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                "title": "Refutations of the Arguments for the Belief in God",
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                        "*": "[[File:Pirsig.png|center]]\n\n[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apologetics Apologetics] is the branch of theology devoted to rationalizing religious belief. This is intrinsically difficult, since religious belief is based on faith, which exists independently (and in spite) of evidence. As such, apologists tend to rely on philosophical, metaphysical, and historical arguments. The scholarship of these claims is dubious at best:  anecdotes -- even those of anonymous persons -- are uncritically accepted as data; and historical events and scientific theories are intentionally misrepresented to their advantage. \n\nBe aware that Christians are notorious for using intentionally undefined terms, so they can [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_the_goalposts move the goalposts] to suit their needs. Getting clergymen to clearly define their terms is necessary for a proper discussion -- and it automatically grants you a quantum of victory, since defining things limits them.  \n\n'''Again, do not argue with the clergyman. Our strategy is based on  malicious cooperation, not confrontation.''' Victory will be determined by the length and fruitlessness of your conversations. Arguing will reveal yourself as a troublemaker, and you will be denied any further opportunity to consume their time, ending your journey. Besides, you can\u2019t directly deconvert a priest; they\u2019re [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost pot-committed]. '''Deconversion and [[The_Church%27s_Weaknesses#Burnout|burnout]] are processes of erosion.''' However, discussing these issues in front of others can aid in their deconversion processes.\n\nRefutations of the 10 most common arguments for believing in God are provided below. This is ''not'' an complete list, but it should be sufficient; most seminarians are not required to study apologetics, and those who do often take a single 3-credit course. There arguments are:\n\n*[[Cosmological Argument|Cosmological (First Mover) Argument]].\n*[[Teleological Argument]] (Argument from Design, or \"Intelligent Design\").\n*[[Pascal%27s_Wager|Pascal\u2019s Wager]].\n*[[Ontological Argument]].\n*[[Argument from Common Consent|Argument from common consent]] (i.e., the bandwagon argument).\n*[[There_is_no_Afterlife|The existence of souls and the \u201cspark of life\u201d]].\n*[[Argument from the Idea of God|Argument from the idea of God]].\n*[[Argument_from_Miracles|Argument from miracles]].\n*[[Argument_from_Beauty|Argument from beauty]].\n*Belief in God somehow [[Preventing_Totalitarianism|prevents totalitarianism]].\n----\n\n{{Template:Navigation}}"
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            "123": {
                "pageid": 123,
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                "title": "Religious Pluralism",
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                        "*": "[[File:Leo.png|center]]\n\n'''There are 41,000 denominations of Christianity.''' How can you tell which is the right one? Which ones are false, made up, or cults? The [https://youtu.be/7_RhQR3aQ_0?t=19 same could be said of all religions]. Hinduism has so many gods, that they\u2019ve completely lost count; estimates range from 10,000-30,000,000. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animism animists] go even further, and have innumerable [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami ''kami''].<ref name=\"Harrison\"> G. P. Harrison, ''50 Simple Questions for Every Christian'' (Prometheus Books, 2013).</ref> The \u201cspiritual but not religious\u201d factor in here somewhere, but no one is quite sure what that term entails. '''The only common thread between faiths and sects is that their leaders all have no real advantage, inside track, superior abilities, or sublime knowledge. The clergy is only successful if their parishioners want them to be; they only succeed because people are willing to follow them and grant them titles.'''<ref name=\"Barker\"> D. Barker, ''Losing Faith in Faith:  From Preacher to Atheist'' (Freedom from Religion Foundation, 1992).</ref> This is even more pronounced in our post-Christian era, where Christianity no longer plays a significant role in shaping our culture.<ref name=\"Carlin\">D. Carlin, ''The Decline and Fall of the Catholic Church in America'' (Sophia Institute Press, 2003).</ref>\n\n'''Everyone\u2019s a skeptic about other religions, but discussing their own religion is always an extremely touchy topic.''' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell Bertrand Russell] speculated that this is because people subconsciously sense that their beliefs are irrational.<ref name=\"Kick3\"> J. A. Haught, in ''Everything You Know About God is Wrong:  The Disinformation Guide to Religion'' edited by R. Kick (Disinformation Books, 2007)</ref> This is why the majority of religions -- and especially the sects and [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYYdQB0mkEU subdivisions] of these religions -- have a mutual incorrigible intolerance towards one another. The greatest religious divides in the United States are not atheist vs. Christian, or Catholic vs. Protestant -- it\u2019s liberal Protestant vs. conservative Protestant.<ref name=\"Carlin\"></ref> Even the most accepting and inclusive churches play this same superiority game, each trying to one-up their competitors by bragging about being the least exclusive.\n\nIn a vicious [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic) Catch-22], advocates of denominational consensus between the myriad of sects and faiths erode dogmatism, and become the unwitting engineers of their faith\u2019s destruction. The traits which define each sect and faith are often the root of the mutual incompatibility, and are tossed aside in favor of [[The_Church%27s_Weaknesses#Spiritual_Dilution|a generalized religion]]. This erodes parishioner loyalty, since no religion any different that any another.<ref name=\"Carlin\"></ref>\n\nPluralism is problematic for religions, for a number of reasons: \n*'''Faith is not exclusive to any one religion.''' As such, faith cannot validate religious claims, because faith can also validate the claims of ''any'' other religion.<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n**If anything, '''faith is a display of agnosticism'', since faith is only cited in the absence of knowledge. When someone says, \u201cI believe the meeting is at 2:30,\u201d they are expressing ''doubt''. '''Tacking \u201cI believe\u201d onto a statement makes it weaker, not stronger.'''<ref name=\"Barker2\"> D. Barker, ''Godless:  How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists'' (Ulysses Press, 2008).