Hawking says there are no gods

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No, I don't know very much about things that don't exist. And an awful lot of new things are discovered every day, but they usually do exist even though we didn't know about them. Planets orbiting other stars than our own, for instance. I have no idea what you mean when you claim that I "accept, scientifically, at face value some things some people have claimed." Which things? Why do you think that I accept them at face value, scientifically? And what does have to do with your claim that (I claim that?) I "already know all the possible characteristics and nature of these things that don't exist, and therefore (I) can prove they don't exist"?

My point is that several people here are claiming they have scientific proof of the nonexistence of gods because some of the things people have claimed about gods in the past are not proven true. That would only follow if the specific claims were required to be true in order for there to be gods at all. The Mt Olympus example, for instance-- not finding Zeus's house on Mt Olympus might prove there's not a house on Mt Olympus, it doesn't prove there is no Zeus.


That would be a contradictio in adjecto since the idea would have to be in my brain for me to mention it.

Ideas only exist in the mind, is my point. So attempting to use that to claim disproof of one set of ideas is insufficient.
 
I believe that some centuries with the most prominent intellectuals of the world searching for a proof of something without success means something.

Appeal to authority and appeal to consensus works both ways: for millennia the most prominent intellectuals of the world agreed there was at least one god. The number of people believing in a thing, the number of people performing an experiment, the credentials of those people...none of those affect whether a thing exists or it doesn't. It might affect whether you believe it exists or not, but again, belief doesn't make a thing exist or not.

For the trillionth time, I'm not saying there is any reason to believe in gods. Do I need to bold that next time I'm forced to repeat it? I'm saying that not finding evidence of something is precisely and only that, it's not the same thing as saying you have proof that thing does not exist anywhere, in any form, previously conceptualized or not. "We have no reason to believe X" is completely and utterly sufficient in itself. You do not need to go beyond that and declare "therefore Not-X is proven!"
 
Not Babylon, Assyrian lens'. All shapes and sizes that have been found. At first they thought they were decorative but now they think they used them in telescopes considering the evidence in texts that they knew about planets that can't be seen without visual aids. If they used the lens' in telescopes it doesn't seem like it would be a far stretch for them to develop lens for microscopic work. ....

Not really

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimrud_lens

First of all the lens was only 3x mag. As an amateur astronomer, my telescope at 35x mag is just barely enough to make out rings of saturn.

As for a hydra, its not that they are 'indestructable', its that they don't appear to age or die of old age. Big difference.

Could a 3x lens help see one? Sure.
Does that mean they "had some working knowledge of how they functioned"? Maybe. Got any evidence they did?

Your post reminds me of any episode of ancient aliens.
1. Exaggerate the story of what actually IS found.

2. Jump to far reaching conclusions using (literally) language like "it's not a stretch to imagine..."

3. Omit the mention of more rational conclusions that have been drawn.

So lets pick apart what you said:

All shapes and sizes that have been found.
I can only find reference to one.

At first they thought they were decorative but now they think they used them in telescopes
Who is the "they"? You speak as if it is a universal conclusion. Far from it. The only folks who really seem to think so are mostly the ancient aliens crowd


considering the evidence in texts that they knew about planets that can't be seen without visual aids.
If you are talking about rings around sature being described as serpents, see much more reasonable likely explanations.
As for planets that cant be seen without visual aids, pretty sure neptune and uranus are the only ones. Have you evidence they know about others?

If they used the lens' in telescopes it doesn't seem like it would be a far stretch for them to develop lens for microscopic work.
See my line about ancient aliens. Have you evidence, or just "you have to ask yourself..."
 
I believe that some centuries with the most prominent intellectuals of the world searching for a proof of something without success means something.

To suppose that everyone has made a mistake is more absurd than to suppose that someone will find David the Gnome under a pine tree some day. Why not? Well, that is why.

Well, you are not a skeptic, because you haven't checked for unknown as per das Ding an sich. And further you engage in magical thinking, because if you think that you have no reason as thinking there are no gods, will not decide if there are gods or not. That you don't believe in gods, doesn't cause there to be no god(s) of the cosmological creator kind.
Start by checking if you can known what objective reality really is other than being independent of you. You can't, because you have to trust the natural universe to be as it appears to you subjectively and not something else regardless of being a god or you being a Boltzmann Brain or a brain in a vat or what ever.

