Atheist — er, probably not. If “someone” showed up and started to violate the laws of physics as I understand them, I would assume it was an alien with more knowledge and better technology, and able to manipulate things in ways I don’t understand because of it.
I would be far more likely to be envious than worshipful.
BTW, I find it even more improbable a believer would be changed. Even I understand it’s impossible to prove there’s NOT a god.
And if it turns out that I’m not, then I might be persuaded to believe in a god.
And, for the record, I was brought up believing in God and I believed through some crappy times. I became an atheist at a time when things were actually going pretty well - I suppose I had the leisure to examine the evidence.
If some being claiming to be God started performing miracles, I first would have to examine the miracles themselves to see if there was no trick photography, devices, etc. were used. Not unless all natural explanations were exhausted would I even begin to consider the supernatural.
If something like the Rapture were to occur, it might convince me. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of people, all devout Christians, including probably my own brother and father, disappear suddenly? That would be hard to explain, but I go back to first answer.
If I die and there is an afterlife, then that would probably convince me.
As I’ve said many times before, I don’t know what it would take to convince me that God exists, but an all-knowing God would know.
Along the same lines, as an atheist, I hereby grant (of my free will) any and all omnipotent beings the right to violate said free will and cause me to believe in them. In fact, I encourage it! Whether such beings choose to do that indirectly by performing “miracles” or whatever, or just change my beliefs directly, is up to them - omnipotence will carry the requisite knowledge of which way would work better.
I do not expect my bargain to be taken.
I’m a believer. In 55 years, I’ve been a Wiccan, an atheist, an agnostic, & finally a believer. The only thing that rings true for me is that God’s here, He’s alive, and He’s in me. I KNOW (emphasis mine) God’s changed my life – I was there when it happened. And I’ll be forever grateful for the change.
I’ve said it before, & I’ll repeat it. At the end of the day, when I drag my tired butt home from work, I’m glad to admit that, “God’s in charge, not me.” And that’s all that matters. If the day has been a particularly rotten one, knowing that “God’s in charge, not me” is what gets me up & going the next morning.
Love, Phil
I’m an agnostic rather than an aethiest, but I feel compelled to post from the latter position here:
I’d like to see a big, fuck-off hand come down from a cloud, zap a few things with lightning, and then a booming, stentorian voice from the heavens says, “Look, this “faith” crap was all wrong. That wasn’t what I was after. After all, I gave you all the gift of logic and reason. Why didn’t you use it? I’m a bit miffed about that. Still, on the other hand, you churchy types had your heart in the right place I suppose, so when you join the atheists in heaven, I’ll recognise that commitment. How about a free coffee mug?”
Are you saying you use the god concept as the answer for the things you don’t have a scientific answer for?
The first problem is the problem of proof. I like the way that **Skald ** has approached this, asking about falsification, rather than positive proof.
We can’t prove the lack of existance of God, save by being omniscient ourselves - its like trying to prove the non-existance of a white crow. She could be hiding anywhere, so we would have to look everywhere.
Nor can we prove the absolute existance of God, for the reasons ably argued by **Mr. Excellent ** - we can always argue against that the ‘god’ in front of us is less than the God our proof requires, and back it up by saying that a real God would be greater than we can imagine or measure, but so might a false god.
So how 'bout this - we rephrase the question slightly, to be: What would be strong evidence against your position that would require substantial rethinking and or retconning. For example: You’re a Christian, and Thor shows up, full regalia, smiting, and nobody stopping him, no trump card being played by other deities.
Full disclosure: I’m a buddhist. Many buddhists accept that there may be a god or gods, but don’t think that they matter very much in the grand scheme of things. Like **TheLoadedDog’s ** agnosticism, my current position is pretty much ‘could be, so what’. I’d love to see the big Monty Python hand, though.
For me, a serious philosophical and religious problem would be definitive proof of a soul. I don’t believe in souls. This would cause serious rethinking on my part.
Yeah, that’s it. I think I’m a Buddhist too, of sorts. I’m just not a “Buddhist!” in that I’ not signed up to Buddhism in any way. But as far as that belief system being a pretty good “Way” as they call it, I might not be signed up, but it works for me - almost as a default position.
Seconded. Hint: Winning the lottery would give me pause.
This reminds me of a favorite anecdote that very nicely conveys the importance that god has in a conventional Buddhist mindset.
In Buddha’s alleged words, he compared this question to the parable of a man shot with a poisoned arrow. This man needs urgent care…
My official answer to this question is, probably not. I don’t believe faith is a choice. If I could choose, I would choose to believe in God. It would alleviate a lot of my existential angst. But I can’t believe in God, at least not in the conventional sense. This means that I’ll probably write off all miracles as coincidence the same way that a theist would write off all coincidence as miracles.
Obviously if I died and had an experience so completely unlike being alive such that it was impossible to deny the existence of some higher power, well yeah, that would falsify my nonbelief in God. But until then… if I ever start believing again, it will probably just happen, without my reason or choice.
You first. 
I’m not just being a smart-ass here. I mean god as a given poster understands the term to mean when he/she says “God definitely does not exist” or "God definitely does exist.
That position strikes me as intellectually dishonest. I don’t believe in leprechauns, but if a 2-foot-tall man with an Irish brogue lead me to his pot of gold, I’d have to reconsider.
I’m pretty sure that if the leprechaun thing happens, one also has tosuck Cartman’s balls .
I’m sorry to bring this into this cerebral and philosophical discussion, but we keep using this particular example, and it is killing me. I keep hearing Cartman.
On reflection, scratch the above. I specifcally wrote in the OP that I was looking for a poll, not a debate, and thus my challenging of your position is inappropriate and inconsistent.
If the questions are unanswerable how do you know what to believe in?
As far as God goes, as I said in another thread, I don’t need God to be Omnimax. If a being appeared who had immeasurable power to alter and violate the laws of physics by will alone, I’d take that as a god. Q or Dr. Manhattan are close enough for me. If they really show up, I’ll stop being an atheist.
Exactly. A suffient (but not necessary) condition for me to believe is that some being rewires my brain into one that does believe in god.
Sure. Since I’m pretty much a fence sitter (agnostic) anyway, I have no trouble thinking that something somewhere sometime could come along and change our view of everything either way. I will say that God belief will be damned hard to eradicate, given that humans have structured communities around belief in the supernatural since recorded history began.
What I’m interested in is what Christianity will look like in another 100 years. Will the Catholic church ever allow female priests? Will there ever be another coming together and deciding just what should be in the Bible etc? What if we find proof that the book of Revelations is one long acid/shrooms trip? What if a new Messiah comes along? (I’m not holding my breath).
I’m ok with my DNA being here and sentient for a bit then returning to the soil etc. I don’t need a heaven–I don’t like crowds. I just think that if not religion/theism, then man will create something else to belief in, be it science or something else.
I consider myselt a theist, with lots of asterisks and disclaimers though.
Yes, falsifiable: I assert that the word and concept “God” is a useful one for me to use in my mind in structuring my thoughts and whatnot. Convince me that it is not so useful to me and that would pretty much do it.
Perhaps not an easy task but not by any means beyond the realm of possibility.