Arguments for God

When I started losing my faith in God, I searched for apologetic arguments that suggested it was rational to believe in him. This is a list of the arguments I found, and some reasons why I cannot honestly accept them.

You may use, derive from, and distribute this document for any purpose. (Note that I put a red dot in the bottom-right corner of graphics I do not own.)

Ad hominem

Ad hominem involves attacking the character of one's opponent instead of confronting the reasoning that has been presented. It is a logical fallacy, and it does more to weaken one's position than to strengthen it.

In debate, it is common for people to erroneously suppose that the objective is to prevail over one's opponent at any cost. Thus, when they run out of high-level arguments, it is common to resort to lower levels of childish stubbornness. A much better strategy is to refuse to be baited into debating at a lower level, and if one's reasons are defeated then simply concede. Why? The proper objective in debate is to find truth, and only the person who concedes actually learns from the experience. In the long run, those who are willing to yield when they are wrong will learn how to be right more often, and will no longer need to concede as often. The most useless debates involve two dogmatic people both metaphorically plugging their ears while flinging spurns back and forth. (See dogmatism.)

Despite common assumptions, almost no one's opponent is ever converted mid-debate. But that does not mean debate is pointless. The silent audience that observes the debate is usually both more open-minded and more numerous than one's direct opponent. The silent audience will be keenly aware of the level at which the debate is proceeding, and will be much more impressed with those who are really seeking for truth than with those who are stubbornly trying to prevail. When one of the debaters sincerely acknowledges a good point that his or her opponent has made, the audience is often swayed to begin listen more favorably to the position of the person who is willing to bend.

Advance fee scam

An advance fee scam charges a small fee now in exchange for the promise of a large reward later. A classic example of advance fee scams are the notorious Nigerian Prince scam e-mails. Christianity also has some remarkable similarities with advance fee scams:

The promised reward is too good to be true.

The details of the process are vague or incomprehensible.

The reward is not expected to be delivered until it will be too late to implicate the scammer.

The advance "fee" seems very nominal by comparison, making the deal extraordinarily appealing by contrast.

The scammer uses a third party to deliver the promised reward, who is not easily reachable.

All-or-nothing fallacy

See also Pascal's wager

The all-or-nothing fallacy attempts to tell people they must accept everything a religion teaches or reject it all. It usually sounds something like this: "The Gospel is not a buffet. One does not just pick the doctrines he finds appealing and leave the rest."

An all-or-nothing attitude attempts to create a dilemma for atheists because there are some very good teachings found in Christianity. However, the scheme backfires when someone decides that they cannot accept the superstitious components of Christianity, and then feel pressured to distance themselves from every aspect of it. One possible resolution is to make sure that this is one of the teachings that is rejected, so that others may be evaluated based on their respective merit.

Another form of the all-or-nothing fallacy suggests that one should commit entirely to an extreme position before fully investigating it. This form of the fallacy is represented in the statement, "Those that are not with us are against us!"

A good way to model beliefs is to use a probability distribution over all plausible hypotheses. In other words, on may continue to consider all hypotheses that may yet turn out to be correct, but only give each one consideration proportional to its plausibility. For example, Bob might recognize that arbitrarily placing 100% of his confidence on just one hypothesis would make him dogmatic, and would prevent him from learning more truth. So instead, he might believe with 20% confidence that humans evolved from primates, and 80% confidence that God manually engineered human DNA, then adjust those probabilities as he becomes familiar with more evidence. By giving consideration to multiple conflicting hypotheses, Bob will be able to maintain an open mind, but will still able to converge to certainty as he compares the available evidence for both hypotheses.

Anecdotal experiences

An anecdotal experience is an attempt to establish the truth of some principle based on a personal story that cannot be reproduced or validated. Some common examples include miracle stories and near-death experiences. Because the conditions of an anecdotal experience cannot be deliberately reproduced, they are difficult to disprove. Consequently, they are often used in attempt to shift the burden of proof onto the skeptic. Unfortunately, people are usually subconsciously aware of the fact that their anecdotal experiences cannot be scrutinized, so there is a strong tendency to strengthen them by exaggerating aspects of certainty. This results in the telephone effect, and makes anecdotal experiences extremely unreliable. (See also Witness arguments.)

Anger argument

The anger argument suggests that atheists imply the existence of God with their own opposition to him. It usually sounds something like this:

Atheists are not angry at unicorns because unicorns are not real. Atheists are not angry at leprechauns because leprechauns are not real. Atheists are angry at God because God is real.

The primary assumption of the anger argument is that atheists are angry at God. This is usually caused by a misunderstanding that may have originated from a miscommunication, such as follows:

What atheists intend to happen: [atheist]: If God were real, he would be good.

[theist]: I agree.

[atheist]: Well, the Bible says God did some bad stuff.

[theist]: I never recognized that contradiction before.



What actually happens: [atheist]: The Bible says God did some bad stuff.

[theist]: Why do you hate God? Why are you so angry?



In cases where anger actually is present in atheists, it is usually directed at the people who have misinterpreted their position, or the organizations that they feel have misled them or people they care about. Suggesting that atheists are angry at God often exacerbates the problem to reinforcing a misunderstanding.

A second major fallacy of the anger argument is that the conclusion does not follow from the premise. One may become angry for rational or irrational reasons, so drawing conclusions based on anger is not itself rational.

Appeal to authority

An appeal to authority attempts to establish the truth of something based on a supposedly unquestionable source. However, science does not recognize any individual, panel, group, or organization as having any authority. Galileo Galilei described it well:

"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." --Galileo Galilei

As an example, suppose Charlie wants to convince Alice that God is immune to the investigations of science. He might start by noting that science only investigates matters that can be directly measured, and supernatural things cannot be measured. Then, to add credibility to his position, he might quote a 1999 statement by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, as well as a few other organizations that have made similar observations, and tell Alice that if she does not accept his position then she is not truly aligned with science! Remaining cool-headed, Alice might simply ignore his no-true-Scotsman fallacy and respond with her reasons: She might describe the statistical principle of explaining away, and point out that science does not need to directly investigate any supernatural phenomenon in order to find a more plausible explanation. Since Alice's reasons are sound, no amount of authority can dismiss her position, and because she refuses to be baited into arguing at a lower level, Charlie will be forced to confront her reasoning--the highest level of argument.

Axioms argument

Every explanation ultimately depends on a set of axioms--simple truths that are taken for granted. Sometimes, theists argue that scientific explanations are no better than religious explanations because they all can be reduced to some set of axioms. The fallacy is that scientific axioms are simple and observable, whereas religious axioms are supernatural, immeasurable, and unfathomable. It is one thing to just accept that electrons exist and repel each other as verified by numerous experiments, and quite another to just accept that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, supernatural being who operates in mysterious ways governs the Universe and a certain religion understands all the details without being able to explain why or provide any mechanism to objectively verify its claims. Ultimately, the simplicity and verifiability of the axioms themselves are what give credibility to an otherwise sound explanation.

Buffet analogy

Choice argument

See All or nothing fallacy

The choice argument attempts to blame atheists for their disbelief. It suggests that belief is a choice, and therefore atheists are responsible (or guilty or cowardly) for choosing not to believe in God.

A major assumption of the choice argument is that belief in God is the correct choice. Obviously, the atheist does not agree with this assumption, but this is often not explicitly acknowledged when confronting it. Those who continue to confront the choice argument without acknowledging the assumption are essentially attempting to defend a position that has already been assumed to be wrong.

The dominant choice involved in forming beliefs is whether to be honest or dishonest. Dishonesty with one's self involves allowing for cognitive dissonance by accepting that two or more contradicting concepts are simultaneously true. Ironically, atheism may be the product of a choice to be honest with one's self, and with respect to evidence. Often, the decision to be internally honest is so obviously the right choice that atheists will contend that there is no choice at all involved in what one believes.

Sometimes, theists suggest that atheists should engage in some form of "fake-it-till-you-make" it, where the atheist should suppress his or her disbelief until it goes away. However, this suggestion weakens the validity of the theist's own beliefs by suggesting that they may be the product of a willful choice, and therefore not likely representative of reality or truth.

Cognitive dissonance

Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two beliefs that contradict each other. For example, it may happen when a person is convinced that life evolved on this planet, but simultaneously believes in a religion that teaches God created all things. Since truth does not contradict itself, cognitive dissonance suggests at least one erroneous belief. Unfortunately, the belief that is in error is not always obvious. Many people make the false assumption that cognitive dissonance is an unbearable condition that inevitably causes people to resolve all of the things they believe. In reality, however, humans often live with varying degrees of cognitive dissonance.

When cognitive dissonance occurs, one option is to become dogmatic by arbitrarily throwing out one set of beliefs in order to place full confidence in the other. However, a more objective approach is to give both hypotheses consideration in proportion to their plausibility. Living with cognitive dissonance is certainly not a desirable end state, but it may be a preferable temporary state over arbitrarily choosing beliefs without supporting evidence.

Communists argument

The communists argument sounds something like this:

Joseph Stalin and Mao Ze Dong were atheists. Joseph Stalin and Mao Ze Dong did some very bad things. Therefore atheists do bad things.

