Discussion on question by Bryan McClure: How to explain atheism in a world where religious miracles are commonplace and spirits visit earth

StackExchange

00:39

Q: How to explain atheism in a world where religious miracles are commonplace and spirits visit earth

The world is identical to earth except for the above, which only started happening about 40 years ago. In addition to the miracles there are also a group of humans who have started developing telekinesis and mind reading. The miracles and spirits' strength are not limited to one particularly reli...

AndyD273

'We get that in here some nights, when someone’s had a few.Cosmic speculation about whether the gods exist. Next thing, there’s a bolt of lightning through the door with a note wrapped round it saying, “Yes, we do” and a pair of sandals with smoke coming out.'

InstantMuffin

How to explain to some people in real life that the earth is NOT flat? I see a similarity to your issue here.

SpaceLizard

Angle demons? Is it a typo or a lovecraftian thing?

Bryan McClure

@SpaceLizard not just Angels and Demons other spirits too. But those two are the most common.

DaaaahWhoosh

I made some edits that should help clean up the question a bit, feel free to roll them back if you feel I've changed the intention at all.

JohnEye

00:39

Just ask the opposite question: How to explain belief in god in a world where religious miracles are not happening and spirits do not visit earth. And there's your answer :-)

HopelessN00b

How do you explain people in the real world, who reject science? Kansas definitely exists, even if there's no rational explanation for it. People believe what they want to believe. Sometimes this aligns with reality, sometimes it doesn't.

Voo

Why would anyone have a problem believing that atheists would exist on such a world? Hell have you looked how many millions of creationists exist on this lovely planet, despite the fact that creationism is just as easy to disprove as atheism on that world would be? People aren't rational.

Josh

The character of Sanya in the Dresden Files series is a "Knight of the Cross". He serves a Holy purpose and there is solid evidence. Yet he still defines himself as an atheist. dresdenfiles.wikia.com/wiki/Sanya

Rob Watts

Related: what if God was scientifically proven?

Michael Karnerfors

@BryanMcClure To be clear here... please define what you mean with the term "atheist"... what kind of qualities in a person you associate with the term.

Wildcard

00:39

@Voo, actually creationism can't be disproved. Placing the burden of proof on the one making the claim (while perfectly sensible) is not a disproof in any way—fortunately for proponents of string theory, which has exactly the same experimental basis as creationism. Further reading.

March Ho

Relevant: tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FlatEarthAtheist

RedSonja

What is the difference between a god and a spirit? The people can see the spirits but not the gods. it would be quite reasonable to accept the existence of spirits and deny anything else. Actually, if they've already got the spirits, why should they bother to invent gods as well?

Martín-Blas Pérez Pinilla

Maybe relevant: Small Gods byTerry Pratchett.

Davidmh

Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Conversely, miracles can be reasonably considered as indistinguishable from a technology more advanced than ours.

Arturo Torres Sánchez

Sokka is an atheist in the Avatar world.

Bryan McClure

00:39

@ArturoTorresSánchez he doesn't believe in the sprites are he doesn't believe in Raava. Or is it the spirit world it's self that he doubts?

Arturo Torres Sánchez

He knows the spirit world exists because he's been there. But most of the time he will look for a more mundane explanation before admitting it was the spirits. Sometimes he's right, but sometimes not.

Amadeus9

@Martín-BlasPérezPinilla wasn't there a character in that who was an atheist out of spite, or something like that? Like, acknowledged that, "yes, gods exist, they're all over the soddin' place, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna give them the satisfaction of believin' in em!" type thing?

5 hours later…