You don't control the universe, the universe controls you not matter what objective reality really is in itself, other than being the cause of you.
Be a skeptic and admit that there is limit to epistemology and that you need a core supposition, namely that the universe is fair!!!
All the reasoning you do take place inside a cognitive bubble (your "mind") and that is all you have. Indeed the "I" is sort of an illusion, which appears to work, but only if you believe in it.

"I am I" or "I exist" is a form of tautology, because it doesn't say how "I" exist; i.e. for a whole life or the brief moment of being a pure Boltzmann Brain. All Knowledge is a tautology for "now" and says nothing about the past or future or the rest of the universe. That is how solipsism fails in practice. I.e. the "I" is an tautology, because I have memories and experiences, is not something I have. It happens to "me" in a similar sense as your point of intentionality . The "I" of solipsism is to simple, the moment you check for happens, control and whether I have experiences or not. I don't have a life, a life happens to "I".
 
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Ontological solipsism versus strong epistemological skepticism are not the same.
That I don't know what reality really is, doesn't mean that I am a solipsist in the ontological sense. It means that I am a skeptic in the epistemological sense. I believe that the universe is at it appears to me and that you, I and everything else exist. I just don't Know.

So I loose, since I am not a solipsist in the ontological sense and you loose because you don't understand the difference.
 
Man, this is too bloody long!


From earlier:


To the moderators and admins. Just ban me, because I dare claim that among us are delusional people. I am tired of this 3rd person work around. E.g. religious people are delusional(happened up thread), but that says nothing about any posters here, because no poster here is religious.

So is the following a fact as of now and the future? (*what if yet doesn't come and that yet is philosophy, more later)
There is at least one aspect of the universe which science can't answer with evidence/proof/as a fact! Notice you have yourself admitted it in the second quote, so you can of course contradict yourself and claim that science can answer everything. Just as I accept that there are other humans who contradict themselves, I accept that you can do that. I will just point this out:
Google: delusion: an idiosyncratic belief or impression maintained despite being contradicted by reality or rational argument, typically as a symptom of mental disorder.
Now I am delusional myself, since I have a psychiatric disorder, which makes me in limited sense delusional. So because I accept that I am delusional, I also accept that in other humans.

*So back to (yet). Yet is about the future for which we hit the limit of induction. Just because science has advanced in the amount of knowledge, doesn't mean that there will come a time, where science can explain everything. To claim that there WILL come such a time is irrational and thus delusional. To claim that there never WILL come such a time is also irrational and thus delusional. The answer is that it is unknown for the present. This is one of the points of being a skeptic, to accept that there can be something unknown at the present.
So here it is as for what is at play: Either you accept that there can be something unknown even if we apply science or you contradict yourself and thus you are delusional.
Now comes the second part:

We have one case of the unknown when it comes to cosmology. So now we check if there are at least one more case?!!
And it turns out there is: A Boltzmann Brain.
The joke is that scientists can't agree on the probability of you being a Boltzmann Brain. It means 2 things:
- They can't yet observe whether anybody is a Boltzmann Brain or not, so that is an unknown.
- The actual probability can't be known through reasoning alone.

So here is what that means for cosmology and theoretical physics and science in general:
It can't be known what the universe really is, unless you are the creator of the universe.
So let us look closer at what is at play. You don't control the universe, the universe controls you. You are caused by the universe and you only know first person through your mind and you don't control what you experience in your mind, because that is caused by the universe.That means that you can't know whether you are in a universe, which is independently (objective) of your mind as you experience in your mind or whether the universe is otherwise objective.
That is not unique to being a Boltzmann Brain or not. It is a fundamental condition as long as you are not the creator of the universe and applies to all humans, not just you.

As for gods, gods inside the universe are not the same as cosmological gods, because being inside the universe and not inside are not the same. To claim that is the same is a contradiction and delusional.
So here is what is at play:
You, I and anybody else can't know through observation what reality really is and nobody can control it through reason/logic. It marks the limit of both empirical and rational evidence.
It is not that the god(s) hide(s). It is that you, I and everybody else don't control the universe, the universe controls us. We are all in the same boat. We have no evidence for what reality really is and we can't control it through reason/logic.
We all when we reflect on this realize that we are in the same boat. Only those, who haven't reflected, claim a knowledge, if they do so, that they don't have. And that is not limited to religious people.
The joke is that atheism or theism don't matter. What matters** in whether you are a gnostic or agnostic when it comes to what the universe really is.
That is the end game of science and philosophy combined as far as knowledge goes.