Joseph Stalin and Mao Ze Dong were atheists. Joseph Stalin and Mao Ze Dong were communists. Therefore atheism makes people politically liberal.

orSometimes Adolf Hitler is included in the argument, but Hitler's beliefs are debated, so including him further weakens the argument.

The fallacy of the communists argument is that atheism is just disbelief in God. It does not come with any unifying doctrines, so atheists have a wide diversity of beliefs. The absurdity of the argument becomes more apparent if it is reworded as follows:

Joseph Stalin and Mao Ze Dong ate bread. Joseph Stalin and Mao Ze Dong did some very bad things. Therefore bread-eaters do bad things.

Like atheism, eating bread does not unify people under a set of common beliefs, so it is not reasonable to assume that people who eat bread are likely to behave in the same way. By contrast, the behavior of Joseph Stalin and Mao Ze Dong could easily be attributed to their extreme idealistic fundamentalism. In many ways, their extreme idealism is much more comparable to what people find in religion than what they find in merely disbelieving in God.

Complexity argument

The Complexity argument, or specified complexity argument, claims that life could not have evolved because it is so extremely complex. (It differs from the Improbability argument, which uses complexity to dismiss abiogenesis rather than evolution. Note that both arguments are often made together by citing complexity to dismiss both abiogenesis and evolution.) The Complexity argument is also closely related to the Teleological argument, but the complexity argument focuses on complexity whereas the teleological argument focuses on utility. The following meme attempts to make the complexity argument:

The Complexity argument is almost always the product of lacking understanding about how evolution works. Evolution is one of the most effective methods yet known for refining highly complex things. By contrast, designing complex things is relatively difficult. It follows that an intelligent designer who wanted to create complex creatures would utilize the more effective tool for the job (evolution) rather than do it the hard way (design).

A simple illustration of the effectiveness of evolution can be found in domesticated animals. Why do sheep produce more wool than they need? Because human farmers bred them to produce wool over thousands of years. Did these farmers decode the sheep genome? Did they program the sheep to be fluffy? Certainly not! They just put the fluffiest sheep together and let nature run its course. Why do cows produce more milk than they need? Why are pigs so meaty? All of these are the products of natural processes guided by human intelligence. But none of them are the products of low-level engineering. Animals are far too complex for low-level engineering, but natural processes are highly effective at refining complex things with just a little guidance. Hence, a lot of complexity really implies evolution, rather than intelligent design. Whereas intelligent design would require an extremely intelligent designer capable of manipulating profound complexity, evolution requires only the relatively small step of finding a natural substitute for the task of selective breeding, something uneducated farmers have already achieved. And natural selection fills that small gap quite easily.

Human engineers often utilize genetic algorithms (numerical optimization methods that work by simulating evolution) for refining designs in problem spaces that are too complex for the designer to fully comprehend. Hence, significant complexity does not necessarily suggest that anyone ever comprehended the matter, and probably even suggests that it was not (at least directly) designed at all.

Confirmation bias

People are more likely to search for evidence that supports what they already believe. People are more likely to find, remember, and cite evidence that supports what they already believe (obviously). Thus, people are more likely than not to think that evidence is on their side. This is called confirmation bias.

Confirmation bias can become a fallacy when a person filters a large body of evidence and concludes that there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support his or her position (often without even realizing that there is also an overwhelming amount of evidence refuting it, or supporting conflicting ideas.) This often manifests itself in the question, "how can you reject this idea when there are so many witnesses confirming its validity?" The same reasoning could be applied to many other ideas. Many witnesses can be found supporting all sorts of conflicting ideas. Thus, any attempt to sample the pool of witnesses must be very careful not to inject bias of any sort into the sample.

Consequences, appeal to

An appeal to consequences is a fallacy that takes this form:

If P then Q. Q would be good. Therefore, P must be true.

It is an attempt to derive what "is" from what "ought" to be.

Cosmological argument

The cosmological argument is an attempt to prove the existence of God based on the existence of the cosmos. It is usually presented like this:

Whatever begins to exist has a cause. The cosmos began to exist. Therefore, the cosmos had a cause, and we will call it "God".

This argument attempts to exploit the ill-defined term "exist". Something that has physical existence, such as a rock, exists because it occupies a place in space and time. By contrast, something that only has conceptual existence, such as algebra, exists because some intelligent being organized it into a concept, or at least recognized it and gave it a name.

It would obviously be a mistake to suppose that because algebra exists (as a concept) that it therefore has physical existence, occupying a place in space and time. The cosmological argument attempts to go in the opposite direction, by suggesting that because the Universe exists (physically), that it must have been organized by by some intelligent being.

If we suppose that the cosmological argument uses a consistent definition of "exist", then it quickly falls apart. To illustrate, let us consider this argument with each possible definition:

If we assume that "exist" refers to physical existence, its two premises fall apart. The first premise depends on something that has never been observed. No one has ever witnessed anything beginning to physically exist. We don't even know if that is an event that can occur. So any assertion about how such events occur, as in the second premise, is at least equally baseless.

If we assume that "exist" refers to conceptual existence, then the first two premises make a lot more sense. Both natural and theological explanations suggest that the Universe did advance through stages of organization. From this perspective, a simpler form of the cosmological argument is invoked by simply asking, "who detonated the Big Bang?". And the implied answer, of course, is God. However, solar fusion, supernovas, and other large cosmological explosions are known to occur in response to natural conditions. Therefore, a reason is still lacking to suppose that a big bang would require something supernatural. There is something seemingly intuitive about the suggestion that organization implies intelligence, but a great many highly-organized systems can be observed to be caused by natural processes.

If we consider only two possibilities, "God always existed, and he created the Universe out of nothing", or "The Universe always existed", then the latter possibility really seems to add fewer superfluous details, especially since we can observe the Universe in existence but cannot easily observe the existence of God. It would be a special pleading fallacy to suppose that the Universe must have a cause, but God does not. Ultimately, the cosmological argument reduces to, "why is there something rather than nothing?" The only honest answers to this question will contain some form of, "we don't know", and will not contain, "the true answer is..."

Devil argument

The devil argument attempts to use the devil to prove the existence of God. It sounds something like this:

If the devil is real, then God must be real. The devil is real. Therefore, God must be real.

The "devil" is sometimes replaced with "black magic", "evil spirits", or some other supernatural entity. The devil argument falsely assumes that these other supernatural things are more obviously real than God. However, most atheists to not believe in anything supernatural, including God, the devil, spirits, magic, etc.

Difficulties of the theory

Sometimes theists like to quote from Origin of Species, Chapter VI: Difficulties of the theory, which says:

"Organs of extreme Perfection and Complication. To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree..."

This is where theists typically stop quoting, but stopping there really changes the meaning of the full quote. The remainder of the quote says:

"...When it was first said that [regarding a heliocentric model of the Solar System] the sun stood still and the world turned round, the common sense of mankind declared the doctrine false; but the old saying of Vox populi, vox Dei [the voice of the people is the voice of God] , as every philosopher knows, cannot be trusted in science. Reason tells me, that if numerous gradations from a simple and imperfect eye to one complex and perfect can be shown to exist, each grade being useful to its possessor, as is certainly the case; if further, the eye ever varies and the variations be inherited, as is likewise certainly the case and if such variations should be useful to any animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, should not be considered as subversive of the theory. How a nerve comes to be sensitive to light, hardly concerns us more than how life itself originated; but I may remark that, as some of the lowest organisms, in which nerves cannot be detected, are capable of perceiving light, it does not seem impossible that certain sensitive elements in their sarcode should become aggregated and developed into nerves, endowed with this special sensibility."

Dogmatism

Dogmatism occurs when a person pridefully refuses to consider the possibility that he or she may be mistaken in matters of belief. It causes a person to place more confidence in an idea than is justified by any reasonable basis for the confidence. Dogmatism involves an excessive trust in one's self, and consequently a lack of faith in others.

Dogmatism frustrates communication because the dogmatic person will not legitimately consider any suggestions that others make. The dogmatic person assumes a role of superiority in conversations by attempting to influence others without investing any possibility for being influenced him or herself.

Dogmatism also inhibits a person's own ability to progress in the refinement of his or her beliefs. To illustrate this principle, consider a situation in which information about a particular concept is made available incrementally (that is, line upon line, precept upon precept). A non-dogmatic person will make small adjustments to his or her beliefs as the new revelations are received. Over time, this may slowly cause one idea to overtake another idea, changing which idea dominates in the recipient's set of beliefs. By contrast, a dogmatic person has a habit of shifting full confidence toward the idea that currently dominates. Thus, as new information is received, the dogmatic person dismisses its influence, and ultimately never allows any new idea to take root.

It is quite possible to be dogmatic about either belief or non-belief in any subject. Consequently, dogmatism is a problem for both believers and non-believers alike.

One significant cause of dogmatism is having a strong desire to be perceived as being right. By contrast, open minded people would rather find out that they are wrong, so they can become right. Why do people become dogmatic? Do they believe that truth needs them to defend it? Do they fear having to change their beliefs? Do they fear the shame of being discovered in the wrong? Perhaps it is a combination of all of these, but it is clear that there are few valid or good reasons to be dogmatic.

