# Atheism Is Not Scientific **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 17, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962 "2014-06-17T04:31:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/201 "2019-03-27T20:22:32Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I believe that god is a 5 year old zombie. So we get him a plate of brains, a glass of milk, and a Transformer toy we’re all cool with him? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/202 "2019-03-27T20:26:24Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > It’s not up to atheists to prove that God doesn’t exist; it’s up to theists to prove that God does exist. > > . It’s not up to theists to prove God exists. That one is up to God to prove, and he does. He reveals Him/Her self to those God wants to. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/203 "2019-03-27T20:39:58Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > 191 replies to a “one and done” poster. Pretty good score for a troll. One and only post on the entire board, actually. Just joined up to clear up the matter of God, which has been the subject of philosophical debate for millennia. If you read the OP carefully, it is irrefutable in its brilliant insights and settles once and for all the fact that atheists are stupid. Therefore no response is necessary nor possible, and no need for the poster to return. He has spoken. The question at the end is purely rhetorical, obviously. God knows – if I may coin a phrase – we’ve waited long enough for a definitive answer to humanity’s most pressing existentialist question. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/204 "2019-03-27T20:56:58Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > It’s not up to theists to prove God exists. That one is up to God to prove, and he does. He reveals Him/Her self to those God wants to. Why does he chose to reveal himself especially to schizophrenics and other delusional people? ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/205 "2019-03-27T21:10:14Z")
He’s a right picky bastard, eh? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/206 "2019-03-27T21:16:15Z")
Wait, are we doing this for real now? Ignoring the fact this thread is a zombie? ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/207 "2019-03-27T21:26:49Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > It’s not up to theists to prove God exists. That one is up to God to prove, and he does. He reveals Him/Her self to those God wants to. Can these revelations be recorded as evidence for posterity? Or is it more of a Dracula type thing – “mirrors don’t reflect him, doesn’t show up on film or digital sensors”? Hey, some people can hold really expansively abstract philosophical views of God and I’m fine with that. But peddling this kind of simple-minded bullshit is just about as misguided as the OP. If there is something that could conceivably in some abstract sense be thought of as “God”, it’s certainly not someone who goes around “revealing himself” and getting pissed off at non-believers to the point that He might be in need of some serious blood-pressure medication. The Old Testament God, especially, seemed like the perennial poster boy for a Valium ad. That dude really needed to chill. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/208 "2019-03-27T21:28:13Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > It’s not up to theists to prove God exists. That one is up to God to prove, and he does. He reveals Him/Her self to those God wants to. Hmmm, then isn’t it up to antivaxers to actually prove vaccines cause the harm they say it does? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/209 "2019-03-27T21:38:28Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > It’s not up to theists to prove God exists. That one is up to God to prove, and he does. He reveals Him/Her self to those God wants to. You’re absolutely right - it’s not the responsibility of theists to convince me that God exists, the same way I’m not obligated to convince people that collecting childrens’ toys is an admirable hobby. And, similarly, unless I _do_ manage to convince people it’s an admirable hobby, all other people are entirely justified in mocking and dismissing me and my opinions with the scorn my lunatic claims deserve. Respect? Ha! Let laws be made based on them? Double ha! But seriously, you are perfectly correct in that anybody can believe any lunatic shit they want, and be treated accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/210 "2019-03-27T22:13:49Z")
God won’t let me to join his stupid club for jerks. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/211 "2019-03-27T22:36:10Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > One and only post on the entire board, actually. That’s what I mean when I say [“one and done” poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=838437). ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/212 "2019-03-28T02:29:50Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > 191 replies to a “one and done” poster. Pretty good score for a troll. Yes, but his drive-by was the basis for an interesting discussion of empiricism, the ontology of mathematics, and microwave burritos. I’ve just read the whole thing, and don’t feel my time was wasted. (And I’m reminded that I miss **Trinopus** and **Princhester**. Whatever happened to those guys?) > [@BubbaDog](#): > > No one can really comprehend the mystery of why God isn’t more transparent to us. > Great mysteries will always challenge mankind. > Like the mystery of why a poster with almost 20 years on this board would open up this turd-ball zombie thread. Wonder if he was responding to a cornfielded spammer? ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/213 "2019-03-28T02:49:27Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > This will not end well. No it won’t. I’m not an atheist, but I will not allow someone else to tell me what to believe either. Besides, if the OP believes something he needs to prove it. He needs to convince the nonbeliever… NOT the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/214 "2019-03-28T03:25:45Z")