**So if facts matter, then it matters if it is fact, that there is a limit to epistemology. That is what makes me a skeptic in part. And it doesn't matter that you are not a skeptic as it stands or if you are in fact delusional; what matters is this: The inherent worth and dignity of every person.That includes you, I and everybody else. Regardless of whether that human is delusional or not. And that is an act of belief. You either believe in it or you don't.
I believe. And that has nothing to do with being religious or not. It has to do with the fact that I get this:
"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? Arthur Conan Doyle"
It is impossible for you to be the creator of the universe, thus it is the truth that you don't really know what the objective universe is.Notice - just claim that you are God, or you know God and you are off the hook. :D

So if you want it with science, philosophy and belief, here it is:
Always include Lawrence Kohlberg, John Rawls and the belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person.
There is more in practice, but you need those 3 aspects, unless you go for - I only do it, if there is something in it for me, no matter how it affects other humans. That one is also possible.

Regards

PS I am at least sometimes rational enough to admit, that there are times, when I am not. That can't be said of all members of this forum and if we want to advance knowledge they have to learn that!!!


There is at least one aspect of the universe which science can't answer with evidence/proof/as a fact! Notice you have yourself admitted it in the second quote, so you can of course contradict yourself and claim that science can answer everything.
I have admitted no such thing. In principle, you're saying that you can imagine that there are things that we can't know, but it's not true.

Just because science has advanced in the amount of knowledge, doesn't mean that there will come a time, where science can explain everything.
No, it doesn't. How could it?

To claim that there WILL come such a time is irrational and thus delusional. To claim that there never WILL come such a time is also irrational and thus delusional
Well, I think it's bloody unlikely that there will ever come a time when everything is known, and I'm 100% sure that it won't come in my lifetime so I don't find the idea very interesting.

The answer is that it is unknown for the present. This is one of the points of being a skeptic, to accept that there can be something unknown at the present.
A lot of stuff is unknown, yes. There's nothing particularly skeptic about that. Almost everybody would agree, I think.

Either you accept that there can be something unknown even if we apply science
Of course, I 'accept' that there not only can be, but also actually is stuff that's unknown.

We have one case of the unknown when it comes to cosmology.
I think that we have a lot more than one, but the thing about the unknown is that, very often, we don't know that the thing is unknown until it is known.

It can't be known what the universe really is
That is what you claim, yes, but I don't think that you are right.

You don't control the universe, the universe controls you.
Well, I control certain, minuscule parts of it, considering how big the universe is, but on the whole, you're right.

You are caused by the universe
At first, yes.

and you only know first person through your mind
Yes, and I'm quite comfortable with that, and I've noticed that along with the rest of humanity I can employ all kinds of apparatus to get to know the universe, also beyond the senses that I was equipped with by the branch of the universe called evolution.

and you don't control what you experience in your mind, because that is caused by the universe.
You are totally wrong. That my mind to some extent was 'caused' by the universe doesn't imply that I don't control my mind and what I experience to a very large extent.

as long as you are not the creator of the universe
You seem to be in awe of the (imaginary) creator of the universe. I don't really see why you think that this imaginary creator would be in omnipotent, but, hey, that's how you imagine him/her/it! (And since it's your own creation, you shouldn't find it so awesome! It's something that your control!)

You, I and anybody else can't know through observation what reality really is and nobody can control it through reason/logic.
Yes, we can. And yes, we can. We know an awful lot about reality, really, and we control many things, too. We don't control earthquakes, for instance, but we've become quite good at avoiding other calamities caused by nature: lightning rods, irrigation and dams. It took quite a lot of reason and logic and knowledge of the universe and its ways to come up with those.

We have no evidence for what reality really is and we can't control it through reason/logic.
Yes, we do! There are many parts of reality where we have plenty of evidence for what it is. And reason, logic and observation are used to obtain that evidence.

we are in the same boat.
You are quite fond of that phrase, but no, we are not in the same boat. This is the boat Trump is in, for instance. If I had one, it wouldn't be made of gold. (I know that both Trump and I are gonna die sooner or later, but that's uninteresting in the context.)

what matters is this: The inherent worth and dignity of every person.
Suddenly you go all Vonnegutian on us and jump from all the stuff (everything, actually) that we (allegedly) can't know to the presentation of "what matters"!* So apparently there are things that you can know, or maybe you just no longer care that you (allegedly) can't know them and skip ahead to decreeing what matters.

