Life's greatest pleasure?

Belief that lack of evidence, is evidence of non-existence, is where Atheism becomes another form of faith.

I have never seen or experienced an alien probe, therefore I have reasoned there is proof of the non-existence of alien life forms anywhere in the universe.

'nuff said.

(for the record, I a card-carrying disbeliever)

Not necessarily Galt54. Many people claim a direct experience of their god's existence, therefore it is not arbitrary.

Not only that, but if atheists claim there is no god under their own rationalist rules, it is incumbent on them to PROVE there is no god.

I was once told that if one were brainwashed as a child, one would believe and if one wasn't, one wouldn't.
Makes sense to me.

"Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bogglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.

The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist,'" says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

"But," says Man, "The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

"Oh, that was easy," says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing."
~Doug Adams

The dyslexic atheist who denied the existence of a dog.

Brosse6

That´s a good one. The atheist who got it backwards!

There is much more I could and would like to say on this fascinating philosophical topic. But it is off-topic and an inappropriate subject matter for a spanking site. So I will hold my peace now. I suppose I should have resisted the temptation to get started on one of my "philosophical rants".

There was one time some ten years ago, when I made a post on World Spanking Forum which explained why I believed on philosophical grounds that there *could* not be a "spanking gene". I.e. I tried to demonstrate, on grounds of philosophical reasoning, that the spanking fetish could not be hereditary, i.e. caused by our genes.

And I don´t think that what I did on that occassion was epistemologically invalid. It was *not* the sin of rationalism.

Besides........it's a pencil that hasn't yet been sharpened.

There's a fine line between faith and knowledge.

I've never been to Australia so do I believe that Australia exists or do I know that Australia exists or do I believe I know that Australia exists?

I don't know.

"Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man."

Zhuangzi