Discussion For the atheists among you, what would it take for you to believe in God?

[Alexei_Kirillov]

A particular piece of evidence? A personal revelation or religious experience? A satisfactory response to a long-held grievance, such as the problem of evil/suffering? If the answer is "Nothing," do you think this is an example of intellectual dishonesty?

Similarly, if you're a theist, what would it take for you to stop believing in God?

 

[ijustwishtodie]

I think it would depend on what type of god we're talking about. If it's the typical abrahamic god which are depicted to be all powerful, all knowing and all loving, I would like to see them in person or at the very least have some sort of communication with them. I would like them to explain why they have designed life to be the way that it is and why is it that their morality is similar to what humans had around 1400/2000 years ago. Why have they designed life to inherently be all about predation and suffering if they are supposed to be all loving? Most importantly of all though, why do their religions seem so man made? Why does it feel like religion was designed by humans instead of a god? Why prioritise humans so much in the same way that humans prioritise their own species?

If a god were to give me some answers to these questions via communication, I would be convinced that they exist. I would also be further convinced if they were able to play with my mind and make me see visions of what their heaven and hell are like

 

[locked*n*loaded]

I'd have to become delusional for me to believe there is a god or any gods.

 

[Aimiya]

Show me a miracle or two to prove it wasn't a fluke and we're set, simple as that
Not gonna happen tho
I believe it's the same for most Atheists.

 

[solenoid]

I take a different approach

Think of the natural numbers (1, 2, 3, ...), do they exist? They are an abstract concept, unsure of whether the question can be answered. Still, we can build very concrete things with them, the entirety of science and engineering relies on theories built upon them.

Now apply this reasoning to God, whether it exists or not matters little. But if you pretend it exists, and make decisions accordingly, the world around you will start looking different, and good will come out of that. This is how its intervention can be seen

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I'm agnostic but if I actually got a girlfriend then I'll admit I would probably think at least some supernatural force must be involved because that's completely impossible for me in this reality.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

nothing could make me believe in a god, afterlife, reincarnation, soul, ghosts, spirits , devil , magic , computer simulation ,multiverses, nothing supernatural ever

i will never believe in a god afterlive ,soul nor any of these things l listed ever. these are pure fiction.

to me it's like asking me what would it take for you to believe in santa claus. totally ridiculous made up garbage

the only reasons humans think all these meaningless things in life have meaning , are fun ,important or are anything is because evolution , culture ,society , media and other humans programmed that into our brains.

for example what life is a torture mechanism . life has tortured trillions of animals and billions of humans , most animals died by being weakened by disease injury starvation then being eaten alive by other animals bacteria or parasites . but 99% of humans think life is something good, sacred, important valuable beautiful . why no one mentions that about the animals or how many bilions of humans tortured?

many reasons . but one to think that some god or some programmer created this torture chamber for some reason.... what reason? there never could be one.

also if one reads about experimental science books about how the universe and life work , brain books, physics, cell biology , evolution you understand that there could never be any god, afterlife , soul ,computer simulation , reincarnation

 

[TheHolySword]

The issue for me is that it doesn't matter. I don't believe nor do I disbelieve. The existence of a god or lack thereof has no impact or effect on my life or my decision. I could have definitive proof and it would change nothing. I simply do not care.

 

[Hvergelmir]

The first thing I'd need, is a fairly rigid definition of what "God" is.
Then every property of God would have to be proven separately.

Even if you were to prove that every species was created on the very same day, it tell us nothing about the formation of the planet. If you prove that the planet is artificially created, it says nothing about who created it or why, etc.

"God" is such a big package, that it would be a very hard sell.
God is also ascribed often contradictory properties, which can't all be true simultaneously.

If people dedicating their life to "God" started outcompeting scientists across different fields, I would start taking it seriously. It would still not be irrefutable proof, but at least a strong indication that they were on to something. I've yet to see that happen even in a single field, though.

 

[OnMyLast Legs]

Atheist here. I would accept one of the Abrahamic religions if someone demonstrated that we live in a 6,000-year-old geocentric universe.

