Reply #32: "Establish a strong probability" of deity's existence? [View All]

[onager]

Really? So what's the mathematical probability of a deity existing?

You seem to be confusing probability with possibility. Just like "many people" who go to Las Vegas or play the lottery every week.

There's a possibility you will win the Powerball lottery this week. But the probability of you winning that lottery is roughly 1 in 180 million.

IOW, probablilities can be calculated. Possibilities are mostly just wishful thinking.

And yes, this is a cheap shot, but I'm a cheap kind of guy - if "many people's" belief in something could establish its existence, then Santa Claus must definitely walk among us. Unfortunately (for the believers), reality doesn't work that way. If millions of people believe a dumb idea, it's still a dumb idea.

...such methods as ontological and teleological inquiry...

Both of which only seem to work if the inquirer is already predisposed to believe. From St. Anselm right down to horrible hacks like C.S. Lewis and Josh MacDowell, those methods of inquiry have produced mainly reams of vague, windy mental flatulence. A load of what-ifs and maybes and possibilities that are never applied in any other area of intellectual inquiry, because they all come down to special pleading.

Strictly IMO, of course.