Waning Moon Conrad

I think that you can use logic to prove the impossibility of a god who is an entity and has an ego.

God as a panpsychist cosmic process however, may be a bit more difficult to disprove.

To answer the question though, I don't really know! I can see reasons to tell them and good that will come of it but I fear what might happen when all of those people who believe that God will punish them if they're evil start indulging every whim, instinct and appetite because hey, why not? There's no eternity after all!

It's a good question!

[ August 07, 2002: Message edited by: Waning Moon Conrad ]</p>

Prodros

I agree with Conrad on this point; the incompatible-properties argument (which, IIRC, can be found at the library section) works only against a personified god. Nevertheless, I think that this argument works only to an extent. I doubt that any such argument will be completely successful in disproving the existence of god(s), but at least it should demonstrate that the traditional attributes of Judeo-Christian God are incompatible. Depending on which divine attributes you reject, the end result is quite close to a pantheistic deity, but these attributes are still compatible.

But to answer the original question, and assuming that such a proof were available, I would keep the proof to myself, sharing it only with those who are ready to accept it. It seems that there are those who feel comfortable with believing in God, and that the negative consequences of bursting their bubble with such a proof would by far outweigh the positive consequences. I remember a former co-worker of mine (who was an alumnus of Calvin College) telling me that if he ever found out that god didn’t exist, he would no longer feel the need to abide by any morals whatsoever. He would feel the need to plunder, rape, and pillage – as there would be nothing to stop him from doing it. I don’t know how many people of this ilk there are, but the idea of having multitudes of them running around is rather disconcerting to me.

The situation may be different over time - maybe over many generations - but, as was said earlier, the consequences to the current generation would be devastating. So for the time being, I would let those who believe keep on believing.

Prodros...