Dualism argument

Dualism is the belief that the processing of information (function) is insufficient to explain consciousness. It stems from Descartes' mind-body problem. If dualism is true, then a simulated brain would never be able to achieve consciousness, no matter how perfect the simulation was, because it would lack the "dual" that makes consciousness work. Although dualism does not directly imply the existence of God, theists often claim that the dual is a spirit that dwells in a supernatural realm, which opens the possibility for resurrection, and an afterlife.

The argument for dualism usually sounds something like this: "I know there is a dual because I can sense that my feelings are so real, and there is no way that function alone could do that." However, the dualism argument essentially reduces to an argument from ignorance. It basically says, "I do not understand how functionalism could produce consciousness, therefore functionalism cannot produce consciousness". But claiming the existence of a dual does nothing to explain consciousness either.

Daniel Dennett is famous, among other things, for identifying that dualism makes the homunculus fallacy. That is, it attempts to explain consciousness by suggesting that there is a conscious component somewhere. The problem is that this creates an infinite regress because then the dual would have to have a dual in order to be conscious.

If a hypothetical machine were functionally equivalent to a conscious being, but lacked the dual, then it follows that the dual could not provide any functional benefit. The machine without the dual would then be indistinguishable from something that was conscious. So the role of the dual could not be to do anything, but merely to exist. Yet, if the brain even so much as had the capability to detect existence, then the dual has has crossed the interface into the functional realm, and could be replaced by something that only simulated the same function.

Dumpster argument

The dumpster argument sounds something like this: "I don't have time to explain or even summarize the reasons for my position to you, but here is a big dumpster (website, book, etc.) containing plenty of details. Please dig through it until you convince yourself that I am right and you are wrong."

The dumpster argument is an attempt to shift the burden of finding a convincing argument onto the skeptic. It is self-evidently an excuse that people make when they lack the ability to defend their positions, but want to claim that they could do so if they were not so busy. If someone actually does invest the time to dig through the metaphorical dumpster, the person making the argument is promoted to a position of power because it is much less work to find new resources than to dig through them.

Dunning-Kruger effect

Often, the less people know about a particular subject, the more confident they will be that their opinions on the matter are correct. This is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. Aristotle is reported to have put it this way: "The more you know, the more you know you don't know." The Dunning-Kruger effect creates people who think they are qualified to lead in domains where they have no experience. Some example attitudes that reflect the Dunning-Kruger effect include:

I don't want to get to know any atheists because they are all hedonists and nihilists.

I don't want to know how Radiocarbon dating works because it is broken and just gives misleading results.

Scholars are prideful because they only listen to people with meaningless degrees.

Emotions, appeal to

An appeal to emotions sounds something like, "Jesus loved you so much that he condescended from the glory of his throne in heaven to be born under the lowliest of circumstances. He spent his life serving others, even though he was hated and persecuted for doing good. He suffered more than you can imagine, and ultimately laid down his life for your sins. And all that he requires from you in exchange for his tremendous and loving gift of mercy that will enable you to attain incomprehensible glory for all eternity is that you have faith in him."

Ultimately, it comes across as very petulant for an omniscient being to resort to an emotional appeal without first providing a comprehensible rational basis for what he wants us to believe. It seems more reminiscent of a child trying to invoke emotions in caring parents by harming himself. Indeed, we certainly cannot comprehend what it even means for a deity to suffer. On the one hand, his greatness would exacerbate the magnitude of the contrast, adding insult to his injury. On the other hand, one would expect a god to be more than sufficiently capable of rebounding from finite suffering. Either way, emotions do not point in a clear direction anyway, so it is not at all clear which emotional stories are representative of any sort of actual truth.

Entropy argument

The entropy argument postulates an imaginary law that forbids order from emerging from disorder. If the entropy law were valid, then it would prevent natural evolution from occurring. Because the entropy argument loosely resembles the Second Law of Thermodynamics, some people believe it is an actual physical law. However, no such law has ever actually been established in physics, and numerous natural phenomena demonstrate that it would be false.

The Second Law of Thermodynamics says that the entropy of a closed system cannot decrease. By contrast, the entropy argument claims that the entropy of a system cannot decrease without the application of intelligence. Significantly, the entropy argument claims to apply to all systems, while the Second Law of Thermodynamics applies only to closed systems. Also, the entropy argument implies that it can be circumvented by intelligence, whereas the Second Law of Thermodynamics is believed to always apply.

A closed system is one in which entropy cannot enter or leave. For example, standard air conditioners would not be able to cool a room if the heat-exchanger were kept indoors. However, by putting the heat exchanger outside, air conditioners can cool a room by heating the outside environment. Life is not a closed system. It consumes fuel, emits waste, and interacts with its environment in many ways. Consequently, life is able to decrease in entropy.

A certain thought experiment proposed by James Clerk Maxwell, called Maxwell's Demon, suggested the possibility of circumventing the Second Law of Thermodynamics with the application of intelligence. However, numerous attempts to demonstrate Maxwell's Demon in laboratory experiments have failed to work, and physicists almost universally agree that the Second Law of Thermodynamics cannot be bypassed by intelligence. Confusion about Maxwell's Demon, confusion about the nature of open and closed systems, and an over-zealous desire to disprove evolution are probably all responsible for influencing the formation of the entropy argument.

"Evolution is compatible" assertion

Some non-fundamentalist theists may assert that evolution can be viewed as compatible with the creation story. Specifically, they may say that God could have used evolution in to accomplish the creation. If one is willing to bend some of the finer details of the creation account, or say they are only metaphorical, then this resolution can be made to work.

However, it would be an error to assume that the evolution-creation conflict is the only conflict between religion and science. Evolution is somewhat more difficult to resolve with "the fall" than it is with "the creation". According to the Bible, the fall introduced death into the world, and Jesus was able to bring about resurrection by atoning for the effects of the fall. If, therefore, death occurred prior to Adam (which is strictly necessary for evolution), then another conflict exists with the atonement and resurrection. Another prominent conflict occurs between neuroscience's discovery that the brain is responsible for consciousness and the Biblical claims that consciousness persists after death because of supernatural spirits.

See also Non-overlapping magisteria and explaining away.

"Evolution is not science" assertion

Sometimes theists claim that evolution is not observable, testable, repeatable, or falsifiable, and is therefore not part of science.

However, evolution is observable, testable, repeatable, and falsifiable. Moreover, evolution is the product of many different disciplines of science.

Observable: The theory of evolution was the product of observations made about nature. One can make the very same observations today. For example, squirrels are easy to find, and they appear to be approximately half-way between mice and small monkeys. As our powers of observation have improved, we have observed more evidence that supports evolution inside of individual cells. Here is one of many examples of inter-species evolution being observed in modern times.

Testable: Numerous dating techniques have been developed. They are tested against radioactive decay, which is know to be so reliable that it powers the atomic clocks on GPS satellites. They have been tested against stalagmite accumulation. They have been tested with continental drift with magnetic pole switching. They have been tested against each other, against tree rings and known climate events, cosmic events, etc. There are entire fields of science dedicated to testing dating techniques. Fossils have been dated and those dates confirmed with alternate dating techniques.

Repeatable: Evolution is so reliable that the similar laboratory experiments can reliable anticipate that bacteria will evolve resistance to certain chemicals. Here is a video of such an experiment. Of course, we cannot repeat something that takes millions of years, but we can repeat the same principles in laboratory settings and confirm that they behave as expected. As a simple example, genetic algorithms are an effective optimization technique in the domain of artificial intelligence. They reliably improve with successive generations of simulated evolution.

Falsifiable: The theory of evolution was formed before we had the capability to sequence genomes. If it had been a false theory, that would have been apparent when we started looking at the nucleotide sequences in DNA and found no statistically significant similarity between species that had previously been hypothesized to evolve into each other. To the contrary, the field of phylogenetics was formed, and provides some of the strongest evidence yet available to support the theory of evolution. Moreover, other markers such as mitochondrial DNA have also been found to reliably tell the same story. Indeed, evolution has not been successfully falsified, but it has been subjected to many falsification attempts. In particular, evolution has been a constant target by a large number of theist scientists with significant interest in debunking it. The failure of many attempts to falsify the theory of evolution has been a tremendous boon toward validating it.

Existence demands an explanation

Dissatisfaction with science's inability to explain the origin of space, time, matter, energy, and some of the fundamental laws of nature lead to the following argument:

The existence of the Universe demands an explanation. Science does not know why it exists, but religion teaches that God created it. Therefore, we should accept religion.

The fallacy of this reasoning is two-fold: First, it suggests that a made-up-lie is better than no explanation at all, which is self-evidently wrong. Second, the explanation that religion offers is worse than the original problem. If God is even greater and more complex than the Universe he created, then his existence is even more demanding of an explanation. Moreover, his existence is not even as apparent or verifiable as that of the Universe, which further makes the religious explanation incredible. Thus, the least offensive answer currently available to the explanation that existence demands is the dissatisfying but honest one: "We do not yet know".

