I suppose there was a time where I would say "I dont know" if there is a God however I became a little harder in my position because theists will not make such a statement. ...they will not accept an each way bet and so being met with a refusal to even, if only for a moment, consider there may be no God I though well why should I conceed an inch.
More over if asked ...do you think there is an easter bunny, a mythical rabbit with magical properties unevidenced in reality, would one say " I dont know". Of course not.
Some things clearly do not require an each way bet and so I am entirely happy to say there is no God and to say maybe would be the same as saying maybe there is an easter bunny.
Why should we say maybe when the is nothing to support the existence of a God any more than there is nothing to support the existence of a magic rabbit called the easter bunny.
To say I dont know would simply be wrong because clearly the notion of God is as fanciful as the notion of an easter bunny.
Why give the the notion of a God any breathing room by saying I dont know unless you dont say the same of the easter bunny and a long list of imaginary characters that are clearly mythical.
Alex
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It is not a matter of what I am happy to say & it is not a matter of breathing room.
I do not say maybe. I say I do not know & often add that I have no reason to think they know. I even doubt they truly believe it.
Despite many theists' seeming inability to understand it, when they make a claim, it is their responsibility to support it. When I make a claim, it is my responsibility to support it. I cannot support a statement that there is no god so I cannot make that statement. While it would be nice if theists would think & talk more rationally, the lack of that is no reason to take up their way.
There is a long list of things which we have no evidence of yet may someday find if humanity lasts long enough. There is a very long list of things humans long had no evidence of yet we now reasonably know to be true.
I often equate belief in a god or gods to belief in Donald Duck, partly because there is no more evidence for 1 than for the other & partly because each seems equally silly & childish. Until I have proof, I cannot believe in either & until I have proof, I cannot believe in the nonexistence of either.
The simple fact is I do not know & I have enough reason to think you do not know. I cannot make the claim. Why do you?
I also do not know whether souls exist or whether there is an afterlife. Neither necessarily requires the existence of a god. So I equally cannot say there is an afterlife or there are no souls.
I do not know whether there is life elsewhere in the universe & I do not know whether aliens have come to Earth. IF they are here, perhaps someone knows. IF they are not here, it would take very advanced aliens to know that. Or maybe a god. I do not know whether we are in an artificial simulation. I do not know whether there are 4 dimensional beings we cannot perceive watching & mucking about with us. I do not know whether there is a Multiverse. I do not know whether there is life on Mars. I do not know whether humanity will colonize planets outside our solar system. Currently, it seems impossible to do & it seems improbable humanity will last that long but I do not know.
There are many things we do not know & it is just as unsupportable & irrational to claim 1 side as the other if we do not know.
Why not set a better example for theists & do not give them cause to say we have irrational beliefs.
We have many much better arguments for theists than being like them & claiming to know things we cannot know.
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