The Tools of an Atheist Debater

phddiscworld:

1. Occam’s Razor: Since the existence of a deity is unnecessarily complex and the nonexistence of a deity is simpler of an explanation, the nonexistence is more likely.
2. Problem of Evil: Since evil exists in the world, even as a deficiency of good, and since suffering exists, there can be no benevolent and omnipotent god since all of those would necessarily create a world free of evil.  If a god can stop suffering and hasn’t, they aren’t benevolent.  If a god can’t stop suffering, they aren’t omnipotent.  Note: This is the most powerful argument
3. Russell’s Teapot: used to invalidate “you can’t completely disprove god,” since you can’t completely disprove the existence of a teapot between earth and mars.  Basically an argument of absurdity.
4. Argument from Poor Design: An omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent god would create beings of optimal design, however there is suboptimal design everywhere.  (Giraffe’s Larynx is excessively long, for example).
5. Fate of the Unlearned: If your theology if correct, what about people who either are nor aware of it now or couldn’t possibly have been aware of it.  For example, Christianity was never introduced to the Indians until the 15th century, so have they all been damned for reasons beyond their own capacity?  WARNING: Encourages evangelicalism
6. Who Designed the Designer (Ultimate Boeing 747): If a designer created everything, who created the designer.  Argument of how a god arises. (Richard Dawkins)
7. Problem of Hell: Hell punished the bad which is inconsistent with a benevolent and forgiving god (this is weaker).

Responses to Arguments for:

1. Ontological Argument: This argument is that the highest being that can be conceived must necessarily exist since it can be conceived.  Counters: Since you can imagine there being no being at all, that must also exist, thus the argument is fallacious or false.  Also a lack of evidential reasoning, also conceiving it does not mean it has to exist.
2. God of the Gaps: The proverbial “tide in, tide out, sun up, sun down” argument.  Since we can’t explain a phenomenon, a deity must have caused it.  Science invalidates, gets back to Occam’s Razor.
3. There is good, etc: See Problem of Evil

These are your tools if you want or are put in a position to argue against god.  Use carefully.

(via atheismfuckyeah)