That’ll be a tough row to hoe. I am an atheist, and I can’t see why any alleged evidence of some god’s existence wouldn’t better be explained by mental illness on my part, a natural phenomenon I don’t understand but has nothing to do with any deity that might happen to exist, or a technological trick. And if the believer does manage to convince me, they then have the hurdle of convincing me that this supernatural entity is the god they believe in and that it did and said the things they claim it did. Could be an uninterested god, or a capricious god, or one of a pantheon of deeply flawed gods. ---
**Author:** ![Harrington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac8455/32.png) [@Harrington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harrington)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/215 "2019-03-28T03:29:15Z")
Can the OP prove he is not Freddy Fender? Until then, I have reason to believe he is Freddy Fender. Indeed, I have reason to believe he is everyone he has not disproved himself to be. Except I scientifically and logically know he is only one person. I can scientifically prove who he is, thus scientifically proving he isn’t everyone else. If something exists because it can’t be scientifically proven not to exist, then everything exists, including the previously mentioned Invisible Unicorns and Pink Elephants. Why stop at God? Why press the existence of God but ignore everything else that can exist in your argument? Despite this post, I don’t get into existential arguments with theists because atheists can never win the argument and theists can never lose the argument. If God appears, the theist wins. If God never appears, it will always be possible that he will appear. If the theist is right, he’ll get to rub it in the atheist’s face upon death. The atheist will get no such satisfaction. If the theist is wrong, he will incur God’s Wrath™. The theist can suffer no such fate. It’s a coward’s argument. The theist isn’t risking anything, wrongness or God’s Wrath™. If you want to prove to me God exists, please do. Until then, I have no scientific or logical reason to believe he does. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/216 "2019-03-28T04:19:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Why does he chose to reveal himself especially to schizophrenics and other delusional people? It’s a typical example of a “jealous phenomenon”, something that only appears to people already inclined to believe in it. Psychic powers, aliens, ghosts, N-rays, God; they only show themselves to the believers. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/217 "2019-03-28T04:21:15Z")
> [@Harrington](#): > > Can the OP prove he is not Freddy Fender? Until then, I have reason to believe he is Freddy Fender. Indeed, I have reason to believe he is everyone he has not disproved himself to be. Except I scientifically and logically know he is only one person. I can scientifically prove who he is, thus scientifically proving he isn’t everyone else. If something exists because it can’t be scientifically proven not to exist, then everything exists, including the previously mentioned Invisible Unicorns and Pink Elephants. Why stop at God? Why press the existence of God but ignore everything else that can exist in your argument? Despite this post, I don’t get into existential arguments with theists because atheists can never win the argument and theists can never lose the argument. If God appears, the theist wins. If God never appears, it will always be possible that he will appear. If the theist is right, he’ll get to rub it in the atheist’s face upon death. The atheist will get no such satisfaction. If the theist is wrong, he will incur God’s Wrath™. The theist can suffer no such fate. It’s a coward’s argument. The theist isn’t risking anything, wrongness or God’s Wrath™. If you want to prove to me God exists, please do. Until then, I have no scientific or logical reason to believe he does. Well, the fact that Freddy Fender died eight years before the OP was submitted is _pretty_ strong evidence that the OP isn’t him. That said, if zombies exist (_c.f. - this thread_), maybe ghosts do, too, so throw that into the mix. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/218 "2019-03-28T05:35:41Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > …if I may coin a phrase… You didn’t “coin” a phrase. You “used” a phrase. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/219 "2019-03-28T11:10:49Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > … > But seriously, you are perfectly correct in that anybody can believe any lunatic shit they want, and be treated accordingly. And the rest who replied in like. As for proof of theism and how those are treated, how many people He choses (or she, or and she), and how many people in society know is totally up to God and his plan. Your reply here shows a certain hatred for things you don’t know and speaks of a closed heart, and a attempt to dismiss those people who don’t agree with by categorizing them into disrespectful groups. The mote in the brothers eye and all. And if there is a God you will always be in this frustrated state, as God will always have people on this earth who know Him ( and or her ) ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2019, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962/220 "2019-03-28T11:12:22Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > … The Old Testament God, especially, seemed like the perennial poster boy for a Valium ad. That dude really needed to chill. Yes I agree, in my readings I have found that no that is mostly not God, though God does take the blame, but in reading one finds a God above all that happening, a God of love. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheism-is-not-scientific/690962.md?page=12)