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Lv 6

If atheists are supposed to prove God doesn't exist, considering the null hypothesis?

If you could prove a negative, wouldn't the null hypothesis of proving God doesn't exist mean proving God does exist? If atheists can't prove God does exist, which would be the null hypothesis, wouldn't that mean de facto we have proven God doesn't exist?

Update:

Atheist hypothesis: God doesn't exist

Atheist null hypothesis: God exists

Can we prove God exists through experiments or physical/empirical evidence? No. Therefore, the hypothesis God doesn't exist is true.

http://udel.edu/~mcdonald/stathyptesting.html

11 Answers

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  • Anonymous
    7 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Yes, evidence of absence.

    It's best to assume it doesn't exist cause there is no evidence..........

  • Arnie
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    When asked to describe my thoughts on GOD and Religion my train of thought led me right to gravity. . .

    You can’t see gravity, You can’t taste it, I just know one thing for certain, that it exists.

    The mystery's of faith an GOD are beyond human comprehension

    Faith concerns questions which cannot be settled by evidence.

    I feel bad that if someone does not have faith they would want others to agree with them!

    How can the universe create itself out of nothingness? Given the fact that the universe began to exist, it must have had a “cause” that originated it.Doesn't it make more sense to assume the existence of a Creation. The question is tricky because it sneaks in the false assumption that GOD came from somewhere and then asks where that might be. The answer is that the question does not even make sense. It is like asking, “What does blue smell like?” Blue is not in the category of things that have a smell, so the question itself is flawed. In the same way, GOD is not in the category of things that are created or caused. GOD is uncaused and uncreated—He simply exists.

    We know that from nothing, nothing comes. So, if there were ever a time when there was absolutely nothing in existence, then nothing would have ever come into existence. But things do exist. Therefore, since there could never have been absolutely nothing, something had to have always been in existence. That ever-existing being is what we call GOD ,GOD is the un-caused Being that caused everything else to come into existence. God is the uncreated Creator who created the universe and everything in it.

    The universe requires a cause because it had a beginning, GOD unlike the universe, had no beginning, so he doesn’t need a cause. Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which has much experimental support, shows that time is linked to matter and space. So time itself would have begun along with matter and space. Since GOD is the creator of the whole universe, he is the creator of time. Therefore He is not limited by the time dimension He created..@

    Life without GOD is like an un- sharpened pencil it has no point..

    You can't see the wind, but you know it is there because you can see what the wind is doing. You can know that the wind is there because you can feel it.GOD is like the wind, you can't see him

  • 7 years ago

    I feel that we have to remain intellectually honest and state that there is a remote probability that a malevolent God could exist. We can show that benevolent Gods cannot logically exist alongside suffering but malevolent Gods are completely compatible with things like parasites.

    I'm happy to postpone belief until evidence is presented and the burden of proof will always lie on the person making the claim however absence of evidence cannot be taken as evidence of absence. It simply does not work that way.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    Atheism doesn't have a hypothesis and has no burden of proof. The burden of proof is with the person making a positive claim (theists). Atheist reject the idea of a god because sufficient evidence has not been presented by those who claim there is one. There are very few atheists who make the positive affirmation, "God does not exist." This statement would require evidence. The vast majority of atheists say, "I don't believe in god." These are two different statements.

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  • ?
    Lv 6
    7 years ago

    We're not supposed to prove anything, we're not making a claim. Our entire viewpoint is, from what i've seen on here anyways, mostly because there's no evidence for a god. I see people ask christians for ANY evidence all the time yet...none is ever presented.

  • 7 years ago

    Atheists are not "supposed" to prove anything. The burden of proof of God's existence falls on the numbskulls who belive such utter nonsense.

  • Anonymous
    7 years ago

    Atheism is only sustainable rationally and logically if materialism is true.. Lets apply the null hypothesis to materialism -- Prove it!

  • Johnny
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    Nope.

  • ?
    Lv 5
    7 years ago

    Athiesm is a philosophy, and doesn't have the burden of proof for reasons i can't be bothered to explain.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KayBys8gaJY

  • Paul
    Lv 7
    7 years ago

    That made no sense whatsoever.

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