Debate Topic: Is Atheism True?

by Matt Slick

This debate, from the CARM discussion boards, occurred in July/August of 2002.  The topic of the debate was "Is Atheism True?"  The debate was between myself (Matt Slick) and an atheist whose nickname on the discussion boards was TinyCrabbieThingie.

Post sequence: The atheist made this first post of three.  I responded to each post.  Then TCT (TinyCrabbieThingie) made the next response.  My response to that then followed with TCT's response to mine, etc.

The initial post by TCT was, "The Infamous IPU and Belief as evidence," made on Jul-09-02, 03:16 PM (PST).

The original post by the atheist was in standard paragraph form.  I have numbered the atheist's paragraphs and adopted an outline format to allow ease of response.  The atheist's posts appear in black text.  My responses follow each paragraph and are in green.

TCT's introduction was thus:

"It is often asserted by theists that there is no evidence for atheism. This assertion, of course, is incorrect. There is an abundance of evidence in favor of atheism. In the next few posts I will begin to outline this evidence, attempting to keep to three or four main points, which will each have its own post. This way, commentary can be kept short and responses can more easily be directed to specific points. I would also like to note that when the term "god" is used, it is not specifically referring to the Christian version of "god" (unless otherwise noted)."

  1. First Round
    1. 1st post - belief as evidence, Invisible Pink Unicorns, objective evidence
    2. 2nd post - defining atheism, proving a negative, nunublasts
    3. 3rd post - terminology, lack of belief, nunublasts, presuppositions
    4. 4th post - lack of belief, presuppositions
  2. Second Round
    1. 1st post - comparative religion, atheism is default position, social structures
    2. 2nd post - basic religious analysis, gods, atheism default, cats, belief as evidence
    3. 3rd post - Christian salvation, theistic systems and societies, hard wired to believe
  3. Third Round
    1. 1st post - evidence, intelligent design, ordered universe, theism is learned
    2. 2nd post - intelligent design, Big Bang, types of evidence
    3. 3rd post - complexity, science, hard wired
  4. Summation
    1. 1st post - atheism and theism, examining evidence, open mind

 

 

 

 
 
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