</ref>\n**'''Actual existence is independent of faith.''' Believing in something, including God, will not make it real. Believing in Zeus will not spontaneously bring him into being.<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n**'''\u201cWe only speak of faith when we wish to substitute emotion for evidence.\u201d''' -- [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertrand_Russell Bertrand Russell]<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n*While atheists have never disproved the existence of the Christian God, they also cannot prove that ''any and all'' non-Christian gods do not also exist. Interestingly, this is a huge problem for Christians, since '''Gods don\u2019t expire'''. While these gods may have lost their followers after losing a war, or a socio-economic decline that allowed other cultures to absorb and dominate them, neither of these misfortunes prove that their gods were false. '''What if the other cultures were right?'''<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n*There\u2019s no way to disprove the existence of any god because '''there is no reasonable or consistent definition as to what a god even is.''' [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great Alexander the Great], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Caesar Julius Caesar], and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramesses_II Ramesses II (Ozymandias)] all claimed to be gods, and there\u2019s no way to prove or disprove their claims of divinity.<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n**'''The Trinity allows Christians to be polytheistic without having to resort to polytheism.''' God was in Heaven while Jesus died on the cross, and Jesus did not take responsibility for the flood.<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n**Is Satan a lesser god who rules over Hell?<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n**Are angels and demons lesser gods?<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n**Are the leaders of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_religion political religions] and or [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0 cults of personality] (e.g., Stalin, Mao, the Kim dynasty) the gods of their religion?<ref name=\"Harris\"> S. Harris, ''The End of Faith:  Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason'' (W. W. Norton, 2005).</ref> If so, does this prove the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_right_of_kings Divine Right of Kings]?\n*'''Every religion that has ever existed has made the similar claims''':  \u201cOur gods will protect and heal you. Pray to our gods and they will help.\u201d  These other gods can also intervene and perform miracles.<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n**Every religion hides their shortcomings by shrouding them in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Roman_mysteries mystery], usually by claiming their errors are convoluted and complex allegories. For example:<ref name=\"Hume\"> D. Hume, ''Dialogues and Natural History of Religion'' (Oxford University Press, 2009).</ref>\n***Why were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phobos_(mythology) Fear] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deimos_(deity) Terror] are sons of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(mythology) Mars], but why were they the sons of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_(mythology) Venus]? \n***Why was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmonia_(mythology) Harmony] is Venus' daughter, but why was she the daughter of Mars? \n***Why was [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypnos Sleep], the brother of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanatos Death], enamored with one of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasithea the Graces]?\n**The \u201crevealed\u201d religions, of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, only \u201creveal\u201d that morality is solely contingent completely obeying their particular set of scriptures.<ref name=\"Barker\"></ref>\n*Every religion posits a creation myth, typically based on invoking God\u2019s name and a few simple ingredients (e.g., dirt, mud, bone, blood, spit, semen, etc.) The mechanism by which these acts result in creation is never explained. '''The religion with a scientifically-valid creation myth is the most likely to be the true religion,''' but [[Creationism_is_False|Creationism has been proven false]], and all other creation myths have been similarly refuted.<ref name=\"Harrison\"></ref>\n*Religions, especially Christianity, have mixed and merged with [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIm8qNirTOk pagan] influences to such a degree that it is unclear where one ends and the other begins. By their own admission, 95% of modern witches are former Catholics, because they were culturally predisposed to the ritual use of drama, candles, and incense. Christianity and historic witchcraft practices both incorporate the following:<ref name=\"Schnoebelen\"> W. Schnoebelen, ''Wicca: Satan's Little White Lie'' (Chick Publications, 2011).</ref>\n*#Teaching \u201csalvation\u201d through ritual acts and good works.\n*#A pantheon which prominently feature a god and goddess (i.e., Mary).\n*#A slain and risen god as the subject of a seasonal cycle of ritual dramas.\n*#Theologies centered on a basis of magic and thaumaturgy (e.g., transubstantiation).\n*#Extensive use of incense, statues, candles, and ceremonial robes in their devotions.\n*#Belief in post-mortem \"second-chances\" (i.e., purgatory).\n*#Belief that the dead are affected by rituals performed by the living (i.e., [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intercession intercession]).\n*#Believe in ritual purification via pain and mortification (e.g., self-[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellation flagellation], barbed-wire corsets, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cilice hairshirts] were all regular parts of pre-[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council Vatican II] monastic life).\n\n==Aaron's Rod==\nIn EXO 7, God sent Moses and Aaron to speak with the Pharaoh, with instructions that Aaron is to \u201ccast down his rod\u201d when the Pharaoh demands to see a miracle. When this occurred, God transformed the rod into a serpent, and the Pharaoh's sorcerers countered by performing the same trick. However, these rod-serpents were devoured by Aaron's rod-serpent, thereby demonstrating God\u2019s superiority. \n\nHowever, '''the fact the Pharaoh's sorcerers were able to transform ''anything'' is biblical proof that the Egyptian gods ''are real'', and that they can ''perform miracles on command''.''' Strangely, the author of this website has yet to meet a single Christian who has ''any'' problem with this.\n\n==References==\n<references/>\n----\n\n{{Template:Navigation}}"
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