by Paul Ciavardini

Created on: October 29, 2009

I don't believe in religion, I don't believe in God, and I most certainly don't believe in miracles. That being said, despite my disbelief in deity, it is not uncommon for people to be perplexed as to why I still don't believe in their personal "miracles". Here are five reasons to best explain why I don't believe in the miraculous (being defined as "a marvelous event manifesting a supernatural act of a divine agent").

Reason 1: Lack of proof

Theists often say that they have proof of miracles in the bible. What they do not realize is that their holy books prove nothing. The miracles of Moses, Jonah, and Jesus have no more physical proof behind them than the fairy tale "jack and the beanstalk". If you believe that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, you can only do so by faith, there is no way to prove that that event ever occurred. Some people respond to this with the notion that we need to take the writers word for it. Although it is true that we rely on the method of "taking their word for it" when recording historic texts, it's important to note that I hold those other texts up to the same level of scrutiny. I take peoples word on the documentation of napoleons journey, but if I read that napoleon raised someone from the dead, or turned water into wine, I would be very skeptical.

Another problem with religious texts being the basis of proof for miracles is that there is great contradiction when people compare religions. For example, it is rare for a Christian to believe in the miraculous account of Muhammad splitting the moon. Likewise, Muslims don't tend to believe in the miracle of the atonement of Jesus Christ. People tend to believe in the miracles they were taught growing up, and tend to be skeptical of other religious claims. The only thing opposing religious texts hold in common is their lack of evidence to prove the miracles depicted.

Reason 2: Coincidence

Let's say we roll seven dice, and we get the numbers 5, 3, 2, 1, 4, 2 and 3. Typically, this would be regarded as a regular or somewhat insignificant outcome. Lets say we roll again and we get all 6's. This outcome typically gets more attention, and is often regarded as a rare occurrence. The fact is however, that if you roll seven dice, you the have a 1 in 279936 chance of getting either the first roll, or the second roll. In other words the probability of either outcome is the same.

Many people argue that there have been too many "coincidences" occurring, or leading up to an event for it

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>