On the existence of God
Posted by Johnnie
Yes, you read the title correctly. Brace yourself.
Religeous-types try to convert me from my staunch atheism on a fairly regular basis, and the conversation always seems to follow the same basic lines. This example features A Christian Telling Me About Jesus, but it works the same for whatever mass-delusion the person concerned is trying to get me to buy into.
CHRISTIAN-TYPE: You should worship God and Jesus! It’s great!
ME: Well, I’m afraid I don’t believe in God, and I certainly don’t believe in Jesus in the way you’re meaning it.
CT: You should believe! It’s great! Why don’t you believe?
ME: Because there’s absolutely no evidence to incline me towards belief.
CT: Yes there is. What about the Bible?
ME: The Bible isn’t evidence, sorry. Just because I write “God exists” on a bit of paper, it doesn’t make it true.
CT: But the Bible comes to us directly from God, so it must be true.
ME: First of all, that’s circular logic of the most staggering design. Secondly, the existence of and content of the Bible is scientific fact. The accuracy or fallacy of the Bible is speculation. Therefore, the Bible is not evidence for the existence of God.
CT: Well, I believe in God. I know He’s there – I’ve felt his presence.
ME: That’s not evidence, either. It’s evidence for you (although I’d still be sceptical were I in your shoes), but it’s meaningless to me. You can’t admit that as evidence – it’s unscientific.
CT: Well, you’re obviously determined not to believe. Any evidence I give you, you just dismiss out of hand. There’s no point talking to you about this anymore.
ME: Oi! Come back here and argue properly!
I’m sick of this crap. The trump card that’s always pulled is “Well, you might not think of that as evidence, but I do.” As if evidence were somehow subjective, and open to interpretation. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way. Something is either valid as scientific evidence or it isn’t. 2 + 2 is either 4, or it isn’t. You don’t get to decide whether or not you’re going to treat it as 5.
Now, piss off and stop trying to convert me until you can come up with something better than that.
P.S. Yes, it’s categorised as People I Hate. This is really starting to get on my nerves.