Explaining away

When a more plausible explanation for something is found, confidence in previous explanations is naturally diminished. This phenomenon is called "explaining away". For example, suppose a violent crime has been committed, and there are only two suspects: Alice and Bob. Based on apparent motives, somewhat more suspicion is initially cast upon Alice than upon Bob. Later, however, DNA evidence strongly suggests that Bob had been at the scene of the crime when it was perpetrated. Since a plausible explanation for the crime has been found, the amount of reasonable suspicion against Alice is greatly diminished, even though no evidence has been found to suggest that Alice was not involved.

Similarly, science does not produce any evidence that directly suggests there is no God. It simply finds natural explanations for various phenomena, and these make supernatural explanations for the same phenomena look silly by comparison. The primary defenses against explaining away are to remain willfully ignorant of scientific explanations, or to misrepresent them in order to try to make them seem as implausible as the supernatural ones. Here are some examples of supernatural phenomena that science has explained away:

Former supernatural explanation Branch of science Natural explanation Clouds are there to hide the dwelling place of God. Meteorology Clouds are just water vapor caused by weather patterns. Rainbows are a sign of God's promise never to again flood the Earth. Physics Rainbows are caused by the diffraction of light by water particles. Diseases are caused by evil spirits, and are stopped by righteousness. Micro-biology Most diseases are caused by germs and can be stopped by soap. Earthquakes are caused by the wrath of God. Geology Earthquakes are caused by plate tectonics due to magma convection. Eclipses of the sun are a sign from God. Astronomy Eclipses of the sun are just the moon obscuring our view of the sun. God intelligently designed and placed all of the complex life on this Earth. Evolutionary Biology Complex life evolved from simpler life on this Earth. The Earth was created about 6000 years ago. Radiology The Earth accreted about 4.5 billion years ago. The heart is responsible for emotions and feelings. Cardiology The heart pumps blood. The brain is responsible for emotions. Consciousness is implemented in a spirit. Neuroscience Consciousness is implemented by the brain. Feelings that confirm what we choose to believe are a witness of truth from the Holy Spirit. Psychology Feelings that confirm what we choose to believe are a natural bias that people in all religions share.

Explosion analogy

The explosion analogy is an attempt to illustrate the statistical improbability of complex things spontaneously forming. It can take many forms, including:

"If an explosion occurred in a print shop, would the complete works of William Shakespeare just fall together?"

"If an explosion occurred in a clock shop, would a working clock happen to self-assemble?"

"If an explosion occurred in a junkyard, would a Mercedes Benz spontaneously form?"

The "explosion" is usually intended to represent the Big Bang, and the complex product represents life. Thus, the explosion analogy suggests that life would not be expected to occur following the Big Bang without an intelligent designer.

The implied connection between the Big Bang and abiogenesis reflects ignorance of the fact that the Big Bang is not a theory for explaining the origins of life. The Big Bang is a theory for explaining the observable expansion of the visible Universe, and is believed to have occurred more than 13.7B years ago. By contrast, abiogenesis is an unrelated theory for explaining the origins of life on this planet, and is believed to have occurred less than 4.6B years ago. The two theorized events are separated by a gap of more than 9.1B years, spanning about 2/3 of the time since the Big Bang.

If the bad explosion analogy is omitted, the remainder is the Improbability argument.

Faith argument

The faith argument sounds like this: "Faith is such a small price to pay. All that is required from you in exchange for the gift of mercy that will enable you to attain incomprehensible glory for all eternity is that you have faith in God. How arrogant to refuse such a simple thing! God has given you life and a family and an Earth on which to live. He has given you everything! Will you not even express a modicum of gratitude by having a little faith?"

The first thing that should be immediately obvious when the faith argument is made is that someone really really really wants you to have faith in God. The deal has been sweetened as far as any deal can possibly be sweetened: If you just give them what they want, you will receive an eternal and unending reward of unimaginable bliss! And if appealing to your sense of greed doesn't sway you, they resort to an emotional plea: You would be a horrible ungrateful person for rejecting the most sincere act of sacrifice ever offered if you don't accept the deal! And if that doesn't move you, they will try to appeal to your need for personal acceptance and sense of belonging: Someone understands you, cares about you personally, accepts you, and loves you almost unconditionally, as long as you just have faith!

But who exactly wants you to have faith? And why do they want you to have faith so badly? Let us consider both the believers' and unbelievers' answers to these questions:

Believers' version: God is the one who wants you to have faith. The reason he wants you to have faith is for your own good. Because God respects your free will, he will not force you to believe. (See also the free will argument.) But if you believe, then he can take care of every other deficiency in your character and make you into a glorious being. And when Christian religious denominations plead with you to have faith, they are only supporting God's will for your personal well-being.

Unbelievers' version: Religion is the entity that wants you to have faith. The reason it wants you to have faith is because faith is what sustains the religion. If a religion were to lose all of its believers, it would be a dead religion. Just as corporations work to maximize profit, politicians work to improve their popularity, and universities work to establish credibility, so religions work to promote faith.

Perhaps, one of the best ways to discern which of these two explanations is more plausible is to simply try to understand them both. It is very difficult to comprehend why God is interested so particularly in faith, and not so much in other attributes that help a person to learn, such as interest in learning, humility, willingness to work hard, resiliency to defeat, or curiosity. It is also very difficult to comprehend the supposed relationship between free will and having faith. See also choice argument. Ultimately, it is not at all clear why God needs faith. But it is very easy to see why religions need faith.

Faith in science

Sometimes theists point out that science requires faith. The legitimacy of this claim depends entirely on how one defines "faith". There are some definitions of faith for which this statement is true, and many for which it is not.

Sometimes faith is defined simply as "trust". No scientist has time to repeat all of the experiments that all other scientists have performed. Consequently, scientists operate with trust that other scientists actually performed the experiments they report to have performed, and actually obtained the results they report to have obtained. This trust has been violated in several notable cases, such as:

However, it can also be argued that science is more worthy of trust precisely because such cases have been exposed. In science, it is expected the researchers publish methods to validate their results, and this results in the exposure cases of fraud. Science is decentralized, and strives to be as transparent as possible. By contrast, religious claims are consistently unverifiable, so there is no way to measure how much fraud has occurred in religion.

Because faith has many conflicting definitions, it can be dangerous to admit that scientists have "faith", because someone will inevitably interpret the statement using a different definition of the word. Another common definition of faith is, the choice to accept or believe in something without having any verifiable evidence. By this definition, faith is directly opposed to the scientific method. The following thought experiment illustrates some of the issues with this definition of faith:

Suppose Alice asks Bob to consider a new idea. Bob might choose to trust in Alice by evaluating her new idea. His choice to tentatively accept her idea without proof, so that he might give the idea due consideration, might be called a type of faith. Alternatively, Bob might tell Alice that he that he has faith in his existing beliefs, and is therefore unwilling to consider her new idea. This is also a type of faith, even though the attitudes are almost completely opposite! The primary difference is the object of the faith. In the first case, Bob put his faith in Alice. In the second case, he put his faith in himself, or perhaps in the original source of his beliefs.

It would be completely ambiguous to refer to one of Bob's two potential choices as "faith" and the other as "doubt". If Bob exhibits "faith" in Alice, that implies a degree of uncertainty about his existing beliefs, and if he exhibits faith in his existing beliefs, that implies a degree of distrust toward Alice. Thus, one cannot just choose to "have more faith". One can only choose to exercise faith in something, and in that act chooses to exercise doubt in the opposing direction.

One might ask, would it be good for Bob to exercise faith in Alice? Ultimately, the answer depends on whether or not Alice's new idea is right. However, proof of the correctness of Alice's idea is probably not available, or else there would be no call for Bob to exercise faith in it at all. Therefore, Bob must make his choice without knowing the answer. In general, tentative trust leads to greater productivity. Thus, good faith tends to be that which is motivated by humility, open-mindedness, optimism, curiosity, and temporary trust. bad faith tends to be that which is motivated by pride, closed-mindedness, pessimism, superstition, and permanent dogmatism.

Many people assume that "faith" implies "faith in God", and therefore lazily omit specifying the object when they talk about faith. Such sloppy communication has a negative effect for those who do not believe in God because it implies that they are unable to extend trust. It is even more exclusionary to refer to one's set of beliefs as one's "faith". Other definitions of faith, such as "the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen", tend to be more confusing than helpful.

Faith healings

Mark 16:17-18 records that Jesus identified several signs that will follow those who believe: And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Several Christian denominations, therefore, engage in practices that attempt to manifest these signs through miraculous healings.

Due to the often-surprising power of the placebo effect, some minor medical conditions actually seem to benefit from faith healings, and due to the prevalence of confirmation bias, those who witness faith healings are often prone to become convinced that the performance exhibits genuine power from God. However, despite the widespread practice of faith healings, they continue to elude empirical statistical validation. Many faith healings have been exposed as pious frauds. Atheists often note that no amputee has ever been healed by faith, because that would be something that could be documented and verified, and if the intentions of faith healers were really to help people, rather than just to promote their religion, then they would perform service-healings at hospitals instead of in religious meetings.

False dichotomy

In the context of theism versus atheism, a false dichotomy usually takes the following form:

If there were no God, then [some absurd condition]. Obviously [some absurd condition] cannot be true. Therefore, there must be a God.

