09 Jul '13 22:01>
Originally posted by sonshipYeah but that is an argument in atheism's favour...
I think the genetic fallacy may be worth some attention but not be taken too far.
"Oh you just believe that because you were born here or there ..."
It can apply just as easily to atheism on the level of country, family, school, peers, pop culture, neighborhood etc.
If your belief in a particular deity is (and it is) very strongly influenced by the culture
you grow up in then that strongly indicates a human origin for the belief in those deities.
Because while that observation is explainable in both the scenario where one or some of
those deities exist and the scenario where none of them exist...
It is far more likely to occur where there are no gods and is thus evidence for the non-existence
of gods.
Absence of evidence IS evidence of absence. (evidence but not proof)
The world we observe is far more probable in the scenario where gods don't exist than the one
in which they do. And even within the different scenarios where gods DO exist... This evidence
favours poly, and not mono, theism.
The fact that peoples religious beliefs are heavily influenced by their culture and parents religion
is one of the many observations of this world that are more probable in a world without a god.