Atheists: How can you prove God does not exist

[humblesmurph]

I've read about fire breathing Christians who hate atheists

 and Christian Scholars who do a decent job of making the religion fit in with the real world, but the vast majority of Christians I have come across have been this variety.

OK

I bet pc4lf is a good person (as I believe most people are good), but (s)he has probably never even thought about why (s)he is a Christian.  Maybe it's better that way.  Extremists are a scary lot indeed, but pc4lf, and people of similar ilk, are largely harmless (imo).

I haven't heard pc4lf say anything to make it seem anything but a troll.

Christianity is simply a better version of reality for people like pc4lf.  Of course Christians can't prove that god exists, but atheists can't prove that having no faith is better than having faith.  

I think there are a whole lot of arguments against this.
I think it can be proved to a reasonable person.
It can't be proved to some people who have been indoctrinated from an early age.

We are all "wrong" about something unprovable.

Some of us leave the unprovable open.

Most of us think we are more attractive, smarter, and more ethical than what the consensus opinion would be of us.  Logically, not the same, I know, but quite similar for day to day purposes (imo).

Many people are self conscious about appearance and other things.
I'll let smartness and ethics go for now.

I'm not sure what "OK" means.  I see it a lot around here.  If you don't have a comment or criticism, why quote something and type "OK" under it?

Sure pc4lf is a troll, what does that have to do with him being a good person? His viewpoint seems pretty common in my real life experience.

How would one go about proving faith is necessarily bad?  Is it fair to assume those that can't be convince are unreasonable?

I put "wrong" in quotation marks.  I don't think anybody is actually wrong when it comes to pretty/smart/good.  The point is that opinions vary wildly.

I'm not sure percentage matters.  A significant number of people think more highly (or lowly) of themselves than what evidence indicates.  Generally, we seem to be OK with this kind of miscalculation, why not be OK with miscalculations about god?

[SSY]

[humblesmurph]

   OK, I'm new to the whole troll thing.  I just wanted to know if anybody had any ideas on how to speak to "simpler" Christians about the illogical nature of their faith.  Didn't think a new thread was warranted, so I posted here.

[The Magic Pudding]

How would one go about proving faith is necessarily bad?  Is it fair to assume those that can't be convince are unreasonable?

I often address a post one point at a time, OK means I agree or I'll let the point pass.

I don't like the in group out group thing.
An out group isn't truly human atrocities are OK.

Our current troll says entry to heaven is gained by belief, good deeds don't come into it.
What could be more dangerous than that?

[Tank]

How would one go about proving faith is necessarily bad?  Is it fair to assume those that can't be convince are unreasonable?

I often address a post one point at a time, OK means I agree or I'll let the point pass.

I don't like the in group out group thing.
An out group isn't truly human atrocities are OK.

Our current troll says entry to heaven is gained by belief, good deeds don't come into it.
What could be more dangerous than that?

Doing something about it. Ideas are like guns, not inherently dangerous, it's just when a moron gets hold of one you never know what will happen next!

[humblesmurph]

How would one go about proving faith is necessarily bad?  Is it fair to assume those that can't be convince are unreasonable?

I often address a post one point at a time, OK means I agree or I'll let the point pass.

I don't like the in group out group thing.
An out group isn't truly human atrocities are OK.

Our current troll says entry to heaven is gained by belief, good deeds don't come into it.
What could be more dangerous than that?

I dunno.  I haven't met many Christians who thinks it's OK to do bad things to atheists, let alone hold the opinion that we aren't truly human.  Not saying that those folks don't exist, but my experience suggests that there are few of them and the vast majority of Christians consider them the "out group".

Our current troll believes as most Christians believe--the underlined seems to be the lowest common denominator of the religion.  

Generally, Christians are no more or less dangerous than atheists.  People are people.  I don't know personally know any Christians who think slavery, genocide and subjugation of women are OK.  Obviously, they are not following their book all that closely.  Whether they know it or not, they are good people in spite of being Christian, not because of it.  They use their good sense to know what is right or wrong just like atheists.

I'm not arguing with you MP.  I'm an atheist, I'm just trying to wrap my head around a better way to deal with the Christians I commonly deal with day to day without belittling them or being insincere.

