does it ever occur to atheists...?

I'd also accept historical proof. Unfortunately the only piece of "evidence" on the planet that backs up the bible is the bible.

>that even though Christians dont have all this fancy-schmancy "scientific proof" and "evidence" and such, that doesn't mean some sort of spiritual world doesn't exist?

Absolutely.

But, that still doesn't change the fact that the quantity of evidence in favor of the existence of such a thing is inadequate, and is easily overcome by the evidence against it (particularly Occam's Razor).

If you have substantial new evidence suggesting that there is a 'spiritual world', then by all means, present it to us. I would be very interested to see it. But until that happens, the 'spiritual world' falls into the same category as leprechauns, fairies, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and all other things for which the evidence is inadequate.

>how in the world can you ask for scientific proof when the definition of science is observations of the PHYSICAL world?

That is not the definition of science. Or, if it is, it's a bad one.

Also, there is no such thing as 'scientific proof'. Science does not deal in proof, it deals in evidence and probability.

>even though i've just established that science wouldn't help this at all

You can use science to investigate anything that has actual statistical effects on your observations. Either the 'spiritual world' is something that would have actual statistical effects on your observations (in which case science can be applied to it), OR it is acting exactly as if it did not exist in the first place (in which case, by Occam's Razor, we logically assume that it does not). There is no middle ground, no way for a meaningfully real thing to magically 'escape' from statistics.

Just because some folks want that spiritual world to exist doesn't mean that it does, either.

I don't speak for all atheists. Nobody does because we are not a homogenous group. However, for myself, I simply say that in the absence of proof there is no reason to speculate on something that is totally improbable based on a rational consideration of what it implies.

I will not accuse you of much of anything. I just don't think that any proof has been present that makes any sense and has any substance.

The reason why we require evidence is because it's an extraordinary claim to say it exists. And it's very harmful to people.

If we put a scale on the harm it causes, it would be at Zero (for very little harm, but still harmful) would be the regular Christians that pray and go to church. It's harmful because they're wasting their lives praying for things to happen that never will. Or if it does happen it's because of coincidence or because the person did what they had to do to accomplish it.

On the harmful scale at about Five, you have the Christians that vote against same sex marriage and claim that abortion is an evil thing and against what's in the Bible.

At the most harmful scale you have the people that absolutley HATE anybody that doesn't agree with them. Homosexuals, atheists, Muslims, etc. And then people follow that example and may even do harm to those people. Do you know the hate that stems from religion? It's disgusting.

Then these lies are spread down to their kids and then they will pass it down to theirs.

And you want us atheists to take the existence of God/Afterlife on faith when it does all this harm? No thanks.

Of course. And by the same reasoning, the lack of evidence doesn't mean that some sort of Bigfoot doesn't exist. Or that some sort of leprechauns don't exist. Or that some sort of alien brain-eating parasite that turns people into Christians because that is how it reproduces so it can take over the planet doesn't exist.

If you want to say that there might be some sort of spiritual world, that means there's an infinite amount of possibilities of what it could be. Christianity is, most certainly, an incorrect representation of the after life, if there is one.

Also, the majority of us don't claim to know whether or not there is some sort of after life; we think that there isn't one.

I think your misconception of us stems from the fact that you are unable to see past the Christian faith, which is something that we will deny completely.

I think christians dont get the definition of proof. There's no various types of proofs. Science is what you can observe. Proof is just that. You dont need to add scientific to it. I believe the the you guys should use for yourselves is bull sh_t

I agree that the complete and total lack of all evidence for the goofy christian fairy friend is no reason to believe that fairies do not exist. I also agree that gullibles are not necessarily stupid, although they are uneducated.

"1. you're stupid

2. you're uneducated

3. of course. as soon as i get my magic fairy wand

4. burden of proof... blah, blah, blah, rant, rant, rant

5. you dont know what science is (even though i've just established that science wouldn't help this at all)"

You took the words right out of my mouth ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXuTD4vSF9E

~

Maybe magic DOES exist. But in the absence of any verifiable, legitimate evidence to support that claim, we are justified in rejecting it. For the same reason you don't believe in the invisible, intangible dragon who lives under my bed.

So, according to you, because science can't disprove the existence of fairies and leprechauns, I'm only allowed to sleep with people some bronze age volcano-war god approves of and his alter ego the iron age astrologist created sun god? Um, nope.