For any religious person here to become an atheist? Is there any evidence that could be presented to change your minds? Serious answers please. EDIT: Atheists please feel free to answer the question of what it would take for you to become a theist. Here's my position: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUc_kATGgg
why would you want that? and there are MANY threads here with atheist trying to do just that. (and they accuse us of this) so far of what i have seen, nothing changes that. its a case of stereotyping..atheist assume ALL believers are a certain way..that is not the case..there are many types of believers just as there are many types of non-believers, it is not fair to classify ALL believers according to a stereotype.. also.. from a logical atheist perspective, if theists have no evidence for their belief, what makes an atheist think that evidence will dissuade them from their belief?
I would suspect the point is that most atheists would change their view if proof could be shown that they are wrong. And theists apparently would not. But yet, they accuse atheists of not being open minded... Good point.
gmilam, Obviously Anthony Flew, Francis Collins, and Allister McGrath were shown they were wrong. Why don't you check them out, maybe you could learn something? That's because you aren't. You go straight into defence mode at the slightest mention of God, pretending not to know which God we are talking about, and other silly things. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! jan.
NMSquirrel, There is no empirical evidence that point to anything. Meaning belief or no belief is not validated by evidence. jan.
We couild both list a lot of names, but that's a boring game. Only here, because that's the topic in this section of a "Science" forum. In real life, I don't give a damn what you believe. However, if you think you have proof, I'm all ears.
That's a good question, and I am sitting here trying to think of something that COULD change my mind, but I can't. To NMSquirrel's point, our belief is actually predicated on a lack of evidence - so the only thing that could dissuage me at least would be proof that there is no God, but my view of God is such that proof (for or against) is impossible. So, if proof that there was no God could be provided, it would obviously change my mind, but I cannot think of anything that would constitute such proof.
Disproving God is impossible. We see and hear and we cannot do much about that. We cannot stop hearing. We are tested and challenged by God by the very fact of our own existence. I have never been an atheist. But for several years in my life I did not take the issue of God seriously. In a manner I was a non-believer. Today I have a strong belief in God and I know well what positive impact it has on my personal life. I simply cannot imagine losing faith. It is impossible to disprove God. Learn more, ask, read, discuss, open your heart, start doing good for God's sake and for the beautiful eternal after-life. After you have gained some belief, have a conversation about God, life and creation with one or two friends (believers). As you do that enjoy the blessing and the spirit that God's sends down on a meeting of that sort. You will sense it in your heart. When you experience that you will know that God is the truth. As you experience that you will start longing to meet the Lord of the Heavens and earth (see note below). Information: There are 7 Heavens (according to Scripture). We can see only one of them. Scientists call it the observable universe and it is 879,847,933,949,940,000,000,000 KM in diameter. In other words, almost One Million Million Million Million times the distance to your work / university (if the distance is equal to one kilometer). Best wishes.
Doesn't it bother any of you that you can't come up with any way for your beliefs to be disproved? How on earth can you know if you're wrong?
why is it so important? how would we convince you to give up your vocation? how on earth do you know if you are right?
a change of belief to warrant a different set of values not really but there is a heap of atheist values that can shape how evidence is perceived to solidify the value base.
I think you could pose this question either way... Theist/Atheist...Athiest/Theist.. I myself am an atheist...For me to change my mind, I would need to either see, or hear "God" for myself...Until such time, I see no reason to believe. I used to be a theist...I was raised Catholic... I changed my mind, when I saw no evidence of a "God"... So, in retrospect, that's my answer to the OP.
How can I be convinced, a fellow Aussie Tim Minchin puts my opinion forward perfectly...and musically =) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBUc_kATGgg
It's a 2 min vid. You might just have to cringe through the ads and watch it if you want to know my opinion.
Obviously there is something that changes the minds of some theists, because many atheists were brought up in religious environments and used to believe in God themselves. The reverse transformation isn't as common, but then there are fewer atheists to begin with... There's some doubt about Anthony Flew's supposed conversion to Christianity. At the time he was suffering from Alzheimer's. As for Collins and McGrath, were they ever atheists?
Well I was raised christian and preached in church, etc... what made me an atheist was going to bible college for 2 years and learning about the bible.
I wasn't a catholic, I was a baptist. I think this is a good summary of my views on catholicism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ssi--YSWgnU&feature=related
