We spend a lot of time here talking about peripheral issues in religion and atheism. Oftentimes we get sidetracked, sometimes intentionally, on these peripheral issues. They can be intellectually fulfilling at times, but in the end, like theological Chinese food, they don’t satisfy. But there’s one issue, one single question that never seems to get discussed head on: The Existence of God. I’ve contended here many times, if god doesn’t exist, the rest of this stuff is meaningless blather. Without god, theology is just philosophy and someone needs to prove he exists before I waste a lot of my time reading the Bible.
So I’m going to open up this post and comments to anyone and everyone that has evidence for the existence of God.
I’ll state my prejudices, up front, for those who don’t already know. I’ve never seen anything that comes close to evidence for the existence of god. But I have an open mind (I think) so I am willing to be convinced. I’ll even say that if you show me good evidence, I’ll bow down and worship your god, whoever he may be. But I want evidence.
By evidence I want to see something, or hear something, or feel something, or have explained to me something that I can’t see, hear or feel, that can be reproduced at any time by anyone without exception, and capable of being experienced or understood by anyone and everyone equally.
What I don’t want, and what I don’t think will suffice, are quotes from any Holy Scripture, though I won’t delete them if you really feel they are evidence. Don’t get pissed, though, if I don’t respond to them, or if do respond, I do so by quoting another book of my own choosing.
Personal anecdotes are welcome, provided you don’t mind them being dismissed or ridiculed, especially if no one else can corroborate them.
Visions of Jesus, Mary or Mohammad on a slice of toast, a window, or the sky probably won’t cut it, but feel free to give it a shot.
Seriously, this is an opportunity for theists, all three of you who read this blog, to tell the world exactly what did it for you. What evidence did you experience that convinced you that you were worshiping the right deity?
And if you want to say you don’t need no stinkin’ evidence, you just know god exists, then I appreciate your honesty.
Have at it.
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I like that. The genesis of god. Catchy title, don’t you think? It implies that god had a start, a beginning, just like the earth, contrary to fundeological beliefs.
One of the more persistent commenters in my last post, good ol’ c “Piltdown Man” l, objected to my claim that “gods were born” at some time in mankind’s primitive past, primarily as a reaction to their own ignorance. I stand by my observation, because cl’s sole objection boils down to “you can’t prove it, you simply believe it”, not noticing apparently that this is a blog in which I basically set forth my beliefs, and the reasons for them. It is not a scholastic, peer-reviewed journal, after all. My beliefs also have some basis behind them, unlike his “belief” that primitive man actually met the gods they worshiped. (I’m sure he’ll parse this last statement, but if he’s honest he’ll have to admit it). Mine are based on a convergence of knowledge gleaned from many sources, like history, anthropology, paleontology, sociology, etc. His is total guesswork and religious belief.
We spend a lot of time here on the Atheosphere debating the fine nuances between the religious worldview and the atheist worldview. From our Point of View, the religious just don’t have a clue, and they think the same of us. We think that a rational, skeptical, humanistic, evidence-based way of grasping reality is 
the way to go, or as my grandmother used to say, the cat’s pajamas. Theists think that having faith, blind or otherwise, in an unseen and unknowable supernatural entity is also the equivalent of wearing sleepwear manufactured for members of the feline persuasion. In effect, we are debating opposing views of reality.
Miraculously enough, I actually watched Monty Python’s The Meaning Of Life last night, for the first time. Yes, I know I’ve been remiss in my satirical duties, especially considering my moniker, as I’ve had the disc for quite awhile. I’ve subscribed to their theology ever since I first watched their TV series, Monty Python’s Flying Circus (of which I now own every episode), then later The Holy Grail and The Life of Brian. I never knew until last night just how deep, nor how caustic, their theology could go.
I love it!
217 years after the Bill of Rights was finally ratified and became the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, a significant percentage of the population doesn’t seem to understand, yet, what Separation of Church and State actually means. Most people understand the “Freedom of Religion” aspect of the Amendment (which doesn’t actually use that exact phrase) to mean that they have the freedom to impose their particular flavor of religion on everyone, especially on the courthouse steps. So once again, we have another bunch of probably well meaning but misguided religionuts up in arms about having another set of stone tablets removed from the front of the Haskell County (Oklahoma) Courthouse, by order of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Actually, the case was simply sent back to the District Court to enter an order consistent with the Appellate Court ruling, but the bottom line is that the Ten Commandments are, again, a governmental no-no.
[EDIT: Here's the opinion, in case anyone wants to read it.]
I’m not exactly sure who Betty Bowers is, but she does seem to have marriage, according to the Bible, down pat.
That sigh is with an heavy, almost anguished heart. The nut cases are at it again. Abortion has become the focus of the national news, with another doctor gunned down by an anti-abortion, religious megalomaniac. I cannot, in good conscience, apply the term “pro-life” to people who commit murder over their pet peeve, or to any of the people who support murder as a tool to exterminate a pet peeve.
The other day I ran into a woman I’ve known for quite a few years. I always liked her, thought she had a good head on her shoulders, was pleasant and affable, and generally someone you’d look to as a person of stability and amiability. I saw her in a setting where I would expect to see her – my office, though she wasn’t here to see me, but someone else in the office. I looked at 
her, then did a double take, because I was sure it was her, but there was something different. Then I realized what it was. She was wearing a head scarf and a long dress. A hijab, similar to the picture. I walked into the room and stared, and when I was sure it was her, I exclaimed “Helen (not her real name) you look like a Muslim!” Open mouth, insert foot.
One of the most irritating characteristics I find in theists is hypocrisy. The sense of moral rectitude that they continually profess is often contradicted by extreme moral failings. Think child diddling Catholic priests. Think Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, not to mention Oral Roberts. It’s the “Do as I say, not as I do” approach to morality that gets my goat. They always seem so sure of what they demand of me, but when it comes to applying their morality to themselves, they conveniently ignore it.
