the policy of withholding faith until some criterion of ’sufficient evidence’ is met is not necessarily any better guarantee of finding the truth than accepting religious belief because of the hope it offers.
...except that this principle can be applied to just about anything that might exist. Why draw a special dividing line just for religion? If it's not good for unicorns, why is it good for religion?
He mixes in a variation on Pascal's Wager to suggest not only are religion and athiesm equal claimants on the default position, but that religion is actually superior given it's greater benefits, if true (and, presumably, if you are "saved", by whatever rules your particular sect follows.)
Thus, despite its adoption of some of the conventions of ancient Scepticism, modern atheism and ancient Scepticism are very different worldviews.
This part of the discussion was interesting, but I suppose it's only relevant insofar as Rational Response Squad (or some poster there) seems to have a love for the ancient Greek concept of skepticism.
In any case, the "theory of religion" regarding reality,
has been shot down, over and over again through the centuries.
Every time one of the "predictions" becomes false, the apologists re-interpret the Bible to account for it. At first glance, that sounds like the way science works, adapting to new observations and more accurate experiments by revising theories to account for them. It's just that, by this point, "God" has been shoved into a tiny corner where he has the bizarre properties of:
1. Being infinitely able to hide from us
2. Having the desire to do so.
Long gone are the more real-world parts of the theory, like the world is a flat disc with a solid vault above it, top and bottom holding back the surrounding waters of chaos. No, demons don't actuall posess people. Those are mental diseases, somewhat treatable with drugs, surgery, and/or therapy. No, nobody actually gets miracle-cured ("but it does happen since God knows if scientists are looking" -- no, that is the essence of God being shoved philosophically into his little corner).
Lightning bolts aren't anger from God. They are the result of static electricity much the same way as dragging your feet across the carpet. No, hurricanes aren't anger from God. They're the result of fairly well understood differences in temperature, pressure, and humidity combined with the rotation of the Earth. No, death isn't a soul or a "life force" leaving the body, it's the functionally irreversible destruction of certain complex chemicals and structures in the living cell.
"But God xyz!" No, that is the corner into which he's been shoved over the past several hundred years.
All that's left of God are the two points above.
