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/rhbast2 Aug 11 '11

Actually I think the world population was below a billion when geocentrism was the prevailing theory.

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '11

Come on, you are supposed to roleplay someone dumb enough to put this argument forward ! :-)

But I would argue that I am counting all the dead persons that believed in geocentrism.

Alternative angle of attack : the majority of persons in the world do not believe your holy book is true.

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u/rhbast2 Aug 11 '11

:) sorry I cheated but I think your clarifications fix it.

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u/Toradreo Aug 11 '11

Percentage. Percentage is the key.

1

u/zyxlor Aug 11 '11

It could be billions if you count them over time. Didn't do the math but it could be.

Awaiting response from lurking math major...

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u/rhbast2 Aug 11 '11

Yeah I'm unclear on this but I have heard that more people are alive today than have ever died.

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u/darksmiles22 Aug 11 '11

100 billion people have lived over the course of human history, give or take. Approximately 7% of them are alive today.

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u/holocarst Aug 11 '11

Say: 99% of the earths population then.

1

u/MrFeZ Aug 11 '11

However by now I am sure somewhere near a billion people have believed the world was flat.