Comment by Doug Reardon on May 6, 2009 at 11:05pm

My grandmother once angrily asked me why I didn't believe in god, I asked her if she had ever considered the possibility of there not being a god. She said "No! I would never even think such a thought!"

Comment by Johnny on May 7, 2009 at 1:35pm

Although I agree that this quote would seldom-if-ever work in an argument with a theist; I think I disagree that it is not true. If a theist truly could understand why he doesn't believe in all the other gods, he should be able to understand why we apply the same logic to his god.

The problem is that many theists don't understand why they don't believe in other gods. Most have just been brainwashed to believe their god is the only god, and other gods are not even possible. I've met some very sheltered people that thought the mythologies of other cultures and other gods were just fanciful stories; they didn't know that the people of those times and cultures worshiped those other gods. As a kid, in a SDA church school, the teacher took away my book on Greek mythology because "it wasn't history" and "was full of fake stories." Far too many theist's response to other gods is simply "they are fake." They just plain and simply don't understand why they don't believe in those other gods.

If they could critically think through all the reasons why they don't believe in those other gods, they would most likely reach a logic level that would cause them to question their belief in their god. So maybe the quote should be reworded a bit:

"If you can truly and logically understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you should be able to understand why I dismiss yours."

Comment by Serotonin Wraith on May 7, 2009 at 4:26pm

I think the quote is fine. Theists should at least understand the main reason they don't believe in the other gods is because they're just blatantly ridiculous and it's silly to even contemplate their existence. Not just ancient ones - popular ones in this day and age like Allah or Krishna. As soon as they realise they might actually have believed in them just as much as they believe in theirs had they been born in a different time and place, the penny could drop.

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