Flawed Reasons to Believe in God
Most theists believe in their religion because they were born in a believing household in a believing culture. They accepted their religion’s claims long before they reached the age of reason. By the time they developed critical thinking skills, their religious beliefs were part of their worldview, and any threat to that core set of beliefs caused them painful cognitive dissonance. Challenge their belief, and they often turn to a familiar list of argument-from-incredulity fallacies (AKA divine fallacies). This essay lists the logical fallacies theists use and details how modern science explains each god-of-the-gaps argument they often raise when defending their beliefs.
Except for idols made by human hands, all known gods and deities are unfalsifiable. We cannot prove that they exist or demonstrate that they don’t, and there is no objective proof that any of the thousands of gods humans have proposed are really out there somewhere. Therefore, we cannot have a sufficient epistemological warrant to believe they exist. Thus, I am an agnostic atheist. If a divinity shows up and demonstrates that they are a god, I’ll believe they’re real. Until then, I’ll stick with the null hypothesis. I do not accept that any gods exist, but I do not insist they don’t.
Why have Humans invented so many gods?
All of the world’s great religions were, among other things, attempts by…