If the absurd condition does not obviously follow from the non-existence of God, then additional argumentation is needed to show that no other condition would be possible. Some commonly leveraged conditions that do not follow from the non-existence of God include:

A complete lack of matter or energy

A complete lack of order

A complete lack of life

A complete lack of knowledge or science

A complete lack of both religion and atheists

A complete lack of consciousness

A complete inability of people to find morality

A complete inability of people to find meaning or purpose in life

Fine-tuning argument

The fine-tuning argument is an attempt to prove the existence of God. It is usually presented as follows:

Life-as-we-know-it would not be possible if certain physical constants differed by even extremely small amounts. Therefore these constants must have been fine-tuned by someone. Whoever did that, we shall call "God".

The fine-tuning argument is a type of God-of-the-gaps argument. That is, there is something science cannot explain, so the correct explanation must be God. However, there are many reasons why one might be justifiably skeptical that God is, in fact, the correct explanation for such specific physical constants:

Many God-of-the-gaps arguments have been made for various unexplained phenomena in the past. As science advanced and explanations were found, the correct one has never yet turned out to require something supernatural.

The proposed solution is no better than the problem. That is, God is no less complex, no less well-calibrated, and no less difficult to comprehend than the physical constants. The fine-tuning argument is often presented with numbers that include a very large number of zeros. But if one tried to describe the power of God or the number of bits of information in his knowledge with those same numbers, theists would generally balk and say, "there are not nearly enough zeros".

We do not yet know how representative life-as-we-know-it is of life-in-general. It may be that some form of life would occur with different physical constants, and life-as-we-know-it is just a byproduct of arbitrary constants.

The vast majority of the known Universe is not actually habitable. Thus, one might turn the argument around by asking why the Universe was not better-designed for supporting life. Interestingly, the ratio of potentially habitable regions in the known Universe to uninhabitable regions is even smaller than some of the physical constants used to make the fine-tuning argument.

Some of the physical "constants" used to make the fine-tuning argument may not actually be constant across the whole Universe. As one example, the Cosmological constant is definitely known to not be constant in different regions of the visible Universe. One would naturally expect life to pop up only where the constants were suitable for life, and that may be why those constants appear so finely "tuned" around us. This possible explanation invalidates the second point of the fine-tuning argument because it shows that the constants are not necessarily fine-tuned, and it also negates the third point because it does not even vaguely resemble what people generally mean when they use the term "God".

Founding fathers arguments

Many Christians in the United States revere the founding fathers of the United States (with some very good reasons). However, sometimes they use the founding fathers to make such claims as: "The founding fathers were all Christians", or "the founding fathers intended for the United States to be a Christian nation."

It is certainly true that most of the founding fathers were Christians. However, given the time period, a surprising many of them were actually deists. (Deism is the position that God created the Earth and life, but it rejects the idea of a personal God who intervenes in the affairs of humans.) In the 1700's, science had not yet discovered any complete natural explanations for the organization of the Earth or the existence of complex life on it. Consequently, deism represented what was the most intellectual and rational explanation that was then available.

The assertion that the founding fathers intended for the United States to be a Christian nation is easily refuted. The Constitution of the United States makes only two references to religion, and only for the purpose of clarifying that it should be separated from politics. Sometimes Christians refer to the Declaration of Independence, which does include statements that offer deference to a Creator, but the Declaration of Independence was not established for the purpose of setting precedent for the establishment of the nation, as the Constitution was. The other writings of the founding fathers explicitly describe that they were deliberate in creating a wall of separation between church and state, so it was obviously not merely an oversight that they failed to mention Christianity in the Constitution. Moreover, history indicates that the founding fathers were deliberately trying to avoid some of the problems that occur when politics and religion were mixed, such as the debacle in which Henry the Eighth established the Church of England.

Sometimes, the motto "in God we trust" as printed on U.S. money, or the "under God" clause from the Pledge of Allegiance, are cited to suggest that the United States is a Christian nation. However, both of those were added in the 1950's, and do not represent the diversity of views that exist within the United States.

Since the Founding Fathers of the United States were a diverse group with many differing opinions, it is certainly possible that some of them actually did intend for the United States to be a Christian nation. However, the wishes of some of the Founding Fathers neither establish the direction for the nation nor even necessarily represent what is good or right.

Free will argument

The free will argument is a standard Christian response to question like, "Why does God allow evil to exist?" The free will argument responds by saying, "God will not interfere with free will." In this exchange, the atheist is implying that there is something negligent about God having unlimited power and operating in a position of authority over the world while doing little to interfere with the problems around us. By invoking "free will", the theist is essentially responding that God has a higher purpose in refraining from taking any action. It is closely related to the mysterious ways justification and the postmortem compensation justification.

The problem with the free will argument is that it implies evil is necessarily the consequence of sinful choices. Many horrific crimes are committed by people who sincerely believe they are supporting the will of God. Even when the perpetrators are only negligently guilty of failing to discern the evil behind their actions, there are cases when large numbers of innocent victims must suffer against their own wills for the choices of a few misguided individuals. Thus, the inaction of God is not maximizing free will, as is claimed, but is ensuring jungle rule.

Fruits, knowing them by

Matthew 7:16 records that Jesus described a method for discerning false prophets, "Ye shall know them by their fruits". This line is sometimes flung at atheists to suggest that the fruits of religion are sufficient basis to believe, and that religion teaches people to be moral, while atheism deprives people of a basis for morality.

This argument reduces to a form of the morality argument, and makes the same fallacy of assuming that belief in God is required for morality. Moreover, upon closer inspection, the "fruits" of religion are not quite the fresh produce that is often assumed: While religious denominations teach their individual members to love their neighbors, the high-level reputation of religion is still one of intolerance and hypocrisy. And while religious denominations certainly teach their individual members to repent of all their sins, the high-level reputation of religion is one of never acknowledging any wrong-doing, and stubbornly refusing to acknowledge new evidence or make any meaningful changes in its teachings or practices.

Further, religion is not the only entity capable of bearing fruit. Science is made of scientists who dedicate tremendous time and effort toward making positive impacts in the world. The fruits of science include real advances in the domain of knowledge. Religion may claim to receive revelations from God about supernatural concepts, but its supposed contributions to knowledge cannot be verified. By contrast, science is responsible for every advancement in technology, and can claim such fruits as modern sanitation, electricity, computers, the Internet, smart phones, and modern medical procedures. Religious apologists often make the religious scientists argument in attempt to take credit for these fruits, but it is ultimately the methods of science and not religion that produced the fruit, and the scientific method works just as effectively for both believers and unbelievers.

The chart below shows the distribution of charitable giving in the United States in 2017 according to http://givingusa.org:

More than twice as much money was donated to religion than to any of the other categories, and religions in the United States tend to focus much more on producing faith than on producing works. Religion also has a strong effect for making people skeptical toward science, and thus tends to discourage giving for fundamental research, which tends to have the greatest long-term benefit. Notably, donations toward fundamental research were not even significant enough to warrant their own category. A pessimistic perspective might observe that because of religion far more money is invested in attempt to interfere with the advancement of verifiable knowledge than to promote it.

Gaps in the fossil record

Gaps in the fossil record are often cited as evidence that evolution is not true. Here is an example meme used to make this point:

This claim falsely assumes that evolution predicts there would not be gaps in the fossil record. Counter to popular intuition, most dead creatures do not form into fossils, and evolution does not progress at a constant or even steady rate. The combination of these two factors naturally results in fossils that are clustered around certain species with very few intermediate remnants.

Why do very few dead creatures actually become fossils? Because highly specific conditions are necessary for the fossilization process to even begin. The vast majority of creatures either decompose or are eaten by other creatures before leaving any permanent trace.

Why does evolution happen in unsteady spurts? When the mutation of only one particular nucleotide in a sequence of DNA leads to a selective advantage, nature can find it very rapidly. However, this typically leads to local optima where a large population of a particular specie may form. In order to break out of a local optimum, an unlikely combination of mutations may be required, which can take orders of magnitude longer to occur in nature. When that finally happens, evolution proceeds rapidly again until it finds the next local optimum. This sporadic behavior can be easily confirmed by plotting fitness with respect to generations in a genetic algorithm.

Moreover, even if evolution did predict that there would be a continuous fossil record, the claim that there are big gaps is debatable. Even among creatures that are still living, enough intermediate stages are represented to form an apparent spectrum of continuity. If scientists were to divide the size of every gap in half by finding an intermediate fossil, opponents of evolution would likely still be dissatisfied with the span of the remaining gaps because subjective evaluations are not very effective for convincing someone who is already determined to arrive at a particular conclusion. So, are the gaps really unreasonably large? It depends who you ask. In general, those with more knowledge on the subject are also more likely to agree that the existing amount of evidence is already very convincing.

(It should also be noted that the meme shown above also makes several factual errors in addition to its claim about gaps in the fossil record: For example, the number of chimpanzees has already declined to fewer than 300K, the number of humans has grown to more than 7B, and humans did not evolve directly from chimpanzees, but from a common ancestor that they both share.)

Gish gallop

See Laundry list of arguments.

