use faith, too. More so than I do! Admit that you have more faith than me.

The term 'atheism' generally means there's insufficient evidence to warrant belief in a God or Gods, but if I were given evidence I'd believe. How is that faith?

I don't have enough faith to be a theist.

With all due respect, no. That'd be like me asking how much faith it would take a person to not to believe in gremlins. Does that makes sense?

That's the thing, though: You don't need faith & in fact you shouldn't have it, right?

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I don’t have faith—I have trust. I trust in the promises of Jesus.

Wouldn't one need to confirm the existence of Jesus before trusting in his promises?

Yet that trust is based on false pretense. You know you cannot trust a fictional account of reality, right?

How would you explain the difference between faith & trust?

You trust in something that you cannot know to be true. If you could come to trust in reason would you not need Jesus?

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I don’t know who I’d be if I abandoned my belief. My faith is who I am.

Does the fact that you identify so strongly with your faith make your faith true?

If that is all you think you are, then you must be a miserable person.

I don't believe that. Surely there's far more to you than your faith-based beliefs?

Pretending to know what you have no way of knowing is all you are as a person?

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My faith has blinded me.

I understand that. My goal is to deprogram you with logic & rationality.

That seems like a great reason to take a long, hard look at whether your beliefs are actually reasonable & justified! Don't you think so?

Are you suggesting that I have been indoctrinated in non-faith?

How is that a good thing?

That's unfortunate. You may be beyond hope, then.