So far, no Cogent Arguments on behalf of Atheism There seems to be not only no evidence for Atheism but no real Atheists.Presumption of Atheism? Theists have complained that the usual arguments against God's existence do not pass philosophical muster. One of the most commonly proffered justifications of atheism has been the so-called presumption of atheism. At face value,
this is the claim that in the absence of evidence for the existence of God, we should presume that God does not exist. So understood, such an alleged presumption seems
to conflate atheism with agnosticism. When one looks more closely at how protagonists of the presumption of atheism use the term "atheist," however, one discovers that they are sometime
s re-defining the word to indicate merely the absence of belief in God. Such a re-definition trivializes the claim of the presumption of atheism, for on this definition atheism ceases to be a view, and even infants count as atheists. So do dogs! One would still require justification in order to know either that God exists or that He does not exist.
Other advocates of the presumption of atheism use the word in the
standard way but insist that it is precisely the absence of evidence for theism that justifies their claim that God does not exist. The problem with such a position is captured neatly by the aphorism, beloved of forensic scientists, that "
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." The absence of evidence is evidence of absence only in cases in which, were the postulated entity to exist, we should expect to have more evidence of its existence than we do. With respect to God's existence, it is incumbent on the atheist to prove that if God existed, He would provide more evidence of His existence than what we have. This is an enormously heavy burden of proof for the atheist to bear, for two reasons: (1) On at least Christian theism the primary way in which we come to know God is not through evidence but through the inner work of His Holy Spirit, which is effectual in bringing persons into relation with God wholly apart from evidence. (2) On Christian theism God has provided the stupendous miracles of the creation of the universe from nothing and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, for which events there is good scientific and historical evidence—not to mention all the other arguments of natural theology. In this light, the presumption of atheism seems presumptuous, indeed! For a fuller and long discussion, see my post
http://www.longecity...post__p__408772Atheist, Anthony Flew points out his own process with a story, “
a Pilgrimage of Reason..”Here is the parable he starts with: Pg. 85
http://www.amazon.co...74740197&sr=1-1“Imagine a cell phone is washed upon a shore of a remote island where primitive natives live. This tribe has had no contact with modern society. The natives play with the phone and hit the buttons. To Their amazement there are sounds and they hear voices. They believe that the sounds and voices are properties of the phone.Being clever natives they decide to make an exact copy of the phone and they do. To their amazement it works exactly like the original! Some Natives were convinced, obviously the voices come from the combination of crystals and metals, chemicals and shapes. The noises and voices are simply other properties of the device.The Natives call a council of the best and brightest to discuss this. Soon disagreements sprang up. The Witch doctor believes the voices were coming through the device and there must be other people somewhere that were talking. He is condemned as less intelligent there being a rule of logic known as Ockmans Razor which states the simplest explanation is to be preferred. No reason to complicate things by postulating the existence of other beings.The Witch doctor insisted that if you did not have faith in other unseen beings you would never understand the phone. He is rejected when he asks “What would have to occur, or to have occurred to you, to constitute a reason to at least consider the existence of an unseen, or other greater minds? “ Atheists have no evidence? http://www.longecity...post__p__410303