God-of-the-gaps argument

A God-of-the-gaps argument is one that claims God must be responsible for something that science cannot yet explain. One of many possible examples includes:

Science tells us the Universe started with a Big Bang. Science does not know why the Big Bang occurred. Therefore God is responsible for it.

Such arguments can be difficult to refute because the correct explanation for the phenomenon is not yet known. Many God-of-the-gaps arguments have been made for various unexplained phenomena in the past, but as science has found explanations, the correct one has never yet turned out to require something supernatural. For example, God was once believed to live on the tops of mountains. After those regions were explored, he was believed to live in the clouds. When the sky was explored, he was believed to live in some supernaturally unreachable place. Diseases were once believed to be caused by evil demons. Now, we almost universally accept that they are caused mostly by germs.

Neil deGrasse Tyson famously pointed out that God-of-the-gaps arguments imply that "God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance that's getting smaller and smaller and smaller as time goes on".

Good effects of religion

Some studies have correlated belief in God with positive effects, such as reporting greater satisfaction in life, lower incidence of gambling and drug use, and slightly longer average life span.

Religion has much in common with a habit-forming drug. It causes the brain to release dopamine and makes people feel a false sense of security. It makes people think they need it. If you take it away, they go through withdrawal, often become depressed, and may do some very bad things. Many people have lost the ability to find their own sense of purpose and morality without it. When people are found to be in that situation, the solution is rehab, not to glut on more drugs.

It is certainly true that religion promises that people will live forever, and this enables people to find purpose in life without having to learn to stop being self-centered. By contrast, it is more difficult to find purpose serving others and living as part of something greater that will continue to live after we die. (See also purpose of life.) Perhaps some shallow individuals are actually better off being taught lies that keep them from engaging in irresponsible behaviors. However, the effects that these people have in raising children and influencing others should not be ignored in the assessment. Others also exist who hunger for real truth, and will only find morality in explanations that can be supported with evidence. Perhaps, people have grown complacent by evolving with religion for too long, but the time has come to move toward finding real purpose founded upon an accurate representation of reality.

Ignorance, argument from

An argument from ignorance sounds something like this:

There are things I do not understand about science. ...so it must be wrong, ...and God must be the correct explanation.

Arguments from ignorance attempt to get the opponent to jump on the "bandwagon" of dismissing science. But usually they just expose ignorance.

Improbability argument

The Improbability argument suggests that it is statistically improbable for even primitive life to have spontaneously formed. (It differs from the Complexity argument, which uses complexity to dismiss evolution rather than abiogenesis. Note that the two arguments are often made together by using complexity to dismiss both abiogenesis and evolution.) The improbability argument is typically presented with the following supporting details:

Even the simplest single-celled life form on Earth still contains significant complexity. The statistical probability of so much complexity spontaneously coming together is extremely small. Therefore, abiogenesis requires an intelligent designer.

The primary error of the improbability argument is its assumption that the simplest modern biological life is representative of early pre-life. By modern definitions, "life" requires a number of complex features, such as cellular walls. Consequently, simple chemical reaction, such as fire, are not regarded as being "alive". However, nature is not constrained by modern definitions of life. Whatever spontaneously formed more than 4 billion years ago probably met only a small subset of modern requirements for life, and important features like cellular encapsulation, photosynthesis, or the Krebbs cycle probably evolved later.

The plausibility that pre-life may have been little more than a simple chemical reaction can be seen by noting how many properties of "life" are satisfied by fire, a simple chemical reaction that most people are familiar with:

Fire consumes food (fuel),

it emits waste (smoke),

it generates heat,

it grows and propagates,

and it can die.

Although fire is not technically alive, it exhibits several of the properties of life, and it spontaneously occurs in nature. The fact that no simple chemical reaction has been continuously reacting for 4 billion years indicates there is a significant survival advantage for reactions with cellular encapsulation, so natural selection would apply just as well with pre-life as it does with modern life.

Another possible resolution for the improbability argument is massive parallelism. The oceans are very big, especially relative to a microscopic organism, and abiogenesis only needed to occur once in order for the Earth to now be covered with life. Moreover, the number of planets estimated to be in the Milky Way galaxy is estimated to be at least in the hundreds of billions, and the number of galaxies in the Observable Universe is estimated to be at least in the trillions, and the portion of the whole Universe occupied by the Observable Universe is entirely unknown. It may be that much of the Universe is actually mostly lacking in life, and Earth just happens to have been a place where a highly improbable event occurred. After all, if abiogenesis happened to occur anywhere at all, those places would be the only places where life would exist to wonder why it happened there.

Incredulity, argument from

An argument from incredulity basically says, "God must exist because nothing else makes sense." Generally, it is used as a lazy summary of some other argument. For example, instead of making the complexity argument, one might simply express, "You think intelligent humans evolved from unintelligent primates? Really? That's stupid." However, arguments from incredulity generally say more about what a person doesn't understand and only serve to weaken their position.

Irreducible complexity

Irreducible complexity arguments suggest that certain complex features of advanced life forms could not have evolved due to natural selection because there are no intermediate steps that would offer the creature any advantage. For example, why would birds evolve wings if shorter wings would not be sufficient to enable them to fly?

This fallacy of this argument is more apparent if it is restated as follows:

Complex features exist. I cannot think of any advantageous intermediate stages for evolving such complex features. Therefore no advantageous intermediate stages are possible.

Although the person making the argument may be very intelligent, evolution has the significant advantages of utilizing a large population that effectively explores the complex space of possible mutations in parallel and of operating over counter-intuitively long durations of time. Historically, many supposed instances of irreducible complexity have later turned out to have incrementally progressive pathways that were followed by evolution. For example, flightless birds are known to exist, and they use their wings for a variety of alternate purposes including limiting the impact of falls, sheltering offspring, and regulating their body temperatures.

Joystick hypothesis

The joystick hypothesis suggests that the brain is a sort of joystick or complex control paddle that a spirit uses to control human bodies. It gives a role for the brain while simultaneously claiming that supernatural spirits are actually responsible for thinking and consciousness.

If the joystick hypothesis were true, then the brain would be an interface between the physical realm and the spiritual realm. However, neuroscientists can measure and stimulate the activation responses at the level of individual neurons. Their spiking patterns have been shown to respond deterministically to the stimulus they receive from their dendritic connections. Hence, any influence from a supernatural spirit would have to be so small as to avoid detection. And if the influence from the spirit is so subtle and small, then its role in directing consciousness is diminished and the brain is again responsible for our consciousness.

One cannot make a car move faster by cracking open the dashboard and forcing the speedometer to indicate a higher speed. Similarly, if the brain played only a passive role in consciousness, then doping it with chemicals would not be expected to have lasting influences on consciousness. Yet, people who are put under anesthesia do not wake up with memories of being unable to reach their bodies. They wake up with no memories at all, because the organ responsible for consciousness has been chemically inhibited.

Judgment argument

A question many theists seem to enjoy asking is, "How will you feel on the day of judgment when you have to face God and admit that you didn't believe?"

Implicit in this question is the assumption that there is something fundamentally wrong with not believing in God. However, the primary choice involved in belief is whether or not to be honest about the evidence one has observed. So the simplest answer that a typical atheist might give is, "Honest". Surely, the God of truth would not be more pleased with people who engage in self-deceit in some kind of attempt to secure an eternal reward.

Some atheists might even sincerely hope for an opportunity to face God again, if he actually turns out to be real. As one atheist put it, "It would be nice to finally be judged by someone who actually understood me, and who might know what I went through to remain true to what I believed."

See also Pascal's wager.

Laminin argument

The laminin argument says:

Laminin is an essential protein in animal cells. Laminin has a structure that resembles a cross. It must be God's signature in his creations.

It has been similarly noted by Pastafarians that the double-helix shape of DNA resembles rotini noodles, and that the planets in our Solar System have a shape similar to that of meatballs. Suggesting that Laminin is the signature of Jesus is approximately as absurd as suggesting that DNA and the planets bear the signature of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Laundry list of arguments

A poor debate tactic involves presenting a long list of arguments for a position. The person providing the "laundry list" hopes that the opponent will be so overwhelmed by the length of the list that he or she will yield. A common example of a laundry list argument is as follows:

"Evolution is a ridiculous theory because it is statistically impossible for even the simplest life to form spontaneously (the improbability argument), and even if that could happen mutations never improve a creature (the entropy argument), and even if mutations did improve creatures they still couldn't cross specie boundaries (the micro-evolution claim), and even if they could there is no way that sophisticated features like the human eye would ever form (the complexity argument) because a half-functioning eye would serve no purpose (irreducible complexity), and the usefulness of the eye clearly indicates it was designed (the teleological argument), and atheists only refuse to acknowledge this because they are angry at God (the anger argument) and they are really just trying to justify their sins (the pants on fire argument)."

The fallacy of laundry lists is simple: Many bad arguments do not make a good argument.

