On Converting Atheists

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calhais's picture
On Converting Atheists

I speak the minds of many Christians when I write that converting an atheist to Christianity on the pretense that there is objective or scientific evidence of the so-called Abrahamic god would be unsatisfactory because Christianity prescribes other reasons for belief in God. For the set of Christians that believe this, an atheist's demand for objective or scientific evidence of God is equivalent to a direct refusal to consider the tenets of Christianity. The resulting disagreement reduces to a difference in epistemology, which would be interesting to address. Theists and atheists struggle with different aspects of epistemology: theists tend to be informal and often fail to describe their epistemology in detail, while atheists tend to appeal to the scientific method without discussing what makes the epistemology of the scientific method valuable and what its limits are.

What are the epistemological standards you use to judge whether you know something is true?

Monotheists, how do your epistemological standards justify your belief in God? If you would respond with simple arguments like `I believe in God by faith alone,' then please explain when and why you think faith is warranted and where else in life it is appropriate or necessary to invest faith to produce knowledge or belief. Is your scheme reliable? How do you know?

Atheists, what are the epistemological limitations of the scientific method? What are its strengths? How do you know, and how do you know that your argument is reliable?

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arakish's picture
On Converting Atheists
Sapporo's picture
My main reason for not
David Killens's picture
As an atheist I follow the
calhais's picture
So far, it's you who has
Sheldon's picture
"belief on account of only
calhais's picture
I wonder what you mean by
Sheldon's picture
"I wonder what you mean by
calhais's picture
"I wonder what you mean by
David Killens's picture
@ calhais
calhais's picture
That explanation is
David Killens's picture
@ calhais
calhais's picture
The only thing you must do is
David Killens's picture
@ calhais
calhais's picture
Hitler card.
Sapporo's picture
calhais: Hitler card.
calhais's picture
No, I don't.
David Killens's picture
Not at all, just pointing out
calhais's picture
Just pointing out that you
David Killens's picture
So you can not deny my
calhais's picture
Of course. I can not deny
TheBlindWatchmaker's picture
I suppose my point of view on
Old man shouts at clouds's picture
The only "evidence" for the
Tin-Man's picture
Hmmm... Very interesting OP.
chimp3's picture
I became an atheist when I
calhais's picture
Which doesn't really have to
Old man shouts at clouds's picture
@ Calhais
calhais's picture
Fine.
David Killens's picture
@ calhais
calhais's picture
Congrats, you can read a
arakish's picture
calhais: "...belief on

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