Atheists always hammer this one. They claim since there is no scientific proof of God or the supernatural - then the case is closed! OK, what are some counter-arguments?
I think they are hypocrites.
It all comes down to what is "proof." Now, it's interesting you put it as "SCIENTIFIC proof" because no scientist would say that. "SCIENTIFIC proof" is simply evidence that is verifiable and repeatable - it isn't necessarily "true." Science embraces whatever SEEMS to answer the questions and perhaps predict what is found. Thing is, it changes all the time.... what was "proven" one year may be abandoned as wrong the next - simply because the "proof" no longer works (science being very pragmatic).
Proof is a tricky word. Can I prove I exist? No. Can I prove gravity? No. Now....
ASSUME some things being true, ASSUME some things are constants and universal, and I CAN show you what is reasonable, what we can accept as true, but is that "proof?" Nope.
What the Atheist does is at least as circular as what they accused the theist of doing: He assumes there is nothing outside of physics (as one with a doctorate in physics, I find this profoundly laughable) - but it is an ASSUMPTION. The theist doesn't make that assumption, his assumption is that physics is NOT all their is. Now, I agree, no one can prove a negative (putting the atheist at a disadvantage) but both are assumptions. I'd remind the Atheist also that MUCH of what we accept has no direct evidence at all... what we are looking at is consequences (to put it in lay terms)... one example, we have "proof" of thousands of planets outside our solar system but actually we have ZERO direct evidence, we simply make some reasonable assumptions including that if a planet passes between the star and us, the light of the star will dim as a result and we ASSUME, bingo, that's a planet. It's indirect. MUCH of science is founded this way. Now, I agree, religious "evidence" is typically relational but that doesn't make it unreasonable. I have proof that my wife loves me but acknowledge "love" is outside physics and can't be proven in a physics lab and is probably impossible to prove directly - but I can point to a zillion situations where I see love.
IMO, it is very rare to find anyone in science who regards themselves as an "Atheist." Insisting there is no God puts them in the same "boat" as those insisting that there is. All with doctorates that I know who are not "religious" refer to themselves as Agnostic, the word simply meaning they regard the evidence as insufficient to come to any ultimate conclusion on this point - neither denying or accepting the divine. THAT I can understand.... and of course, it's wholly subjective, it's simply what THEY individually and current regard as sufficient or insufficient. A lot of people are agnostic about a lot of things (I am such when it comes to life beyond our own planet). In MY experience, Atheists have an ax to grind, the emotion of hate driving all this, some reason why THEY are offended by the idea, why THEY are on a crusade to eliminate religion - hardly showing they are interested in "proof"
For too many years, I was a student ... and then worked for several years in science (I now am an businessman)... and in PHYSICS, you don't tend to find the animosity that you find among a few biologists and certainly not that you find in folks who never have studied science. In fact, some in science are quite interested in religion (although it might be hinduism, lol). While I encountered more Christians than you might think (I was HARDLY alone!) - and more Hindus and Buddhist and Muslims that you'd expect - there were lots of agnostics. THIS was my evangelism: I spoke openly of how my faith blesses ME (no "you gotta" messages). And I tried to live and love as a Christian as much as I could. And I found people began to ask me questions and (even more often) ask me to pray. Doors opened. Did I convert any agnostics? Maybe not. I did get one former Catholic to return to church after decades of absence.
- Josiah
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