What do you know! We’ve got something in common! I’m down with solipsism too!
No, that’s not what I meant, sorry. I use the capital G to denote a god that has the Abrahamic qualities of omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence. I use a lower g to denote any sort of god.
I think that the Problem of Evil basically kills Abrahamic faith completely. There is no all-good, all-knowing, all-powerful God if there are things in the world that he supposedly disapproves of.
Could gods with other qualities exist? Sure, but whether they should be called “gods” depends on what qualities we ascribe to them. If this universe was created by some mad scientist in a totally different universe that we could not possibly hope to imagine, I wouldn’t call that scientist a “god” just because he created this universe.
what about ones you haven’t heard of - not do you belive in something you haven’t heard of, but are you open to the possibility that there is something and you just don’t know about it?
Yeah, see I think I would. If it’s not clear. I am agnostic about the concept of god and pretty comfrotable that the “God” of the Bible does not exist as he is portrayed. Still, I don;t “know” jack. I’ll be the first to admit it. In fact, I think it is unknowable - at least as we think of knowledge.
I believe there are lots of things I’ve never heard of. I’m not all that good with maths, for example, and I’m struggling through some quite interesting physics stuff at the moment. Why don’t you tell me what you’re actually thinking about? I’ve already indicated more than once that purely hypothetical gods are of no interest to me, since nobody believes in any of those, including you. Give me one that
a) I’ve never heard of
b) someone currently actually believes in.
c) has some kind of evidence.
Shouldn’t be too hard. Well, except for point c), but that’s always the big problem.
Americans have decided they trust us more than they do the Scientologists, bless 'em.
According to Gallup, atheists are a religious group. Interesting. I tend to disagree.
Haha. Solipsists shouldn’t be allowed on the internet.
That’s true. Isn’t communicating with others against their beliefs?
Well, since I’m the only person on the internet, I can make the rules regardless 
I’m responsing to let you know that I am not ingoring you, but I am also not here to spread faith. It is the god-hypothetical that interests me. We don’t really have much to discuss since that doesn’t interest you, yet it is critical to an evaluation of the statement “i know god does not exist.”
Well, good luck defining your god. When you’re done and you find you believe in it, let me know.
Don’t hold your breath, as that was never the point. That you make room for the possibilty (though you are uninterested in the ramificationss of that allowance - namely that there is no certainty) does not all of a sudden mean everyone recognizes the possibility. Why argue over it? Why argue what the likely causes of an intersteller interspecies war? It’s fun, I guess.
The one criteria that eluded my half assed consideration of your god defintion was someone beliving in it, yet that shouldn’t be central to the concept of atheism (the rejection of the concept of a god); rather it’s related to religion. I can conceive of a creator who made the wolrd. The world is evidence of its creation. Ever heard of it?
I know there’s no certainty in the universe. I’ve done a basic logic class ages ago. Probabilities can get small enough to disregard them. This is the reason nobody sane is a solipsist.
I’m quite willing to discuss hypothetical gods and their ramifications in a thread that’s not about atheism in the real world and its interactions with existing popular religions and/or their fundamental exponents.
You’re still being a bit slippery about the limits of your radical skepticism. Is the “God of the Bible” (“as he is portrayed”) just something that you’re “pretty comfortable” saying doesn’t exist; but is it ultimately “unknowable” whether or not the “God of the Bible” (“as he is portrayed”) exists? Or does the “unknowable” part only refer to “the concept of god”?
Maybe the woman in your room is hiding from you. Maybe she is very good at it. Maybe she is a ninja. Perhaps she also hid some Ninja Chocolate in your drawer (did you even look in your drawer, let alone really search it?) for a little snack for when she’s done with you, and hypnotized you into overlooking the beer you’re holding in your hand.
Do you know there is no beer in your hand, there is no woman in your room, and there is no chocolate in your desk drawer, or do you just believe it?
They only think they are on the Internet; they don’t know it.
What a crappy analogy.
I’ve seen beer, women and chocolate, and all three have been in my room in various combinations at various times. What I have never seen, and never seen evidence for, is a god of any kind. Now, you might bring up gods I don’t know about that might be logically possible, but I’m not even going to consider them worth worrying about until their followers are as much a pain in the ass as the current batch is.
If you’ve never seen God in your bedroom, then you’re not using the beer, women and chocolate properly. ;p
I was thinking of the hostility as a distant third place to the other two items, but I should have made that clearer. And I agree that things are getting better. I very much understand why atheists (particularly older ones) are tired of having their character impugned and their patriotism questioned and their concerns dismissed due to bullshit like “ceremonial deism.” But as conditions improve in general it becomes more acceptable for Dawkins and company to do their part in stepping up the polarization, which I find counterproductive.
Dawkins and others like him have always been there, but until recently it hasn’t been very safe to speak out as they now do. Not too long ago, anyone 1/3 as strident as Dawkins is now would have been villified just the same. Dawkins and company aren’t that extreme-they’re just atheists that don’t know their place.
LOL, nah, they are extremists. Have you heard Dawkins talk about education and how he’d like to have public education inoculate people against religion?
He’s an extremist. He might not seem like one to you, but perhaps that’s because you feel an affinity for him.