(shrug) Sure, if we expand the meaning of “evidence” to include things we don’t consider evidence, then I agree that my earlier statement becomes false.
Who are “we”, in this case ? A typical theist does believe that he has evidence for his falsifiable god. He may be wrong about this, of course (and most probably is), but that’s a matter for another debate. I was under the impression, though, that we were discussing atypical theists: those who believe that their gods are explicitly unfalsifiable. They are deliberately stating, “there’s no way anyone could determine by any means whether my gods exist or not”; this is directly opposite to stating something like, “look at how complex life is, only a god could’ve created all that”.
Hm. It’s possible that I’ve lost the thread of what we’re discussing.
It seems to me to follow from what you’ve said that a theist who explicitly believes their belief in god is unfalsifiable, therefore necessarily explicitly believes there to be no evidence for that belief, therefore necessarily believes that proselytizing others is necessarily futile (since everyone requires evidence to adopt such beliefs, and therefore they believe that everyone requires evidence, and since they know they have no evidence, they know they cannot convince anyone), therefore is functionally equivalent to an atheist, who is functionally defined by their unwillingness to proselytize.
(shrug) Sure, if we expand the meaning of “evidence” to include things we don’t consider evidence, then I agree that my earlier statement becomes false.
Who are “we”, in this case ? A typical theist does believe that he has evidence for his falsifiable god. He may be wrong about this, of course (and most probably is), but that’s a matter for another debate. I was under the impression, though, that we were discussing atypical theists: those who believe that their gods are explicitly unfalsifiable. They are deliberately stating, “there’s no way anyone could determine by any means whether my gods exist or not”; this is directly opposite to stating something like, “look at how complex life is, only a god could’ve created all that”.
Hm. It’s possible that I’ve lost the thread of what we’re discussing.
It seems to me to follow from what you’ve said that a theist who explicitly believes their belief in god is unfalsifiable, therefore necessarily explicitly believes there to be no evidence for that belief, therefore necessarily believes that proselytizing others is necessarily futile (since everyone requires evidence to adopt such beliefs, and therefore they believe that everyone requires evidence, and since they know they have no evidence, they know they cannot convince anyone), therefore is functionally equivalent to an atheist, who is functionally defined by their unwillingness to proselytize.
Have I followed that correctly?
If not, can you provide a corrected summary?