Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Co-opting the Atheist Talking Point about One Less God




In recent times, many of us have heard the atheist talking point that goes something like this: 

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” 

– Stephen Roberts 

...and while this is not quite an accurate representation of the state of affairs concerning the God question given the massive differences between what a god can be, there is no doubt that this is a snappy quote, and as such, it is interesting to wonder whether it could be co-opted for the rhetorically purposes of Christians; after all, could we not say something like this: 

I contend that we are both creationists and anti-evolutionists (in the "blind watchmaker" sense). I just believe in a few less extraordinary claims than you do (the universe from nothing, the multi-verse, abiogenesis, macro-evolution, consciousness from non-consciousness, language from non-language, etc.). When you understand why you dismiss so many other extraordinary claims, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

…and maybe also something like this:

I contend that we [theists and atheists] both believe in miracles*. I just believe in a sufficiently powerful miracle-worker, whereas you believe they just somehow magically happen. When you understand why you dismiss so many other absurd and extraordinary claims, you will understand why I dismiss yours.

*If a miracle is defined in the Humean sense of "breaking a ‘law of nature’", where a ‘law of nature’ is an observed regularity that we then come to believe in as a "law", then note that, in that sense, a universe from nothing, abiogenesis, macroevolution, consciousness from non-consciousness, and so on, could all be considered Humean-type miracles, and so the atheistic-naturalist does believe in miracles in the Humean sense. 


1 comment:

  1. The "Talking Point about One Less God" will only work if they were full apathetic towards ANY religion, phylosophy or spiritual view point, but then they will feel no need to label themself as atheists.

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