# Nonbelievers: How Would You React to the Following Events **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 12, 2011, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363 "2011-03-12T01:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/121 "2011-03-20T01:50:22Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I think we are seeing part of the reason why God doesn’t intervene more directly in human history. Because even when He does, some people are so stuck in their current thinking that they would reject even that, and that is a greater sin than the current ones of non-belief and rejection of the divine. “When he does?” When has he ever intervened even once? Cite? > [@](#): > > Atheism is faith-based No it isn’t. Atheism is not a belief. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/122 "2011-03-20T02:04:08Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I think we are seeing part of the reason why God doesn’t intervene more directly in human history. Because even when He does, some people are so stuck in their current thinking that they would reject even that, and that is a greater sin than the current ones of non-belief and rejection of the divine. So god didn’t step in to prevent, say, the holocaust, because he was worried that even if he did, a few atheists would still deny his existance? Was it worth it? > [@](#): > > Atheism is faith-based - we see in many of the reactions here. “Even if it happened, it didn’t happen”. Is my position in this thread faith-based. If not, what am I exactly? > [@](#): > > Maybe God knows that a more generally indirect approach works better. > > Regards, > Shodan If by indirect you mean totally unprovable and not required whatsoever to explain anything, sure, it has been working pretty well. Strangely enough the results are identical to if god didn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/123 "2011-03-20T02:19:26Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > I think we are seeing part of the reason why God doesn’t intervene more directly in human history. Because even when He does, some people are so stuck in their current thinking that they would reject even that, and that is a greater sin than the current ones of non-belief and rejection of the divine. Abraham got evidence. Well, he actually didn’t, but in the story that you believe, he got evidence. > [@](#): > > Atheism is faith-based - we see in many of the reactions here. “Even if it happened, it didn’t happen”. If you saw a levitating pig singing “Who Let the Dogs Out?” you wouldn’t question if you were hallucinating? A levitating pig is far, far more likely than the psycho-halfwit the Christian bible says made the world. Saying that _atheism is a belief_ is a manifestly ignorant statement. I don’t believe you possess a Star Trek Phaser or a working Harry Potter Wizard Wand. Is that a faith based belief? > [@](#): > > Maybe God knows that a more generally indirect approach works better. Why did he appear to Abraham? Why does he appear to saints? Because he wants them to believe. He doesn’t do it today because he never did it, it’s just stories. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/124 "2011-03-20T02:48:57Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Nonbelievers, how would you react if the following events happened to you? > > 1. You hear God speak quite explicitly while awake and engaged in daily life but no one but you has heard it. > > 2. You hear God speak and everyone else in the world also reports hearing the Voice. > > 3. There is a sudden mass disapperance of people by the millions all over the world. 1. I think I’m going crazy 2. I think they’re going crazy 3. I think I’m going crazy ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/125 "2011-03-20T03:48:27Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Maybe God knows that a more generally indirect approach works better. Your god doesn’t get it right very often, does he? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/126 "2011-03-22T04:59:30Z")
Still waiting on your clever responses, **Shodan**. If atheism is a faith based belief, and I’ve specifically gone to lengths in this thread to promote the idea that anyone should keep an open mind to extraordinary evidence if it becomes available, does that mean I’m not an atheist, what am I? Do you really believe that God doesn’t interfere in the world, no matter what evils are being done, because he figures it’s not worth the effort because a few hard headed people won’t recognize his work anyway? And if god refuses to intervene in the world for whatever reason, how does this world with a non-interventionist God differ from a world without a God at all? In this situation - where Gods presence does nothing to explain the world - what do we know about God? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/127 "2011-03-22T12:02:41Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Still waiting on your clever responses, **Shodan**. If atheism is a faith based belief, and I’ve specifically gone to lengths in this thread to promote the idea that anyone should keep an open mind to extraordinary evidence if it becomes available, does that mean I’m not an atheist, what am I? False dilemma. You can have a faith-based belief as well as an open miind. Many atheists, in this thread and elsewhere, have the first but not the second, as we have seen. As to the rest of it, you’re not listening, any more than some atheists will listen to God no matter what. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/128 "2011-03-22T13:23:53Z")
1. Beer. 2. I assume we were all bombed at the time. It’s generally a safe assumption whenever I’m surrounded by multiple people. A state of ratarsedness is a pretty good explanation for hearing unseen, booming voices. Chalk it up to the downstairs neighbour. 3. Cthulu ftagh’n ! Ia ! Ia ! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/129 "2011-03-22T13:29:23Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > False dilemma. You can have a faith-based belief as well as an open miind. Many atheists, in this thread and elsewhere, have the first but not the second, as we have seen. > > As to the rest of it, you’re not listening, any more than some atheists will listen to God no matter what. > > Regards, > Shodan Atheism is still not a belief. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/130 "2011-03-22T18:51:25Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > False dilemma. You can have a faith-based belief as well as an open miind. Many atheists, in this thread and elsewhere, have the first but not the second, as we have seen. > > As to the rest of it, you’re not listening, any more than some atheists will listen to God no matter what. > > Regards, > Shodan What faith-based belief have I expressed? I like how you avoided the other questions by digging yourself even deeper. “God doesn’t stop the holocaust because a few hard headed people wouldn’t believe he did it, so I’m not gonna answer your questions because a few hard headed people wouldn’t accept my answers!” ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/131 "2011-03-22T19:18:41Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > False dilemma. You can have a faith-based belief as well as an open miind. Many atheists, in this thread and elsewhere, have the first but not the second, as we have seen. > > As to the rest of it, you’re not listening, any more than some atheists will listen to God no matter what. > > Regards, > Shodan Perhaps that is because everything so far that has or can be attributed to God can also have a much simpler more rational answer that fits the universe as we know it. if God really is God then it would know exactly what to do to prove its existence. ---
**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:** [March 22, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/132 "2011-03-22T19:43:07Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Nonbelievers, how would you react if the following events happened to you? 1. You hear God speak quite explicitly while awake and engaged in daily life but no one but you has heard it. Ask him if P = NP, and for either a proof or a counter-example. If he says Huh? then I’ll get my head examined. 2. You hear God speak and everyone else in the world also reports hearing the Voice. Yell - so God, no more tsunamis, okay? and see what he says. Or maybe request he come down to stand trial for mass murder. 3. There is a sudden mass disapperance of people by the millions all over the world. Search around for a copy of “To Serve Man.” ---
**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 22, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/133 "2011-03-22T19:46:34Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > 1. There is a sudden mass disapperance of people by the millions all over the world. > Search around for a copy of “To Serve Man.” "And God spoke unto the people, and his words were ‘NOM NOM NOM NOM.’ " ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/134 "2011-03-22T20:34:24Z")
1. I would carefully inspect the airspace above me for hang gliders. Seriously, when I was flying, “I WANT YOU TO BUILD AN ARK!” was what you yelled to climbers on isolated mountain tops, especially if you could sneak in behind them. 1. I would look at the guy next to me and say “Who’s fuckin’ with us?”. 1. If all those people who disappeared were evangelical Christians, I’d say it was a pretty good start. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/135 "2011-03-22T20:35:07Z")
For all those who answered mental illness (in some form) how can you then trust your judgment about anything, including science, and your beliefs? Peoples of many faiths over the centuries have reported such contact as in condition 1, including people who don’t expect it possible. Why would this evidently normal human experience be considered mental illness and what does such thinking do to honest free thinking debate when one side by default definition has the other side as mentally ill? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/136 "2011-03-22T20:38:43Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > For all those who answered mental illness (in some form) how can you then trust your judgment about anything, including science, and your beliefs? Things that are real can be empirically verified. Other people can replicate the tests. Dropping an apple falls to the ground the world over, and everyone in the world can agree on it. So we have a pretty solid idea that gravity exists. Voices in your head are inherently not something that can be confirmed by other people or tested in an objective fashion. They can indeed be explained in terms of physiological malfunctioning in your brain, and those explanations are far more likely than, say, everyone being wrong about gravity existing. You might suppose - well, what if you’re so crazy that you’re imagining your entire existance? What if you’re just imagining a billion people all testing and agreeing that gravity exists, and dreamed up a lifetime’s worth of memories in which gravity works? Well - at that point, you’re so far gone into complete detachment from reality that it doesn’t really matter what you believe. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/137 "2011-03-22T20:42:06Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Even if the events exactly parallel those argued by some to be what’ll happen in the Apocalypse? Some people wouldn’t believe in God even if they saw Jesus raise the dead, walk on water, turn water into wine, part the red sea, go up into heaven on a chariot of clouds, or separete the heavens from teh earth, they’d chalk it up to “an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.” ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/138 "2011-03-22T20:47:07Z")
Would believers decide that they were wasting time on religion if they went their whole lives with absolutely no evidence of any supreme beings or miracles? Apparently not. ---
**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 22, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/139 "2011-03-22T20:55:27Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Some people wouldn’t believe in God even if they saw Jesus raise the dead, walk on water, turn water into wine, part the red sea, go up into heaven on a chariot of clouds, or separete the heavens from teh earth, they’d chalk it up to “an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.” Some people wouldn’t believe in Zeus even if they saw him raise the dead, walk on clouds, turn water into wine, part the Mediterranean Sea, go up to Olympus on a chariot of clouds, or separate the heavens from the earth, they’d chalk it up to “an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.” “Some people” in this case being almost all of the same people who claim that skeptics are being unreasonable in their skepticism towards God. Because their Bronze Age myth is somehow more believable. ---
**Author:** ![Bootis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@Bootis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootis)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nonbelievers-how-would-you-react-to-the-following-events/574363/140 "2011-03-22T21:30:20Z")
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