Life

Traditionally, "life" is assumed to be a binary (on or off) property that only biological organisms can possess. However, nature is not really constrained by the way humans perceive the concept of life. Most attempts to actually isolate the specific processes necessary for life typically end up describing something that non-biological entities also exhibit to varying degrees. For example, corporations also seek to survive, to grow, to expand, and to secure more power and wealth. As another example, the cumulative society of life in the ocean seems to adapt to challenges, and takes actions in order to maintain homeostasis. The inevitable conclusion is that life is not anything peculiar to biological organisms, nor is it a binary concept. Rather, life is a spectrum concept that starts to occur whenever a complex entity has autonomy and begins to pursue objectives that are also its own.

Advanced forms of life consistently seem to be composed of many lesser entities that possess a lesser degree of life. For example, humans are made up of organs. Organs are made of cells. And, cells are made of organelles. The life of a human spans many generations of cellular births and deaths. The same pattern also continues in the opposite direction. Society is made up of people. Just as there are many types of cells, each specializing in a different role, people generally tend to specialize in careers. Just as the cells in the human body are organized into "systems", the life of society is likewise sustained by many analogous systems. Let us consider some of the systems in human society that parallel those in individual human bodies:

Human body Role Society Immune system Protects against germs and misbehaving cells Criminal justice Digestive system Extracts nutrients to supply bodily needs Mining Cardiovascular system Distributes nutrients through body Shipping, transport, and delivery Integumentary (skin) system Stops germs from entering the body Border control Respiratory system Burns fuel to generate power Power generation Endocrine system Directs high-level operations of the body Legislation and government Reproductive system Spreads life, creates redundancy, establishes relationships Space exploration Excretory system Disposes of waste Waste management Musculoskeletal system Gives structure to the body Civil engineering Nervous system Sends signals throughout the body Internet

Clearly, society itself is very much "alive". In fact, in almost every aspect the life of society is much greater than that of any individual that supports it. It has many more parallel "thoughts" than any human mind is even capable of supporting at once. Yet, like all lesser forms of life, it seeks to survive, to grow, to propagate, and to advance. This is significant to the human condition because it means that we are part of something much greater than our own lives. The things we do with our own lives ultimately affect the life of society, which will not only live longer than we will, but will ultimately accomplish more good, achieve greater purpose, and facilitate prosperity for future generations. This gives purpose to our own mortal lives, even if we will not personally live again after death. It also dictates morality by showing us that the things we do are good, only to the extent that they positively assist the life of society.

There are, unfortunately, forms of life that pursue their own objectives by parasitically leeching from the lives of other entities. Biological examples include cancers, mosquitoes, viruses, and ticks. Non-biological examples also exist, including fraudulent organizations that steal from others in order to sustain their own operations. In light of the detrimental effects that such life forms have on the goals of other lives, it is clear that parasitic behavior is unethical. Sadly, it is better that some lives are destroyed than that the lives of humans or society be limited by life forms that take such easy and selfish paths.

Just like many other organizations, organized religions also have life. They survive by convincing people that they represent God, but they have such conflicting doctrines that it is clear that most of them are ultimately frauds. Like other forms of life, these frauds exhibit such a strong will to survive that they will do whatever it takes to sustain themselves, including the teaching of lies, the taking of donations under false pretenses of representing God, and the redirecting of human lives for their own support. It should also be admitted that organized religions often also do much good, both for the lives of their adherents, and also for society. Nevertheless, as society advances, and as more of truth begins to be accurately modeled by science, the fabrications of false religions will increasingly prevent their adherents from being able to participate in the progress of society. Truth is too important to sacrifice. We cannot fail to model a large section of truth just to allow well-intentioned but fraudulent organizations to survive. Simply put, the advancement of society matters much more than the lives of these religions.

Literal places argument

The literal places argument points to evidence that King David was a real person, that Israel was a real place, or that Jesus really lived, and says, "See? The Bible is true!".

The literal places argument usually occurs when theists make the all-or-nothing fallacy, and therefore suppose that atheists reject everything in the Bible. As an example of the silliness of this argument, one might point out that Harry Potter still a work of fiction, even though England is a real place.

Martyrs argument

The martyrs argument basically says, "Christianity must be true because a lot of people have sacrificed everything for it. Why would people be willing to die for something that wasn't true?"

Indeed, the martyrs argument probably does show that Christian martyrs actually believed Christianity was true. However, it is an ad populum fallacy to jump from "people believed it was true" to "it really is true". Christians might argue that the martyrs would have been in a position to really know whether or not it was true, but that position is not defensible. People have been willing to sacrifice and even die for all manner of causes throughout the history of the world, and those most involved were usually the most converted. It seems that some people just have an innate need to take a stand or sacrifice for something, and that same tendency may be part of what causes people to become so convinced with so little reliable evidence that whatever religion they were born into just happens to uniquely represent truth.

Micro-evolution claim

The micro-evolution claim admits that evolution occurs within species, but claims that it cannot occur between species.

The problem with the micro-evolution claim is that species are a human invention for the purpose creating a taxonomy. Nature has no reason to be aware of or bound by the lines that humans draw between clusters of creatures. For creatures that reproduce sexually, humans define specie boundaries based on whether creatures are able to reproduce together. However, this definition does not work with creatures that reproduce in other ways, and there is no such clear boundary between some creatures.

As an example, lions and tigers share a common ancestral line. However, because they evolved while separated by a large distance, they evolved in separate directions. Now, when lions and tigers mate, they can produce a partially-viable liger. Real ligers have been observed, and stuffed ligers can be found in certain museums. Yet, many other cat species have evolved too far from each other to produce offspring. For example, a lion and a house-cat would not be able to reproduce together.

Mind-body problem

Descartes proposed that the mind and body were distinct entities, and could exist without each other. This is known as mind-body dualism, and naturally leads to the dualism argument.

Certainly, bodies are known to exist without minds (in dead people), but little progress has been made toward validating that minds can exist without bodies. Hence, a more plausible explanation is simply that spirits are more of a by-product of what people want to be true than what the Universe has shown with evidence to be true.

Miracles

Miracles are a class of Anecdotal experiences. They claim that some event that defies the laws of nature has occurred. They suggest that supernatural phenomena are not strictly prevented from influencing the natural realm, and thus call attention to the "failure" of science to find any reliable evidence of a supernatural phenomena. Because miracles cannot be reproduced and leave no verifiable evidence, they are usually established by the testimony of witnesses, which are notoriously unreliable.

Miracle stories are often used in attempt to shift the burden of proof onto the skeptic. One does not need to know how to explain something in order to believe that some natural explanation exists. Moreover, the correct explanation often involves components of confirmation bias, exaggeration, and sometimes even withholding of relevant details, so asking the skeptic to explain the miracle puts her in the awkward situation of being asked to make an unkind accusation.

The absurdity of attempts to impose beliefs based on miracle stories can be illustrated by an analogy with a magician: Suppose a performing magician claims to have obtained magical powers from a pink unicorn that he encountered while vacationing on the moon. Then, the magician proceeds to shuffle a deck of cards and asks you to pick one. After you select a card, the magician identifies precisely the card you chose. Impressed, you ask him to explain how he did the trick. He replies, "Magic, of course!" When you press for more details, he asks if you can explain how he knew which card you had picked. When you cannot explain his trick, he responds that you must therefore accept his story about the pink unicorn on the moon. And if you ask him why he uses his magic exclusively to prove the reality of his magic, and not to advance knowledge, to help suffering people, or for any other productive purpose, he responds that magic comes with mysterious limitations that cannot be comprehended by non-magical individuals.

Morality argument

The morality argument makes the implicit suggestion that atheists are immoral. It is usually posed as follows:

If there is no God, then there is no objective morality. There is objective morality. Therefore there is a God.

This argument relies on confusion about the definition of "objective morality". When specific definitions are made, the argument falls apart. To illustrate, consider the following specific definitions:

relative morality: Morality is subjective. That is, it depends on individual priorities.

Morality is subjective. That is, it depends on individual priorities. divine sanctioned morality: What is moral depends only on God's priorities.

What is moral depends only on God's priorities. objective morality: Morality does not depend on the priorities of anyone.

The precise differences between divine sanctioned morality and objective morality can be subtle, but are critical for the morality argument. Objective morality suggests that if there is a God, he would conform to what is moral. His role with respect to morality would be to show people what is objectively moral, but not to define it. And, hypothetically, if God were to fall then what is moral would not be affected. By contrast, divine sanctioned morality suggests that God defines what is moral. In this context, it would be meaningless to call God "moral" because he would still be moral even if he were a big jerk. And, hypothetically, if God were to fall then what is moral would fall with him.

So, if one believes in divine sanctioned morality, then the morality argument becomes:

If there is no God, then there is no divine sanctioned morality. There is divine sanctioned morality. Therefore there is a God.

This view of the argument is trivial to dismiss because the second premise is not at all obvious. And, if one believes in objective morality, then the morality argument becomes:

If there is no God, then there is no one to show us what is objectively moral. There is someone to show us what is objectively moral. We call that being God.

Again, the argument falls apart because the second premise is no more obvious than the conclusion.

The morality argument is closely related to the transcendental argument, and may be considered a subset of it.

Mysterious ways justification

The mysterious ways justification is a standard response to the question, "Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?" It essentially says that humans do not understand the ways of God, but his ways are still the best.

