re: #122 Absalom, Absalom, Obdicut

This is really bizarre. I am not understanding why you think that saying “I have an explanation that is not any better than the explanation you currently hold on a logical level” to a religious person would make them doubt anything. Can you elaborate?

Atheism says “There is no such thing as the supernatural” in a world where the supernatural is real, and an explanation that the supernatural is not real requires assuming more improbable things than that the supernatural is real.

I’m not sure atheism says “There is no such thing as the supernatural”. Keep in mind lightning was once thought to be “supernatural”. Atheism more accurately says “the unknown have rational explanations.”

To put it another way: The correct view of the Marvel universe is that it is being created, moment-to-moment, by an omnipotent creator. That is the reality of the universe: It is entirely intelligently designed, entirely depended on a creator. And yet you, somehow, think that atheism is rational in a universe that is literally created by a being with absolutely control over that universe.

So, because the Marvel Universe is too complex to comprehend it means there’s no explanation except a Creator, which happens to be EXACTLY the same one chosen by a particular religion? There could be a myriad of other explanations. Use your imagination.

Atheism, in that universe, would simply be one of a large number of wrong theories. It would be one of the worse of those theories, farthest from the truth. Islam would be a much closer explanation to reality.

Like I said, in a world where Allah could suddenly one day show up as Thor’s buddy, I’m not sure how this reasoning works. Sounds just as likely to me that Allah has a dad in such a fictional world. Atheists don’t pretend such questions can be answered by mere speculation.