 

[UnnervedCompany]

I studied quite a bit of theology and have researched a ton of aesthetic and theistic arguments for the existence or lack of a higher being. With how every argument can be interpreted that God does or doesn't exist it has come down for me as just personal satisfaction. How I want to live is very inline with how religions teach others to live which causes me to believe in a higher being. Examples include I find premarital sex gross, and drugs disgust me because I hate things that can force you to lose control off your senses and those 2 things are outlawed in my religion. Since I like the religious lifestyle it somewhat forces me to believe in God at the same time except for one thing. In the religion I believe in people who undergo Homosexual acts are one of God's most hated beings (He decimated a city in the most brutal way for their acceptance of homosexuality) and sucks for me I am a filthy gay lol. Finding love or rejecting it will be my deciding factor for continuing or stopping belief in God.

 

[needthebus]

reality hacking that is verified by others plus some sort of happiness for me... and i am not sure it would convince me of a supreme god, just a god of this realm who had like root access to everything. if reality is simulated, someone or something could have root access

nothing good seems to happen to me, so i dont feel like theres anything there or if there is it doesnt like me :-/

most likely there's just nothing that exists like that if reality isnt simulated

 

[avalokitesvara]

if we figure out what caused existence in the first place, what is the origin of the universe, energy and matter, why is there anything, why is there reality, i would consider that god. i don't think this is possible though, not for humans. our perspective is too limited. it's the great unsolvable mystery.

abrahamic daddy in the sky who loves and/or wants to punish me? no way.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I'd happily consider anything really. If a bunch of scientists could demonstrate they'd found solid evidence- great. If a bunch of people (not a cult- including a religious group) witnessed something, great. If it was just me or just one or two who witnessed something, I'd be more worried we'd become psychotic with hallucinations.

God could appear right now to everyone if they wanted to- surely? So- why don't they? Why do they hate people that question their existence so much that they're willing to cast them into hell forever? (According to some beliefs.) When, they themselves created our ability to question and doubt. Why set us up to fail? Surely, if there is a God, they have a pretty strange moral compass.

And, I don't accept the whole- it's becausa Adam and Eve ate some fruit. God created that fruit and created the enormous temptation in them to eat it. Then, ensured (presumably) that eating it would give all of us the sorts of minds that would question their existence. I assume that was another by product of the 'tree of knowledge'. I don't think it's even moral to punish something for behaving in the way it was designed. Anyhow- sorry. That's off topic.

Truly though- I wish God would make themselves known. Imagine how many wars it would stop. Imagine how many people would be saved from hell (if you believe that.) Why keep us guessing? To test our blind obedience and faith? We're not designed for blind obedience.

 

[Aimiya]

Truly though- I wish God would make themselves known. Imagine how many wars it would stop.

Idk if I'd put that much faith in humanity, war will be war

 

[Forever Sleep]

Idk if I'd put that much faith in humanity, war will be war

Yeah- true. That I find pretty depressing in itself. That we have that within us.

 

[HereIGoAgain24]

It would have to be either a growing body of scientific evidence or God revealing themselves to humans. As far as scientific evidence goes, I'm not talking 'one or two scientists in unrelated fields explaining why they believe in God' or 'This one model of the universe doesn't explain it without a theistic creator'. Both of those are limited and anecdotal. I mean that I would need a growing group of people who study the universe, like cosmologists and physicists, to come to conclusions through the scientific method, with extensive studies and peer review. This is how we've established so many of the most important scientific findings, from things like the shape of the world to the theory of evolution to how germs work.

For God revealing themselves to humans- this would be more difficult to get me to believe, since there are so many ways that the human mind can delude us (just look at what happens if you eat the wrong mushroom). But I can imagine a scenario where- if the experience is as real as any other normal day, if the effects are felt over days/weeks, and enough other people around me verify that I'm not just deluded- I would accept that God exists.

Of course, if he/she/it/they do/does... they have a LOT to answer for. The best case scenario I can imagine for God's existence is that they take on the role of an uninvolved observer for humanity. If they apparently DO work with mortals like us, well, I'm closer to a misotheist.

 

[DragMeIntoPlace911]

If i get shaken with fear i will start to believe.

Tbh i feel like I'm not even atheist.