The problem with the mysterious ways justification is that Christian teachings require people to love and trust this being who cannot be understood. The first commandment is to love God, and the first principle of the gospel upon which access to the atonement hinges is to have faith in him. Yet, whenever God appears to behave in a manner that seems cruel, unjust, negligent, shallow, or unrighteous, believers are expected to look the other way, accept that his ways are ultimately good in every respect, and emulate the perfect behavior that cannot be understood. In this situation, it is not reasonable for a truly benevolent God to be displeased with those who abandon belief in him altogether so they can pursue moral choices in purity, rather than encumber their philosophies with incomprehensible teachings that lack correspondingly pure actions. This has led many atheists to exclaim, "God does not seem moral enough for me to worship."

Near-death experiences

Near-death experiences are a class of Anecdotal experiences. Sometimes, the individual claims that her experience validates beliefs that she rejected prior to the experience. Another common theme involves being greeted by an unfamiliar person who is later discovered in a photo album to have been a dead relative. Such details that attempt to make the near-death experience difficult to explain away probably reveal that the person relating the experience is more interested in being accepted than in establishing truth. Like miracles, near-death experiences suggest that the separation between natural and supernatural realms is not absolutely enforced, and thus call attention to the "failure" of science to find any reliable indication of a supernatural realm.

Upon analysis, however, near-death experiences do not seem to be compatible with any consistent interpretation of God. If he is real and wants us to have evidence of an afterlife, then near-death experiences represent a rather weak effort to provide us with evidence. If he is real and does not want us to have evidence of an afterlife, then near-death experiences represent a failure on his part to prevent us from detecting supernatural things. Perhaps he is real and only wants to prevent empiricists from knowing details about the afterlife, but a motivation for this prejudice against intellectuals is needed. Yet another possibility is that common near-death experiences are not really representative of what happens after death. Although people who want to have evidence of an afterlife will quite likely accept one of the other explanations, this one seems to raise the fewest questions.

Neuro-plasticity

Neuro-plasticity refers the brain's ability to break and form new synaptic connections. Children typically have high brain plasticity, enabling them to learn new things quickly. The cost of this increased plasticity, however, is that they also lose things quickly. This is believed to be a primary cause for people not being able to remember experiences from their early youth.

Changes in plasticity are not a frailty associated with mortality, but are actually important for the ways humans think. Due to the finite number of neurons in the brain, and the large amount of information that they must retain, balancing plasticity is necessary. When we are young, we have much to learn, so high plasticity is necessary. As we gain experience, excessive plasticity would cause us to lose that experience, and so more rigidity favors our abilities to operate effectively.

This concept has significant ramifications for the concept of immortality. If humans could live forever, then balancing the plasticity of their brains would become an impossible task. A complete lack of plasticity would cause them to have no memory and thus be unable to experience their lives at all. Yet any plasticity at all would create a sliding window beyond which all knowledge, memory, and experience would be lost. Eternity is simply not something that the human mind is capable of experiencing, because our brains simply lack the number of connections necessary for longer life. Another possibility, of course, is that immortals are granted much larger brains, or some supernatural processing mechanism that leverages a connection with a spirit world to transact information. However, such drastic changes to our thinking mechanism would then render us entirely different beings altogether. This humans, as they currently think and understand themselves, are simply not capable of experiencing eternity.

New God Argument

The "New God Argument" sounds something like this:

There is abundant evidence for evolution. Trends suggest that over long periods of time, evolution tends to produce more advanced, capable, knowledgeable, moral, and powerful species. If we extrapolate far enough, this suggests humans will eventually be indistinguishable from gods compared to other species on Earth. (Arguably, this point has been reached already.) The Universe is big. If life evolved here, it probably happened somewhere else already. It follows, therefore, that natural gods must exist.

The New God Argument is one of the more intellectual arguments for the existence of God. However, the God that it imagines would be a natural being who would be subject to the laws of this Universe. In many ways, such a being would be more comprehensible, more relateable, and thus more relevant to human beings as a parental figure. However the limitations of being subject to natural laws complicate such ideas as knowing our thoughts, hearing all prayers, making perfect decisions, etc. To even have the mental capacity for such feats within a natural universe, God would have to have an outrageously enormous head.

Another difficult limitations of a natural universe is the speed of light. If the speed of light really cannot be circumvented, then a natural God would necessarily have to dwell within a small number of light-years from the Earth in order to maintain the interactions claimed in scriptural accounts. Ultimately, the natural universe is a realm in which science is very comfortable, so significant mental gymnastics are necessary in order to claim that God dwells in this very realm while simultaneously eluding discovery by science. And even more troubling is the lack of clear motive for a God going to all that trouble in the first place.

Non-overlapping magisteria

Non-overlapping magisteria refers to the idea put forward by Stephen Jay Gould in 1997 that science and religion operate in two separate domains. It further suggests that it is not really possible for science and religion to contradict each other because their respective domains share no overlapping regions. The idea of non-overlapping magisteria is often invoked to claim that God, miracles, and other supernatural phenomena are immune to the scrutiny of science.

In 1999, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences adopted a position that seems to support the idea of non-overlapping magisteria. It stated:

"Science is not the only way of knowing and understanding. But science is a way of knowing that differs from other ways in its dependence on empirical evidence and testable explanations... ...Science and religion are based on different aspects of human experience. In science, explanations must be based on evidence drawn from examining the natural world. Scientifically based observations or experiments that conflict with an explanation eventually must lead to modification or even abandonment of that explanation. Religious faith, in contrast, does not depend only on empirical evidence, is not necessarily modified in the face of conflicting evidence, and typically involves supernatural forces or entities. Because they are not a part of nature, supernatural entities cannot be investigated by science. In this sense, science and religion are separate and address aspects of human understanding in different ways. Attempts to pit science and religion against each other create controversy where none needs to exist."

However, this position is not representative of science in general, and may have been made by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in an attempt to promote peace with religion, which has disproportionately more influence in the United States. (It also makes one wonder, what exactly are these alternate methods to for knowing and understanding?)

It is actually not true that science is prevented from diminishing supernatural explanations just because it is limited to investigating natural phenomena. The statistical principle of explain away works even when two explanations are conditionally independent. Hence, science is quite able to diminish the plausibility of supernatural phenomena simply by finding plausible natural explanations for things that were previously used to support supernatural explanations. As an obvious example, the more evidence science finds to support the theory of evolution by natural selection, the less need there is to suppose that God must have done it.

It should be acknowledged that science generally focuses on investigating matters of factual knowledge, and tends to avoid taking subjective positions on matters of priorities or decision-making. Hence, one could potentially suggest that the magisterium of science is knowledge and the magisterium of religion is wisdom or values. However, such topics as the existence (or non-existence) of God, the origins of life, and the nature of consciousness are factual matters that fall clearly within the domain of knowledge. Hence, it follows that one should listen to science on these matters. Until religion is content to relinquish its positions on those topics, or science stops investigating the available evidence, conflicting overlaps will continue between science and religion.

Omphalism

Omphalism (a.k.a. Last Thursdayism) is the idea that God created a young Earth to have the appearance of being old. For example, the idea suggests that God may have planted fossils in the ground because such fossils would have existed if the Earth were actually old. The name is titled after the Philip Henry Gosse' work Omphalos.

Fundamentally, omphalism cannot be falsified because an omniscient and omnipotent God would presumably have more than sufficient capability to mislead any attempt, no matter how sophisticated, to penetrate his ruse. Thus, the only way to know the truth would be through faith.

However, omphalism brings up some conflicts with the reported character of God. If God himself really is trying to prevent us from finding the truth, and he is willing to use his omnipotent power to prevail over the perceptions of finite beings, it would be capricious at best for him to expect finite creatures to penetrate his own deception. Worse, it creates a filter that rewards those most gullible toward religious fraud, and unjustly punishes people for genuinely desiring to seek after truth.

People who bring up the ideas of omphalism will typically argue that God has provided another mechanism for us to recognize the truth, such as ancient witnesses, our sense of morality, or that he sent his son to die for us. Unfortunately, each of those arguments have their own reasons for being flimsy.

Ontological argument

The ontological argument is an attempt to define God into existence as follows:

If we were to sort everything in the Universe by greatness, something would be the most great. Whatever is the most great, we shall call "God". Therefore God must exist.

A minor problem with the ontological argument is that greatness is multi-dimensional. For example, feather dusters are better than apples for brushing dust off of furniture, therefore for the purpose of dusting, feather dusters are better than apples. However, apples are more nutritious than feather dusters, so for the purpose of feeding humans, apples are better than feather dusters. Hence, greatness can only be ranked if a specific way to evaluate it is agreed upon.

Now, suppose some specific mechanism for evaluating greatness is selected and agreed upon. For example, perhaps we will decide to evaluate greatness by administering a particular standardized test. Then, will one individuals score be at least as high as all others? Certainly, but that achievement will not implicitly endow the winner with any particularly godly attributes. For example, suppose some human named Bob turns out to be the winner. What is accomplished by calling Bob "God"? All that does is cheapen the definition of "God" to fit whatever happens to rank the highest on the standardized test. Hence, the ontological argument just attempts to define God into existence, rather than show that a godly being actually exists, and the same game can be played with any other concept just as well.

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