Demiurge

This doesn't seem to work both ways. Why does one need faith to not believe in a dubious hypothetical entity for which there is no proof?

Yes, it is true, an ignorant person may equally have faith that atoms do exist or do not exist. Most have faith they do exist, by taking it on the authority of others. But the difference from religious claims is that there is proof for the existence of atoms, it just might be the case that some people aren't intelligent enough or motivated enough to examine the evidence for themselves. But it's not like this with spirits, ghosts or deities. They are not analogous to things like atoms.

In the case of all non-scientific hypotheses (read: untestable), like whether a 'god' exists, it doesn't take faith to lack belief in such a thing. We have no way of verifying this 'god.' It's always hearsay. It's just people taking it on someone else's testimony (scriptural or not) that god exists, did this and that, etc. The fact that some of this testimony appears in an old book doesn't make it any more valid; Testimony that is "old" isn't better because its "old." And that there are facts mixed in with the supernatural elements doesn't add to its credibility, either; archaeologists finding the ruins of Troy, and evidence it was destroyed in a siege, doesn't support the idea that Zeus and Athene are real beings and actually interacted with people.

[ January 11, 2002: Message edited by: Demiurge ]</p>

Theli

Well... most people rather want to believe in fairytales than the cold facts. (UFO's, Atlantis and stuff like that) And I don't blame them.
A reality based on atoms, mathematics, and natural laws is of course much less appealing than angels, gods, demons and such figures.

Denial in the existance of atoms and such sciensies I think seems abit crazy seeing what result it can bring. I mean, how could they get an atombomb to work of there isn't any atoms?
And if all those experiments made by science was false, howcome I'm sitting at a computer now?

So "faith" in science I think is justified, by viewing it's results.

Sorry for my spelling, I'm kind of tired...