[The Magic Pudding]

I'm not arguing with you MP.  I'm an atheist, I'm just trying to wrap my head around a better way to deal with the Christians I commonly deal with day to day without belittling them or being insincere.

It's OK to argue.
I don't like abuse.
If you can frame your problem into a question, people here will try to help.

[karadan]

Our current troll says entry to heaven is gained by belief, good deeds don't come into it.
What could be more dangerous than that?  

Sliding naked down a 20 meter razor blade into a boiling vat of concentrated hydrochloric acid.

 

[humblesmurph]

I'm not arguing with you MP.  I'm an atheist, I'm just trying to wrap my head around a better way to deal with the Christians I commonly deal with day to day without belittling them or being insincere.

It's OK to argue.
I don't like abuse.
If you can frame your problem into a question, people here will try to help.

Point taken.  

Do you think that an otherwise good person who has faith in Christ is dangerous?

If you do, could you please explain why?

[humblesmurph]

Our current troll says entry to heaven is gained by belief, good deeds don't come into it.
What could be more dangerous than that?  

Sliding naked down a 20 meter razor blade into a boiling vat of concentrated hydrochloric acid.

 

damn just the thought of it. Just. damn.

[The Magic Pudding]

Sliding naked down a 20 meter razor blade into a boiling vat of concentrated hydrochloric acid.
 

To be fair and objective, you will have demonstrate the danger of the 20 metre slide.

[karadan]

Sliding naked down a 20 meter razor blade into a boiling vat of concentrated hydrochloric acid.
 

To be fair and objective, you will have demonstrate the danger of the 20 metre slide.

I'll just get my camera.

[The Magic Pudding]

Do you think that an otherwise good person who has faith in Christ is dangerous?
If you do, could you please explain why?

Before I say anything more, I'm just me, I don't know much.

I think Christianity can help people to be good.
I don't live in the US, but people there say religious weirdness reigns in some regions.
Families are split over religious issues.

I think there are Christians who are better people than me in many ways, they risk their lives, time and money helping others.
Someone who believes the world is 6000 years old and all that crap are beyond my understanding, are they dangerous? maybe.

[humblesmurph]

Do you think that an otherwise good person who has faith in Christ is dangerous?
If you do, could you please explain why?

Before I say anything more, I'm just me, I don't know much.

I think Christianity can help people to be good.
I don't live in the US, but people there say religious weirdness reigns in some regions.
Families are split over religious issues.

I think there are Christians who are better people than me in many ways, they risk their lives, time and money helping others.
Someone who believes the world is 6000 years old and all that crap are beyond my understanding, are they dangerous? maybe.

thanks for the reply.  

If I understand correctly, the answer to my first question is "maybe".  

Do u have any opinions on the second part?

[Recusant]

I haven't heard pc4lf say anything to make it seem anything but a troll.

I understand that you, and the others who've said that the OP is a troll may be jaded by your forum experience.  It's a definite possibility that you're right, but a more charitable reading of their posts is also possible.  There are people in this world (especially younger ones, and especially in the US) who've had practically no contact with atheists.  Some of them may be curious just what type of people are they who would reject a "just and loving God."  They might even go so far as to join an atheist forum with a name that doesn't seem too threatening to satisfy their curiosity.  Such a person would be indistinguishable from pc4lf.  I've seen plenty of trolls come and go here, and there's a good chance that pc4lf won't stay long enough to be sure either way.  But for many of the trolls it is obvious from their very first post that they have nothing to contribute and are not here for anything but trouble.  I'm more than willing to treat them as they deserve. Call me soft-headed, but in a more ambiguous case, such as the OP, I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt.  I'd rather be burned by yet another Christian warrior/anklebiter (it doesn't hurt, after all) than to treat an honest inquirer with less hospitality than they deserve.  Preemptively calling a new member a troll does not seem to me to be very hospitable. But that's just me.  However, I think that one of the reasons that I liked this place when I first came across it is that there was an attempt to be less hostile and more open to dialog than some other places that I had seen.  That's a result of certain policies here, but it also should be a manifestation of a certain esprit de corps. There is no shortage of bile-spewing atheist fora around; I'd like to think that atheists who join and stay at this one do so because they prefer something different.