And that is an act of belief. You either believe in it or you don't.
That goes for all beliefs, doesn't it?! You either believe or you don't. You took a very long and laborious detour to get to this point.

It is impossible for you to be the creator of the universe, thus it is the truth that you don't really know what the objective universe is.
Again: This is based on your idea that the imaginary creator of the universe is omniscient. And again: OK, this creator is your creation! You either believe it or you don't, and I don't. And first of all, I don't believe that you get from me not being the creator of the universe to my alleged inability to know what the objective universe is. Your conclusion isn't logical. It's a non sequitur.

I am at least sometimes rational enough to admit, that there are times, when I am not. That can't be said of all members of this forum
I haven't seen any members of this forum claim that they were rational 24/7, but I think that a lot of them are striving to be as rational as they can most of the time.

if we want to advance knowledge they have to learn that!!!
No, your premise is false.

- - - - -

* It is a contradictio in adjecto to claim that you know that we can't know objective reality!
Think about it! If you try to prove it and present your proof to us, you are claiming that you know something. And if you don't know it objectively, what's the point?!
You could have spared us the whole argument and jumped directly to your belief, which you either believe or you don't.
 
My point is that several people here are claiming they have scientific proof of the nonexistence of gods because some of the things people have claimed about gods in the past are not proven true. That would only follow if the specific claims were required to be true in order for there to be gods at all. The Mt Olympus example, for instance-- not finding Zeus's house on Mt Olympus might prove there's not a house on Mt Olympus, it doesn't prove there is no Zeus.


Ideas only exist in the mind, is my point. So attempting to use that to claim disproof of one set of ideas is insufficient.


Again: Claiming that there are no gods is wrong. Analyzing what the gods actually are, however, makes sense, and it eliminates the need for the pointless discussion.
 
Again: Claiming that there are no gods is wrong. Analyzing what the gods actually are, however, makes sense, and it eliminates the need for the pointless discussion.

If there are no gods then they can't have particular characteristics to analyze! The time to assess what they're like is after you find one, not before. You're sitting in the lodge making up what a snark should be, then going out to hunt for it using the description you just invented. Of course you're not going to find it, how on earth could you?
 
...
You are totally wrong. That my mind to some extent was 'caused' by the universe doesn't imply that I don't control my mind and what I experience to a very large extent.
...
* It is a contradictio in adjecto to claim that you know that we can't know objective reality!
Think about it! If you try to prove it and present your proof to us, you are claiming that you know something. And if you don't know it objectively, what's the point?!
You could have spared us the whole argument and jumped directly to your belief, which you either believe or you don't.

See that is the meat of it:
I don't know!!! I believe.
Let me show you!!!
I believe you exist along with the rest of the universe! The belief is not the cause of the universe, it is caused by the universe. The knowledge, as you believe in it, hits Agrippa's Trilemma. It is illogical. It hits a dogmatic absolute, more later.

You think that an argument can cause the universe to be as you believe it is. That is magical thinking. Logic is a process in your brain. It only tells you as a tautology that X can't be at the same time, space and sense X and non-X. It say not about the rest of the universe as per causation. It doesn't tell you if you are a Boltzmann Brain of not. It only tells X or non-X.
But because we are talking about everything and not something logic doesn't apply in that sense:

So here it is for the combination of logic, knowledge, belief and causation:
You are caused by something else or you are caused by yourself. You choose something else, right, since you are not a solipsistic.
So now you believe that the universe has caused you!
But you can't get outside your consciousness, because you only experience through your consciousness. So you can't control it yourself, because you can't be caused be something else and not be caused it. You don't ex nihilo gain self-control out of nothing, if you are caused by something else.
Understand this: Before you there was causation in the universe, now you are caused by the universe and suddenly that causation from the universe is stopped and you are the source yourself.
That can't be, because then you have stopped the causation from the universe and thus you are independent of the universe, because you are now your own source of causation.
If time has a direction and thus causation has a direction, you have stopped that. You are claiming an ontological dualism for causation, it exists outside in the universe apart from you, but that doesn't affect you, because you are your own source of causation. So in effect you are not a part of the universe.

