I think I disagree with most of that; I think most of “the opposition” (not that I much like that framing) have views that are poorly defined, borderline-incoherent, or both.
(Not because “the opposition” are idiots; I suspect it’s also true that most atheists have rather fuzzy notions of just what “the existence of God” entails.)
Sure, it’s possible (at least, I think it is) to formulate a precisely-defined definition of “God” and debate whether there is any such entity. But that hardly ever happens; when people argue about the topic, what usually happens is that everyone has their own idiosyncratic and tactically-varying idea of what “God” and “God exists” means.
And I don’t think shminux introduced the notion of God in order to make fun of it; I think he thought it was a useful analogy to explain how he feels about the idea of time travel. Something like “it’s a thing lots of people assume is a reasonable idea that one ought to consider the possibility of, but I think it actually doesn’t make sense, and the more closely you look at it the less sense it makes, and bringing it into a discussion usually makes that discussion less useful rather than more”.
Thanks, this (and the reply confirming this was the meaning) cleared a lot up for me. I misread the original comment pretty poorly and would probably agree with this formulation of it. Thanks for clearing this up for me, I appreciate it.
I think I disagree with most of that; I think most of “the opposition” (not that I much like that framing) have views that are poorly defined, borderline-incoherent, or both.
(Not because “the opposition” are idiots; I suspect it’s also true that most atheists have rather fuzzy notions of just what “the existence of God” entails.)
Sure, it’s possible (at least, I think it is) to formulate a precisely-defined definition of “God” and debate whether there is any such entity. But that hardly ever happens; when people argue about the topic, what usually happens is that everyone has their own idiosyncratic and tactically-varying idea of what “God” and “God exists” means.
And I don’t think shminux introduced the notion of God in order to make fun of it; I think he thought it was a useful analogy to explain how he feels about the idea of time travel. Something like “it’s a thing lots of people assume is a reasonable idea that one ought to consider the possibility of, but I think it actually doesn’t make sense, and the more closely you look at it the less sense it makes, and bringing it into a discussion usually makes that discussion less useful rather than more”.
That’s exactly how I meant it, a seemingly reasonable concept that doesn’t hold together upon closer examination.
Thanks, this (and the reply confirming this was the meaning) cleared a lot up for me. I misread the original comment pretty poorly and would probably agree with this formulation of it. Thanks for clearing this up for me, I appreciate it.