Channel Button

There are 54 articles on this title. You are reading the article ranked and rated #13 by Helium's members.

Religion & Spirituality   >

Atheism & Agnosticism

Get a Widget for this title

Questioning whether the concept of God can be disproved

Can unicorns be disproved? Bigfoot? The Loch Ness monster? Celestial teapots? Anti-gravity? ESP? Extraterrestrial abductions?

No, they can't. Empirical existence claims are impossible to disprove by definition. They aren't even in the same category of absolute *proof* of logical and mathematical truths. Anything that is logically consistent could *potentially* exist, but that doesn't mean we should believe it does, merely that we can't completely discount the possibility the way we could of an irrational integer or a square triangle.

Indeed, there are certain conceptions of God-after all, no two ideas of God are alike, which is all the more reason to doubt them all-that can almost be disproven, or at least refuted to all reasonable scientific confidence: omnipotent, omniscient, benevolent, creator of the universe. If God were all these things, babies would not die of birth defects, tsunamis would not kill thousands of innocent people, and HIV would not infect millions annually. If we are to ascribe even the most basic human decency to God, we must deny that he is powerful enough to stop all these events, which is to say we must deny that he is significantly more powerful than we are.

That in itself seems enough to disqualify God from worship; when we consider also that any explanation for existence which invokes God is now tasked with explaining the existence of God (why that's so hard for people to understand, I don't know; if you postulate electrons, you explain electrons), it becomes clear that there is basically no good reason to suppose that any sort of God exists at all.

Learn more about this author, Patrick Julius.
Contact this writer Click here to send this author comments or questions.


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Questioning whether the concept of God can be disproved

  • 1 of 54

    by Randy Mills

    The question of God's existence is among the top philosophical debates for centuries. People that believe in God, argue that

    read more

  • 2 of 54

    by David Newberry

    Of course God cannot be proven or disproven - because we don't know what "God" means. The word may conjure images of an old

    read more

  • 3 of 54

    by Robin Moynihan

    Nothing Just Happens!

    The beautiful craftsmanship of the wooden canoe caught the young fellow's eye. As he approached it

    read more

  • 4 of 54

    by Hank Stevens

    Let start with a definition of God. I found this in the Catholic Encyclopedia:

    "God can variously be defined as: The proper

    read more

  • 5 of 54

    by Paul Schingle

    I don't believe the onus of credibility falls on the atheist to disprove the existence of God. There are a few exceptions,

    read more

View All Articles on:
Questioning whether the concept of God can be disproved

Add your voice

Know something about Questioning whether the concept of God can be disproved?
We want to hear your view. Write_penWrite now!

Helium Debate

Cast your vote!

Are Islamic punishments just or harsh?

Click for your side.

171854

Featured Partner

One Note At A Time (ONAAT)

One Note At A Time has partnered with Helium, giving you the chance to write for a cause. Browse One Note At A T...more

What is Helium? | Buy Web Content | Contact Us | Privacy | User agreement | DMCA | User Tools | Help | Community | Helium’s Official Blog | Link to Helium

Helium, Inc.
200 Brickstone Square Andover, MA 01810 USA