Now back to that I claim knowledge. I don't claim knowledge like you. I work in assumptions.
That I assume that the universe is fair, will not cause the universe to be fair.
You don't understand that your experience of the universe is the same right now whether you are in a fair universe or not.
The problem is that you don't understand the limit of thinking. You "Know" that you are in a fair universe. You don't - you think it and that won't cause you to be in a fair universe or not.

Regardless of whether you think that I believe in knowledge like you won't cause me to actually believe like you.
The root of your claim of contradictio in adjecto rests on the assumption of a knowledge you don't have. Nobody has ever overcome Agrippa's Trilemma and thus I don't claim knowledge like you.
If working under the assumption that my knowledge is caused by the universe, then whether I am a Boltzmann Brain or not the causation is the same.

I work on an assumption that I am not the cause of everything and you work on a dogmatic absolute, which is also a contradiction: You are caused by something else and yet you are not, because you are caused by yourself; that is the dogmatic absolute. Expressed through time - the past caused you, but right now the past hasn't caused you, because you are your own cause. That is a contradiction if you believe like me in an universe, which have caused us.
So you are your own creator of your own causation. See, I can play creator too.

Dann, I am an atheist and I believe in a natural universe. But I don't believe in an "I" as you do and I don't believe in knowledge like you do.
 
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If there are no gods then they can't have particular characteristics to analyze! The time to assess what they're like is after you find one, not before. You're sitting in the lodge making up what a snark should be, then going out to hunt for it using the description you just invented. Of course you're not going to find it, how on earth could you?


Gods, however, do have particular characteristics to analyze the same way Harry Potter has!
Do you claim that Harry doesn't differ from Ron? That the Christian God isn't different from Zeus? (I know that they both have a temper, but still ...) Are you saying that Elegguá's character traits are exactly the same as those of Loki or Papa Legba? Or that you can't tell them apart?

I don't have to go searching for Harry in the real world when I know where to find him: in J.K. Rowlings books!
And I don't have to go searching for the God of the Christians when I know that their Bible is where he is!

Trying to find them anywhere else, in the real world, is absurd!
Remember what we always tell children: Don't be afraid. It's just a story.
 
See that is the meat of it:
I don't know!!! I believe.
Let me show you!!!
I believe you exist along with the rest of the universe! The belief is not the cause of the universe, it is caused by the universe. The knowledge, as you believe in it, hits Agrippa's Trilemma. It is illogical. It hits a dogmatic absolute, more later.


Your belief isn't caused by the universe.

You think that an argument can cause the universe to be as you believe it is. That is magical thinking. Logic is a process in your brain. It only tells you as a tautology that X can't be at the same time, space and sense X and non-X. It say not about the rest of the universe as per causation. It doesn't tell you if you are a Boltzmann Brain of not. It only tells X or non-X.


Yes, that would be magical thinking, but no, I don't think so.

But because we are talking about everything and not something logic doesn't apply in that sense:


???

So here it is for the combination of logic, knowledge, belief and causation:
You are caused by something else or you are caused by yourself.


No, it doesn't have to be either or.

You choose something else, right, since you are not a solipsistic.
So now you believe that the universe has caused you!


I do?!

But you can't get outside your consciousness, because you only experience through your consciousness. So you can't control it yourself,


Nonsense. Non sequitur. That I can't 'get outside my consciousness' doesn't mean that I can't control it.

because you can't be caused be something else and not be caused it.


You don't make sense.

You don't ex nihilo gain self-control out of nothing, if you are caused by something else.


Where does "out of nothing" suddenly appear from? Hawking?!

Understand this: Before you there was causation in the universe, now you are caused by the universe and suddenly that causation from the universe is stopped and you are the source yourself.


Causation isn't suddenly stopped.
I am the source of what?! "Causation"?

That can't be, because then you have stopped the causation from the universe and thus you are independent of the universe, because you are now your own source of causation.


You use words that imply logical conclusions, but logic doesen't pop up just because you use words like: thus, because ...

If time has a direction and thus causation has a direction, you have stopped that.


Again: Your thus doesn't make sense.

