Do you believe in God?

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Frogberto

I guess that it all depends on your definition of "God".

But I can't be an atheist - to me, an atheist is someone that has overwhelming evidence that God doesn't exist

But as asserted in the null hypothesis, you cannot prove a negative. In theory you could prove God exists by having him pop in and say hi. However it is impossible to prove he (or she if you like) does not exist. You have to have faith. So in some respects the null hypothesis = faith. Interesting.

[wendybeth]

Carl Sagan had a dear friend who was a noted theologian and Reverend. (Her name escapes me). One time, he said to her "You're so smart- why do you still believe in God?" Her reply was "You're so smart- why do you not?"

[Alex]

I don't see atheists (or myself) as a person with overwhelming evidence of god's nonexistence but rather an overwhelming lack of evidence of god's existence.

Based on my observation of the universe there seems to be about as much point in supposing the existence of "god" as there is to suppose the existence of a bottomless tube of Pringles. Both may (personally I don't find the idea of a god to be at all comforting but I recognize that many do) make me happy to imagine but beyond that there is to reason to believe either is real.

The only evidence I have that god doesn't exist is that none has been found. All I can offer are ever more examples that god can't be found lurking in the shadows people have previously claimed for him or in the effects people have pronounced in his honor. But I'll certainly never claim to have proof he doesn't exist. For example, god may have created the universe this morning at 8:34 a.m. Pacific and simply created it as a work in progress and we all have memories of events that happened before then but never did.

If you claim that this is your belief in how god exists and has acted I could never provide evidence that would refute it.

[Frogberto]

Originally Posted by wendybeth

Carl Sagan had a dear friend who was a noted theologian and Reverend. (Her name escapes me). One time, he said to her "You're so smart- why do you still believe in God?" Her reply was "You're so smart- why do you not?"

That's not completely an accurate quote, but Reverend Joan Gelbein was very much a friend of his. As a member of the Unitarian Universalist Life church, Reverend Gelbein was both involved in her church and also very close to Dr. Sagan, who had active participations in religious conferences, and at one time or another, had personal audiences with both the Dalai Lama and Pope John Paul II.

To give you an idea of Reverend Gelbein's take on what she defines as "God", consider this quote from her, where she also discusses Carl Sagan at length:

"I draw a word picture of Humanists, of which I am one, as skeptics -- atheists, non-theists, and agnostics -- who do not find much use in the concept of a traditional God. Some think the idea of the existence of any supernatural being to be little more than superstition. Those are your atheists. They often steer clear of organized religion and decry the negative effects of many dogmatic religions on the human spirit throughout the ages. They vigorously question religious authority."

I can't disagree with that.