Posted: Oct 05, 2010 10:21 am
xrayzed wrote:I’ll try to simplify the question:
Why is it entirely reasonable that there can be a conscious being that has always existed, but it is inconceivable that there can be a non-conscious thing that has always existed?
Since Maryann has left the building, I'll give your question a crack: It's hard to tell thru her turgid prose and convoluted logic, but her point seems to be that you can't demonstrate the existence of either, so then atheism is a position of faith just as much as theism is.
By that logic, the following statement is also true: Suppose two doctors are treating a patient who seems to have an infection, but the identity of the pathogen is unknown. The first doctor believes the illness is caused by an as-yet unknown virus or bacteria and endeavours to find the correct one. The second doctor believes the patient is cursed by Zeus and sacrifices a bull to appease the god.
The positions of both doctors are equally based on faith.