You are claiming an ontological dualism for causation, it exists outside in the universe apart from you, but that doesn't affect you, because you are your own source of causation. So in effect you are not a part of the universe.


I am claiming no such thing.

Now back to that I claim knowledge. I don't claim knowledge like you. I work in assumptions.
That I assume that the universe is fair, will not cause the universe to be fair.
You don't understand that your experience of the universe is the same right now whether you are in a fair universe or not.
The problem is that you don't understand the limit of thinking. You "Know" that you are in a fair universe. You don't - you think it and that won't cause you to be in a fair universe or not.


Is this supposed to be the generic you?!

Regardless of whether you think that I believe in knowledge like you won't cause me to actually believe like you.
The root of your claim of contradictio in adjecto rests on the assumption of a knowledge you don't have. Nobody has ever overcome Agrippa's Trilemma and thus I don't claim knowledge like you.
If working under the assumption that my knowledge is caused by the universe, then whether I am a Boltzmann Brain or not the causation is the same.


You do claim an awful lot of knowledge!
I think that the idea of Boltzmann's brain is hurting your actual brain.

I work on an assumption that I am not the cause of everything and you work on a dogmatic absolute,


Do I?!

which is also a contradiction: You are caused by something else and yet you are not, because you are caused by yourself; that is the dogmatic absolute. Expressed through time - the past caused you, but right now the past hasn't caused you, because you are your own cause. That is a contradiction if you believe like me in an universe, which have caused us.
So you are your own creator of your own causation. See, I can play creator too.

Dann, I am an atheist and I believe in a natural universe. But I don't believe in an "I" as you do and I don't believe in knowledge like you do.


No, you obviously don't!
 
Gods, however, do have particular characteristics to analyze the same way Harry Potter has!
Do you claim that Harry doesn't differ from Ron? That the Christian God isn't different from Zeus? (I know that they both have a temper, but still ...) Are you saying that Elegguá's character traits are exactly the same as those of Loki or Papa Legba? Or that you can't tell them apart?

You're presuming you already understand the things you're claiming to study before you study them.

I don't have to go searching for Harry in the real world when I know where to find him: in J.K. Rowlings books!
And I don't have to go searching for the God of the Christians when I know that their Bible is where he is!

Ah, I see: you already know the answer before you investigate the question. That appears to be the opposite of science.

Trying to find them anywhere else, in the real world, is absurd!
Remember what we always tell children: Don't be afraid. It's just a story.

Do you really still think, despite my repeated statements, that I am advocating belief in gods?
 
You're presuming you already understand the things you're claiming to study before you study them.


No, but I usually know where to find them. Sometimes I understand much about the things before I begin to study them seriously. I may begin to study them to find out if my assumptions about them were correct.

Ah, I see: you already know the answer before you investigate the question. That appears to be the opposite of science.


That I know where they are doesn't mean that I know every detail.

Do you really still think, despite my repeated statements, that I am advocating belief in gods?


No, I don't. But the stories about the gods still are just stories. No reason to think that they are anywhere else.
 
Do you really still think, despite my repeated statements, that I am advocating belief in gods?

No you're doing what a lot of people do, what we have had a discussion about (and gone nowhere) a good dozen times on this board and countless times in the broader societal discussion.

You're taking non-believers to task for not putting a meaningless, non-intellectual, distinction without difference, purely argumentative "escape clause" on their statements for a reason that's really hard to pin down.
 
His reasons aren't hard to pin down at all. He's trying to explain how science knows things and what it's limits are. You know, the thing that's supposed to make it different from religion? It's kind of important too, because religionists try to claim science is just another religion. And now they've got ISF to point to to support that. And Hawking is Pope.
 
No you're doing what a lot of people do, what we have had a discussion about (and gone nowhere) a good dozen times on this board and countless times in the broader societal discussion.

You're taking non-believers to task for not putting a meaningless, non-intellectual, distinction without difference, purely argumentative "escape clause" on their statements for a reason that's really hard to pin down.

No, that is not it at all. Please note your language use here, it's revealing: "escape", "pin down"...you're still seeing this in terms of conflict between believers and nonbelievers. That is not the issue in the remotest.

