If you had to disprove God/'Intelligent Design"...

[Kevin]

How would you do it?

Like what would you bring up in order to prove it? Well, at least TRY to prove it.

I just want to know, really, to help strengthen my argument...
Thanks people.

Merry Christmas! (The holiday that ironically is supposed to be peaceful, even though it celebrates a man that because of him proclaiming he is the Son of God, millions of people have died. :p)

[SSY]

The easiest way, I find, is to disprove irreducible complexity (for example the bacterial flagelum), then specified complexity (non random selection of randomly varying systems results in a culmulative selection and retention of mutations).

These are really the only "evidence" for ID (I use the term in its loosest possible sense here),and both have been thoroughly debunked by the scientific community at large.

The remaining problem is, while ID can be proved to be a less than stellar alternative explanation to evolution, one can't really prove that god didn't "guide" evolution, due to his ineffeble nature etc. My preffered solution is fairly simple; if the options are that god had nothing to do with life, or god had everything to do with life, but made it look like he did not, the first assumption is more reasonable.

It should also be noted, that the burden of proof is very much on the ID proponent, not your good self. When they trot out the tired arguments above, you will have a counter to them.

[Sophus]

Mostly the only people who deny evolution and support the ID theory are those who haven't studied evolution. Or at least not with an open mind. I have some theses of my own for disproving God but as far as proving evolution goes I would merely provide reference to places they could study and learn for themselves.

[joeactor]

With God, All Things Are Possible.

... and therein lies the problem.

Aside from it being impossible to prove a negative hypothesis, when you introduce an all-powerful being into the equation, all bets are off.

I might, for example, tell you that my god created the universe on June 2nd, 1986.  He created it with a full history, and plenty of evidence to support that it was much older, but in reality, the universe is a little over 12 years old.  Or 12 seconds.  Or 6,000 years.  You pick!  It's GOD after all!

The best you can do is to give them supporting evidence for what we currently know through scientific discovery.  If they can't accept or understand that, you're not going to convince them that their "theory" is incorrect.

You just can't reason with unreasonable people,
JoeActor

[Kylyssa]

You just can't reason with unreasonable people,

Exactly!

I like to point out that if life was designed by god, god must not be all that intelligent.  In four legged animals look how the anus is located above the reproductive organs - all the better to plop feces across them and create bacterial infections.  Seriously, what dumbass would come up with that?  Reverse this and the animal would have nearly sterile urine washing across the anus (thus cleaning it without the need for a tongue bath) rather than feces going across the (female) animal's genital opening.  

Can you tell I grew up on a farm?

[Wraitchel]

ha ha ha,  she said anus! Seriously, though, good point.

[thirteen31]

You just can't reason with unreasonable people,

Exactly!

I like to point out that if life was designed by god, god must not be all that intelligent.  In four legged animals look how the anus is located above the reproductive organs - all the better to plop feces across them and create bacterial infections.  Seriously, what dumbass would come up with that?  Reverse this and the animal would have nearly sterile urine washing across the anus (thus cleaning it without the need for a tongue bath) rather than feces going across the (female) animal's genital opening.  

Can you tell I grew up on a farm?

 

[spartacus]

if god existed then he would be logical. having millions of babies die stillborn or children die of disease or starvation doesn`t sound logical to me. if he wanted to have people prove themselves worthy of entering heaven then why kill them off young?. ergo not logical, ergo no god.

[Whitney]

My approach depends on what the other person believes, their personality, and their extent of scientific knowledge.  With some people you can be very straightforward while others you'll want to find points you agree on before moving forward to what you disagree on.  If the person has no clue about evolution then I just advise that they quit making themselves look ignorant (while briefly pointing out why their view is ignorant) then direct them to information to read.  Usually they don't read it and I consider them a lost cause.

[DennisK]

Seriously, what dumbass would come up with that?

You know you're bordering on blasphemy, don't you?  Do you know the implications?

I like the self-cleaning ass perspective.  I'm glad I'm not 4 legged, though.  Have you thought about being a "creator" or maybe a plastic surgeon (are there plastic surgeons for quadrupeds?)?

[Moigle]

It is claimed that God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent.

But evil exists

- If God doesn't know about evil he is not omniscient.
- If God knows about evil but cannot stop it, he is not omnipotent.
- If God knows about evil and he can stop it but doesn't, he is not omnibenevolent.

QED: God does not exist.

Apologists have come of with dozens of explanations for this "problem of evil" (as it is known) but all of them have been successfully refuted and the conclusion holds good: God does not exist.

[Will]

Proving god is easy because the definition of so fluid. "God is everything, man!" Everything exists, therefore the pantheistic definition of god demonstrates that god exists.

You'd have to lie and fake evidence to prove intelligent design. It's just not possible to make an honest and educated case for ID.

[verybigv]

Don't bother trying.You can't disprove a negative. You can't disprove that there's not a flying spaghetti monster floating around my house. The burden of proof rests with me to prove it's true.

[Ryytikki]

You can't disprove that there's not a flying spaghetti monster floating around my house

FSM - possibly the only religion who's story of creation makes sense. It has no need for omnipotence but states that we were 'created for a laugh when the great FSM  was drunk'

Also, they have a very good theory on gravity    

[SallyMutant]

My introduction to evolution was in High School. A Texas High School,  believe it or not! ( 70's). It was the story of the transition of  some strain of British moths  from light to dark because of sooty pollution and the contrast they faced on tree bark. They evovled in a few decades. My favorite Mr Science friend who is about my same age  has fond memories of the moth evolution explanation.
SO-- how do you insert "Intellegent Design" into curricula that has our old friends, the moths?