Atheism: How Certain is Certain? (Agnosticism)

by George Jelliss , Crewe, Tuesday, May 27, 2008, 14:05 (6023 days ago) @ Cary Cook

Having read David Warden's first post in this thread for the first time, I think my position, as an atheist, is similar to his, but perhaps even more strongly atheistic. The question for me, regarding any belief about anything, is where's the proof? - To believe something is true, and even more to "believe in" it (i.e. with an emotional motivational commitment), I require overwhelming evidence, reinforced by personal experience. Since I have no experience of gods or ghosts, and I find the arguments and evidences and excuses put forward to believe in them completely inadequate, I just refuse to believe in them. It's as simple as that. No faith is involved. - Of course I can't "absolutely" prove the nonexistence of gods or afterlives, though I would have considerable difficulty in fitting such concepts into the scientific worldview that I accept, on the basis of evidence that I consider to be overwhelming and thoroughly consistent within itself. This scientific worldview provides a fully inclusive account of cosmology from the generalities of relativity to the particularities of atomic theory, quantum physics and chemistry and also biological evolution. I have no need for other hypotheses. - There are sufficient unsolved questions of course within this scientific worldview to keep scientists busy for many years to come. If they come up with evidence for gods or ghosts I'll be quite happy to consider it, but it seems unlikely to appear. I look upon this issue just the same as any other speculation, such as string theory or parallel universes or dark matter or theories that the world is run by shape-changing alien lizards. Until the evidence comes in I regard them with various degrees of scepticism.