All I have said (many, many times now) is that the proper use of scientific method in this matter can only reach the point of concluding "there is no evidence for the existence of gods". Full stop. End. Caput. That does not mean "oh, believe in gods" or "there might be gods, you just can't prove it", it's not an "escape clause" for theology or a challenge to science or a way to keep believing in gods. It is the total, final, completest answer you can get using science. It is the proper result of using the scientific method. It is not a deficiency, it's how it's supposed to work.

And that is not the same thing as saying "gods have been disproven". Nothing has been disproven because nothing needs to be disproven. There is (literally) nothing to disprove. That's not how the science works, unless you choose to pervert it to your own ends. You don't need to disprove anything. Those who believe in gods have the burden of proving their belief, theirs is the pursuit. Those who don't believe shouldn't be engaged in any fashion unless and until evidence is presented. At that point they may, if they insist, attack it like starving dogs on a hamburger patty.

It is not a "meaningless, non-intellectual distinction": it is of paramount importance to a rigorous and honest intellectual inquiry to understand the limits of what can be achieved using the scientific method. To not make that distinction is an intellectual betrayal. I can only assume people do it because they have a psychological need to arrive at absolute capitalized Answers because they can't bear any room for doubt. That's turning science into a faith-based religion, which is a terrible thing to do. Choose to only believe in whatever science can conclude, that's absolutely fine, but do not extend the mantle of science to include everything outside of science's reach that you also believe in. Either trim your beliefs to remove the unscientific or admit that you hold beliefs science can't support.

For the final time, there is no reason to believe in gods because there is no scientific evidence to support their existence. That is as far as it can go. I am not, not, not (when will this sink in?), NOT, NOT, NOT, NOT suggesting there is any reason, any room, any suggestion, any hint, any crack, any gap, any notion to support the possible existence of gods. (Please re-read the prior sentence several dozen times because you and several others are not getting it.) And that is not the same thing as saying their existence has been disproven.
 
No, that is not it at all. Please note your language use here, it's revealing: "escape", "pin down"...you're still seeing this in terms of conflict between believers and nonbelievers. That is not the issue in the remotest.

For you it isn't, but you can't declare it a "non-issue" for everybody else.

Please note you'r language. "Conflict" as if the very concept of intellectual standards are something to be ashamed of.

Yes there is "conflict" as you put it between me and people who hold opinions without evidence. Sorry.

All I have said (many, many times now) is that the proper use of scientific method in this matter can only reach the point of concluding "there is no evidence for the existence of gods". Full stop. End. Caput. That does not mean "oh, believe in gods" or "there might be gods, you just can't prove it", it's not an "escape clause" for theology or a challenge to science or a way to keep believing in gods. It is the total, final, completest answer you can get using science. It is the proper result of using the scientific method. It is not a deficiency, it's how it's supposed to work.

And this is the distinction without difference. This is the escape clause you're demanding.

Again I've backed of from using the word "science" because it obviously just sets some people off but I will not back down from using "Is actually evidence based, acknowledges the concept of falsefiability, and collection of data in some sort of organized matter" and nothing that even comes close to "belief" meets that standard.

And that is not the same thing as saying "gods have been disproven". Nothing has been disproven because nothing needs to be disproven. There is (literally) nothing to disprove. That's not how the science works, unless you choose to pervert it to your own ends. You don't need to disprove anything. Those who believe in gods have the burden of proving their belief, theirs is the pursuit. Those who don't believe shouldn't be engaged in any fashion unless and until evidence is presented. At that point they may, if they insist, attack it like starving dogs on a hamburger patty.

And I don't get this. I just don't. You're passionately and powerfully arguing against a distinction you're equally angry that people aren't acknowledging.

You've completely convinced me that 12 and a dozen are the same thing, and I'm a bit confused why you're taking me to task for saying "12" and not "a dozen."

You say there's no God, admit to no reasonable possibility for one, seem to be totally onboard with "No God" on any practical, moral, theoretical, philosophical, and theological level but then just... what?

I'm not being snarky, I'm not being flippant, I'm not being anything but 100% across the board honest but it's like you agree with absolutely everything but then demand we just not say it for some vague reason of "Keeping science in it's place" to no end and with no purpose.

I don't get this attitude of treating "science" (to say nothing of the overly narrow concept of it I feel you are using) as some wayward cattle you have to keep an eye on lest it break from it's "proper" place in the herd.

People applying "science" too liberally is hardly an issue I think we need this level of oversight brought to bear on.
 
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