 

[needthebus]

i am changing my answer. a lot of people have been really cruel to me in life, it feels like. if they were all obliterated somehow by some sort of calamity (alien invasion, war, etc), and if i were suddenly in good health and looked decent, that would make me possibly believe in something. i feel like biblical job almost, everything has just been horrible. some people have this idea of god like it's the one thing that won't let you down, but all i feel is an absence, like there was never anything there. my terrible fate has really shown me how disloyal the people around me are. only 1 friend was loyal to me, but this friend was also a drinker and gossip and she started to become a yeller, and was starting to become meaner, it made me super afraid and some of the stuff she said and did started to not make sense to me. I didn't know if it was alcohol affecting her or what. I was homeless briefly, in part by choice, I wanted to leave the area I was in, but I didn't want anyone to know I was homeless because of the stigma involved. And she also during this time was homeless. But I knew if I invited her to stay with me in a hotel she wouldn't not tell people I was homeless, it would only be 1 or 2 people, and I was working remotely from the hotel and I was afraid she was an alcoholic and would make noise and I would get fired. She also got into conflict with people and I was worried about her getting into a fight at a hotel and my being unable to stay there anymore. She tended to always do things leading police to become involved, mostly yelling at people whole drunk. And she got really mean to me during this time, probably thinking I should invite her to stay with me. I was working hard at the time to make sure she couldn't become homeless. She was great, despite my only describing negatives. And... she started sometimes getting horribly mean when she was angry or drunk... We talked less and less, she got housing and so did I. I was incredibly suicidal and I didn't want her to walk in on me, dead. I thought I would be dead eventually, she had a child and needed to not die. It was such stupid reasoning. I should have had her move in, even if she was a drunk mess. I wouldn't expect her to be back in my life, like Lazarus, but I would need to know some reason why she was out of my life, I don't know if she horribly betrayed me and I never knew, I don't think so however, I think she was loyal, even when I wasn't, I thoight she was better not around me. She was also big into mental health and taking all sorts of pills and I had a horrible experience with involuntary hospitalization and think psychiatry does more harm than good. I didn't want her to know I wasn't taking any medication because she was a gossip. The first few years of not taking pills was risky for me; anyone who knew could have probably gotten a welfare check and gotten me locked up. It was only after about 3 years of working without pills that I felt like it would be harder for anyone to harass me for a lack of being drugged. She on the other hand just took as many pills as possible, and those medical assholes sure gave her everything. She was part of their cult of psychiatry and I couldn't say anything, she just became more dependant on drugs and wouldn't walk or eat healthy or exercise. I should have moved her in. I hate police and she just always got police involved somehow, mostly due to yelling when drunk. I don't know how that would be made better by a god. if a god knew something i didnt about that, it would help me understand.
i was also close to suicide then too, when she died. i was feeling guilt over dying because of her, i don't have that guilt anymore. perhaps god wants me to be able to commit suicide without guilt over leaving her behind. i only started coming to this site once she died though.
i say these things, but really, i don't believe in god or religion at all. i think it's delusional thinking and is almost a vestigial tail of evolution: people who believed in a bullshit fairy tale were more likely to survive the hard times.

i feel truly doomed at this point. i wish i could keep fighting, but i am too drained, i may end up ctb in the next few months. im. angry and want to fight against all the awful things in this world, but there's too much awfulness and im too lonely. so yep... expecting to ctb in 2025

 

[Trismegistus_13]

I'm a pretty strong atheist. The only things I can think of that would be able to convince me of the existence of God (let's say the Christian God) would be:

1. Recorded miracle that has been reported on by multiple reputable news sites that is unexplainable by any existing or proposed scientific model(s)

2. Personal encounter with a heavenly being that is also verified by 1+ other people (so it can't be a hallucination)

3. Series of visions/communications with me by a divine being that involve predicting the future, and all are correct (the more plausible the predictions, the more visions I would need).

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Of course, you could throw command hallucinations in there too, but that's literally just a symptom of mental illness and not proof of God.

 

[Privateer2368]

Threads like this always seem to assume the only two positions are atheist and Christian.

I'm guessing OP is American, based on that assumption.

I'm also highly amused by the suggestion that the Hebrew god of war and death proving his presence would in any way lessen the amount of bloodshed his cultists indulge in.