Atheism; The Default Position!

[Spenser]

You are playing poker. It's just me and you. There is a hundred bucks in the pot and you lie down two pair, Aces and Eights. I tell you I have three sixes. I've never looked at my cards.

[Spenser]

Atheism being defined as lack of belief in god or gods. Yes atheism is the default position.

Though the poll demonstrates actually that the atheistic stance is incorrect, it still shows that it should be considered the default position until the cards (evidence) are shown. It also suggests how the theist's (me in this example) assertion of his winning hand is wrong though he still has a winning hand; a little twist I thought some of you should think about. And I get the money in all three scenarios, sweet ass!!!

There is only one way to play cards, show your hand.

[Barcode]

I'm pretty much convinced atheism is the default position. In my experience, *every* religious person I've known has had things like Bible *stories* and religious rituals taught to them from an early age and honestly don't know any better.

I've also encountered one or two who had a wishy washy belief to begin with, and then became all gung ho in response to a traumatic life event.

In other words, I've yet to encounter any reasonable, sane, non dysfunctional, atheists/agnostics discovering religion and coming to believe in it fully because it makes sense to them.

I'm sure they must exist .... just in comparison to those who have been indoctrinated since birth, the percentages are very, very low.

It impairs their ability to be objective about a belief and becomes difficult for the believer to reason their way back to reality.

Without being *told* about things, it's highly unlikely anybody would believe in the Christian/Muslim/Hindu God(s) etc. I can accept a lot of people feel things that they may *think* are other wordly ... but the idea of an omnipotent omniscient God ... who made that up, other than humans?

[Ojuice5001]

Well, I was the first to vote that I would fold, which is the "agnosticism is default" answer. And I'd have to say that is the default position. If you claim to have three sixes, that claim deserves to be considered, and, if we can't come to a conclusion, we should suspend belief.

Nor do I think that belief in gods is completely different from this case. The biggest difference is that we know of only one (reliable) way to see what cards someone is holding: looking to see. The question of how and whether we can investigate the existence of god(s), on the other hand, is and deserves to be a hotly debated question in philosophy of religion.

[the_cave]

Originally posted by Barcode
Without being *told* about things, it's highly unlikely anybody would believe in the Christian/Muslim/Hindu God(s) etc. I can accept a lot of people feel things that they may *think* are other wordly ... but the idea of an omnipotent omniscient God ... who made that up, other than humans?

But this begs the question, and ironically would seem to demonstrate the opposite--for if no one would believe in gods unless they were told to, how could religion ever get started? Unless, of course, a god told them to believe...

Which is why I still maintain that there is no default position...

[xorbie]

There should be an option "worst poll ever."

[Ojuice5001]

Yeah, I actually hadn't noticed as of my first post how loaded the options were. Spenser's theist and agnostic do nothing to determine whether they're actually right, while his atheist is the only one who thinks of the option of looking at the cards.

We all know that the only way to know what the cards are is by looking, and we're told that Spenser hasn't looked at his cards. So right away, this makes his theist more irrational than most theists; few if any theists would admit that there's an easy way to verify theism, but no one has ever bothered to implement it. His agnostic also behaves the same way as he would if he believed Spenser's claim to have three sixes. But it's equally consistent with agnosticism to act on the assumption that Spenser does not have three sixes. Which most probably would; I would certainly be suspicious, though agnostic, in this situation.

[Spenser]

The point is you cannot win a hand of poker without showing your cards. If some one claims ignorance in poker, they cannot win. The 'theist' in this example hasn't look at his cards because the evidence of God is just as hidden from the theist as it is from the atheist. If this were not the case the theist would have no problem showing us atheists their cards but they can't. I dare any of you theists to do such a thing! Until you show your cards, I win (even if your cards could beat mine). A simple demonstration of how atheism IS the default position.

For those of you that voted otherwise, anytime you are in Southern California and want to play cards, look me up. Seriously...