(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . On proving a negative... [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-20 A diary that's part of the current conversation that was kicked off by claims of "faith shaming" recently stated the following, “No human can positively confirm the existence or nonexistence of any deity.” Except...despite what people love to say on the Internet, you can prove a negative. It’s pretty trivial in many instances. It’s basic logic, as taught to college freshmen in Critical Thinking / Philosophy 101 a half century ago. It’s also the basis for God of the Gaps fallacy, and it goes something like this: 1. Take a thing — an argument, a deity, an idea or even a possible, real object. 2. Find something else that is mutually exclusive. 3. Prove that second thing true (eg, logically valid & true, the actual cause of something, or having actual existence). In the case of any specific deity, gather up the body of events said to have been caused by that deity. Those comprise the real proof of that deity’s existence; anything else is human imagination and opinion (review the basics of fact vs opinion; faith is very much an opinion, by definition). Now see if alternate causes of those events are more likely or even definitive. If they are, there is proof that the deity in question does not exist, and only personal opinion that says it does exist. And just because a large number of people hold the same opinion and believe it in deeply — maybe even form a subculture around it, and thus, their own personal identity and their sense of belonging and safety in a scary world — that does not make it real or true to anyone outside that community! Should outsiders respect the beliefs of such a community? Sure, as much as we should respect the beliefs and other opinions of any group or individual at any given moment. And it’s kind to grant more weight to a belief someone has held for a long time, since it has obviously become a part of who they see themselves as. That is to say...so long as they don’t impose it on anyone else. But as soon as they do — as soon as they start forcing others to act as though those beliefs are real (ie “forcing it down their throats” as some of them love to say in a wonderful example of projection), they are crossing moral and ethical lines. I’m not an agnostic. Nor do I consider myself in league with Atheists, as they seem to be currently led by mostly white, male, cishet, sexist, ableist and racist libertarians (or similar political labels). I do believe in a certain spirituality, that all life on Earth is connected and can even be seen as a single meta-organism. And as a certain flavor of autistic, I have a penchant for personifying non-living objects. But I stay very much in my lane. I don’t force or insist that others follow my worldview. I do however push back when they try to force me to conform to theirs, especially when they are only opinions, and greatly impose on my or my loved ones abilities to live our lives as equal members of society or otherwise cause us harm. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/20/2154020/-On-proving-a-negative Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/