15 Nov '05 17:23>
Originally posted by StarrmanStarrman: If he maintains the possibility as true, I suggest he must accept that he has a belief in god, but has yet to define what that belief is or is yet to verify the belief against some notion of proof. You may disagree with this assumption, and essentially it is what my arguement is based on.
Okay, here goes:
I look at weak-agnosticism as a fork in the road. It is not, in my view a position that can be retained, but a process which one should move from, towards either a theistic belief of some sort, or an atheistic one. So, in as much as it is perhaps tenable within itself, when applied to life or any other event over time, it is weakened. ...[text shortened]... ssiblity of god is holding a belief in his existence, thus the weak-agnostic becomes the theist.
I disagree with the assumption and find it irrational. If you ask me whether I believe that the Atlantis of Plato exists, I'll tell you I don't know as the evidence of whether it ever existed is inconclusive. Certain parts of the description of Atlantis I do not believe but whether it existed in some form I await further archeological evidence. Similarly, I believe that almost certainly the Old Testament God doesn't exist as it looks like a reflection of the barbaric people who created it (as most ancient gods do) but whether a Creator God exists in some form is an entirely different matter. You are simply mistaken in your assertion that the belief that something may exist = a belief that something does exist but that evidence is not yet there to prove its existence. Your whole argument is based on the atheist's false premise that theist are under some remarkable standard of proof to "prove" that a certain thing exists, a standard of proof that you would not apply in other cases such as Atlantis. As I don't accept that either side of the question is more or less likely a priori, I evaluate the evidence with an open mind. That evidence is inconclusive in my estimation, so I say so. That seems perfectly rational to me.