Do You See Your Own Faith in Held Beliefs?
Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2017 8:16 pm
There is this idea that Atheism should be defined in an epistemological way, that is, God might ontologically exist but since we cannot know God via empirical or rational means then we ought to remain rationally Atheist. Such is often defined as "weak Atheism".
Now, I reject the above premise of weak Atheism, that God cannot be known via experience or rational means. I believe God can, and has been, experienced in a sensory manner by many. And, I believe the plethora of such experiences, religious, spiritual or the like, can be trusted as legitimate experiences by those who have them even if the phenomenal qualia of such, what is felt in such an experience, is incorrectly understood or irrationally interpreted.
So far as rational arguments are concerned, I especially think that arguments for God's existence are very strong, and even quite decisive. Except for, of course, to those whose who I see wilfully reject God -- such appear to not see any good argument. The ball as far as I'm concerned is really in the court of Atheists to try and explain and argue away God's existence, which they've been pressing hard to do the last few centuries. With God removed from the picture, to be consistent in life there is an intellectual onus I see on Atheists to also justify and/or reject a whole lot of other beliefs we naturally and intuitively often accept (i.e., fairness, goodness, real beauty, meaning, purpose, our self and own will, etc).
Yet, going back to the original point in the opening paragraph above, the question I have is whether there something you as an Atheist does claim to know about the world i.e., how it came to be or has always been? Do you believe this knowledge of yours is 1) proven or true, or 2) could you be wrong?
If the former (1) then I say that such faith is not so different from Theists who place their faith in God. If the latter (2), then it seems to me that you must be a weak Atheist with regard to all your beliefs, well at least those beliefs which impact upon any foundational and substantial meaning we see in life.
I'd be interested in some reasonable responses from any Atheist or Atheist-leaning persons, especially those who would self-identify as the weak form of Atheist.
Now, I reject the above premise of weak Atheism, that God cannot be known via experience or rational means. I believe God can, and has been, experienced in a sensory manner by many. And, I believe the plethora of such experiences, religious, spiritual or the like, can be trusted as legitimate experiences by those who have them even if the phenomenal qualia of such, what is felt in such an experience, is incorrectly understood or irrationally interpreted.
So far as rational arguments are concerned, I especially think that arguments for God's existence are very strong, and even quite decisive. Except for, of course, to those whose who I see wilfully reject God -- such appear to not see any good argument. The ball as far as I'm concerned is really in the court of Atheists to try and explain and argue away God's existence, which they've been pressing hard to do the last few centuries. With God removed from the picture, to be consistent in life there is an intellectual onus I see on Atheists to also justify and/or reject a whole lot of other beliefs we naturally and intuitively often accept (i.e., fairness, goodness, real beauty, meaning, purpose, our self and own will, etc).
Yet, going back to the original point in the opening paragraph above, the question I have is whether there something you as an Atheist does claim to know about the world i.e., how it came to be or has always been? Do you believe this knowledge of yours is 1) proven or true, or 2) could you be wrong?
If the former (1) then I say that such faith is not so different from Theists who place their faith in God. If the latter (2), then it seems to me that you must be a weak Atheist with regard to all your beliefs, well at least those beliefs which impact upon any foundational and substantial meaning we see in life.
I'd be interested in some reasonable responses from any Atheist or Atheist-leaning persons, especially those who would self-identify as the weak form of Atheist.