The unnecessary debate between theists and atheists
Hello Rabbi Michi
Do you think the atheist-theist debate is pointless? Theists speak from a sense of community and religious experiences. Atheists speak with test tubes in hand and an open Excel spreadsheet to record the findings, and as far as I know, it is impossible to measure personal experiences within the scientific tools…
A strange claim. If believers only report experiences, then there is no debate at all, and not only is there no point in having one. If I tell you that I love so-and-so and you don’t love him or think it’s wrong to love him, are we having a debate? I love him. It’s a mental fact. A debate only exists when you make a claim about reality. Therefore, if the believer sees his personal experiences as an indicator that God really exists, then claims that show that he is wrong are relevant claims that he should address. If he sees these as just his subjective experiences – there is no debate at all. In fact, such a believer is also an atheist, but with experiences.
And in general, your assumption that every believer is based on inner experiences is probably your own inner experience. For me, it’s based on arguments and reasoning. And in my opinion, anyone who thinks there is no God is wrong. And there’s definitely a point in having a debate about it.
What? You think you can prove God with the same tools and language of the methodological atheist?
I don't know who a methodological atheist is and what those tools are (the same as what?). But yes, I think there are good arguments that prove its existence.
The methodological atheist's tools are scientific experiments (Excel spreadsheets, test tubes, etc.). How can one measure God like that, for example?
impossible.
He means that rational arguments can be used to prove the existence of God. Of course, they are not comparable to a laboratory test, but they are good enough to have an argument with because these are not claims based on emotion, but on reason. I hope I made the point clear.
Punk. I didn't understand what experiments, tables, and test tubes are related to. Can you measure ”Godlessness” with them?
Y.W. What does this have to do with it?
I said that this is how a methodological atheist examines a claim about reality.
So arguing with an atheist is unnecessary in the first place.
The atheist does not measure the lack of God in table and test tube experiments because God is usually defined in a way that is not amenable to empirical study.
Both theist and atheist can discuss metaphysical questions methodologically as long as they are consistent
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