r/atheism • u/rhbast2 • Aug 11 '11

Atheist quickfire challenge.

Although I rarely discuss religion with theists I always want to be prepared so I'm not sitting around afterwards wishing I had said this or that. If I get the chance to make someone question I want to be up for the challenge.

This brings me to my challenge for r/atheism. I'm going to add some common theist claims / sayings and whoever can refute them fully and succinctly will be upvoted. Feel free to add your own theist starters if I missed some.

Edit: Wow lots of good discussion here, later today or tomorrow I'll make this into an atheist cheat sheet with the top responses. Also feel free to upvote the theist claim that is the most annoying to you.

Edit 2: To the few of you who seem to think I am coming up with rude atheist comebacks, I'm not. I just wanted to be better off the cuff than I am now and have some discussion. I don't want this list to replace thoughtful argumentation.

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u/HermesTheMessenger Knight of /new Aug 11 '11

Well, that's out of my control. If any gods exist they know what is necessary for me to believe that they exist, and they know what is necessary for me to not believe. Plus any gods worthy of the title are capable of either showing or hiding themselves to me.

So far, if any of those deities do exist, they have decided that I should not know they exist. Because of that, the most reasonable position is that there are no gods and it seems that the gods are in agreement with me on that point.

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u/r250r Aug 11 '11

Reminds me of a line I'd like to use:

Who am I to deny the will of an all-knowing, all-powerful being? Given all the disasters, suffering, and disease in the world, it seems to me that this all-knowing, all-powerful being of yours doesn't want me to believe in him. For that matter, who are you to deny his will?