# Atheists: What would it take for you to believe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712 "2011-10-25T04:11:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/61 "2011-10-25T20:18:55Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > I’ll throw in a twist. > Aliens show up. They show us all marvels like a faster than light drive, but they won’t share the technology because “we’re not ready”. Okay. Then they mention God, and proof of such an entity but they decline to share it because it requires technology and, of course, “we’re not ready”. Do you , the Atheist ™, buy their story? Are you at least intrigued, or are you dismissing them out-of-hand? There’s nothing new in that. Priests/shamans have been saying the same thing for thousands of years, whether the technology was the area’s loco weed and magic bones or copper plates and magic underwear. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/62 "2011-10-25T20:27:29Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > I think it’s pretty revealing that most capital Atheists seem to default to not believing in Yahweh. That should have read “capital A Atheists”. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/63 "2011-10-25T20:31:12Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > I think it’s pretty revealing that most capital Atheists seem to default to not believing in Yahweh. Does it reveal anything more than the fact that the majority of people on this board have grown up in the context of Abrahamic religious influences? ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/64 "2011-10-25T20:33:07Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > There’s nothing new in that. Priests/shamans have been saying the same thing for thousands of years, whether the technology was the area’s loco weed and magic bones or copper plates and magic underwear. But it is different. it is a technological society demonstrably more advanced than us telling us they have information but they are withholding for purposes “unknown”. They show us FTL drive but withold the tech, you seem to accept that, but you seem to assume they’d lie about “god”. Wouldn’t it be unwise to anthropomorphisize (I’m sure I’m butchering that word) alien behaviour? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/65 "2011-10-25T20:33:45Z")
As I’ve said in the other threads on this very subject in GD: We can’t distinguish “God” from “very advanced ETs”. So, nothing would convince me, as I’m not about to worship an ET. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/66 "2011-10-25T20:36:26Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > I’ll throw in a twist. > Aliens show up. They show us all marvels like a faster than light drive, but they won’t share the technology because “we’re not ready”. Okay. Then they mention God, and proof of such an entity but they decline to share it because it requires technology and, of course, “we’re not ready”. Do you , the Atheist ™, buy their story? Are you at least intrigued, or are you dismissing them out-of-hand? You mean, like, Scientology? Dismiss out of hand. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/67 "2011-10-25T20:59:08Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > They show us FTL drive but withold the tech, you seem to accept that, but you seem to assume they’d lie about “god”. Wouldn’t it be unwise to anthropomorphisize (I’m sure I’m butchering that word) alien behaviour? This is an updated hypothesis of the [**cargo cult**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult) phenomenon, including: “Sorry. You’re not advanced enough to know what a sailing ship/steam ship/aircraft is, never mind pilot any of them. But the man standing next to me is a priest. You’re not advanced enough to understand it all, but he’s here to tell you our god is all-powerful.” It’s all been done before. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/68 "2011-10-25T21:08:49Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > I think it’s pretty revealing that most capital Atheists seem to default to not believing in Yahweh. Can I ask what this reveals and why it is significant? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/69 "2011-10-25T21:37:11Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > I think it’s pretty revealing that most capital Atheists seem to default to not believing in Yahweh. We default to not believing in Zeus, Wotan, Isis, and Krishna also. But since Christians do also, they don’t see that as odd. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/70 "2011-10-25T21:47:28Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > I think it’s pretty revealing that most capital Atheists seem to default to not believing in Yahweh. That’s the god almost every believer here is arguing for. And given the complete lack of evidence for any god, the only god most of us are going to bother arguing against is the one people are pushing. No one cares if I don’t believe in Anu or Osiris; almost everyone is already an atheist when it concerns _those_ gods. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/71 "2011-10-25T22:03:00Z")
> [@Kenm](#): > > Nope. Star Trek’s Q could do that — or anything — with a snap of the fingers. > . I don’t believe in Q either. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/72 "2011-10-25T22:11:47Z")
If Q existed, he would basically be a god. So that’s not really a good counter-example. Sort of like “no, that’s something Zeus could do if Zeus existed!” Uh, yeah, and? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/73 "2011-10-25T22:41:18Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/74 "2011-10-25T23:10:38Z")
I’d be happy with “We apologise for the inconvenience”, written in thirty-foot-high letters of fire on the top of a significant mountain. I wouldn’t start \*believing \*anything, but I’d be happy. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/75 "2011-10-25T23:13:40Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > If Q existed, he would basically be a god. So that’s not really a good counter-example. Sort of like “no, that’s something Zeus could do if Zeus existed!” Uh, yeah, and? This. Many of these things, if not a hallucination experienced only by me\*, could only be the work of such creatures that the vast majority of civilizations that have existed in the world would call them gods. _If a mass hallucination experienced by everyone, it’s still a miracle_\*. \*\* Fucking mind-control, how does it work? ---
**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:** [October 25, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/76 "2011-10-25T23:34:48Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > _If a mass hallucination experienced by everyone, it’s still a miracle_\* Or advanced technology. Holograms, brain implants, or maybe we’re all in a simulation and the “miracle” is just someone fiddling with a graphics program. If we are all minds in a simulation, is the alien college student running the simulation a god? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/77 "2011-10-25T23:42:19Z")
A perfect world were no one suffers. If there was an all loving and all powerful being in existence this should be a given by default. I not only don’t believe, i believe that the god most religions worship is a complete asshole that should be fought against rather than worshiped. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/78 "2011-10-26T00:14:27Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > What would it take to convince you that Santa Claus was real? What would it take to convince you that Darth Vader was real? What would it take to convince you that Sauron or Gandalf was real? Quite a lot I bet - and all of those are far more plausible than any commonly believed version of God. Same standard I applied to God. This applies for Anu and Osiris as well. Also Odin, Zeus, Allah, Vishnu, Superman, Tarzan, and Spongebob Squarepants. If I receive sufficient evidence they’re real, I’ll accept the evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/79 "2011-10-26T00:14:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > To believe that the Christian god exists? If he was all he was cracked up to be, he would know exactly what it would take, even if I couldn’t articulate it. > To believe _in_(to follow, have faith in and obey) him? A lobotomy. Failing that, God pays Taxes on all his properties ( including back taxes.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712/80 "2011-10-26T00:17:10Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > A perfect world were no one suffers. If there was an all loving and all powerful being in existence this should be a given by default. I not only don’t believe, i believe that the god most religions worship is a complete asshole that should be fought against rather than worshiped. You don’t believe God exists but you hold him responsible for the state of the world? How do you fight something that doesn’t exist? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/atheists-what-would-it-take-for-you-to-believe/600712.md?page=5)