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In a playful mood I might answer 'Mu'.

My rejoinder is then that the direction in which you aim your faith is unreasoned and, for the most part, seems to be culturally conditioned. The latter issue of cultural conditioning, in particular, I feel justifies a highly critical approach to faith based claims. But this is one of those...

Yes, I am inclined to reject that god (in particular if it comes bundled with stories that feature talking snakes and so forth). There are different interpretations of the Abrahamic god, of course, depending on how literally/figuratively you read biblical passages (and similar for the Quran I...

Haha, apologies for my imprecision. Read 'precise ' as 'pinned down in some respect' rather than 'comprehensively and thoroughly described'. Yes, all you need is enough attributes to generate contradiction (all you need are two qualities X and Y such that X-->P and Y-->~P) but the problem then...

I fluctuate a bit - whether I accept the label atheist or agnostic depends largely on mood or, more pertinently, the characteristics of the god in question. Some conceptions of god are, I think, a waste of time and can be readily rejected. Others are so untoucheable by empirical method that we...

Oh, all of us, I'm sure. As I mentioned, I have ironed out some of mine, but I'm sure that there are more (one of my biggest joys reading philosophy is getting to a point where I undermine a central belief and float around untethered for a while. Strange thrill, I know). Hence the Socrates quote...

This is why I tend towards agnosticism, though I do feel that the balance of evidence tends to favour atheism.

Sure, if the entity is defined precisely then you might be lucky enough to get the following condition: If god exists (G) THEN some event X will necessarily occur ............. (G --> X) but using classical logic we know that, If X does not occur THEN it is not the case that god...

I am unsure why you keep posting in this thread, since your views are based on a central assumption without any argument/reasoning. The only option that is really open to you is to engage in hand-waving in order to convince others to accept your assumption. I've rejected a number of things...

I think this claim rests on a misunderstanding. There is an important difference between believing god does not exist and not believing that god exists (let's call these respective propositions ~G, i.e. god does not exist, and G, i.e. god exists). A lack of evidence for G is reason not to...

*TRUE*, I feel that I should repeat this: If you accept that faith based claims are outside of empirical enquiry then I want to ask how you decide whether to endorse, through faith, one claim over another (and also to point out that, across individuals, the determining factor often turns out...

Seconded.

This is exactly the kind of criticism-resistant interpretation that I had in mind. Can you not see how such requirements place these kinds of claims outside of scientific enquiry? However, if you do accept that faith based claims are outside of empirical enquiry then I want to ask how you...

That's not the point - it's about the rough structure of the cultural 'meme'. In particular, some religious beliefs protect themselves by stating that we should expect not to find evidence, or that we should expect to find disconfirming evidence (which is just there to trick us!). This creates a...

I'm sure people have noticed a common theme here: (1) The skeptic asks 'but why isn't there evidence in favour of the existence of this supernatural being?' (2) The believer replies 'because it is in the nature of the supernatural being to obfuscate and make it so that their existence is...

Aye, I know, but I have managed to find my fill within philosophy --> <3 formal logic. Things like set theory and modal logic give me plenty to sink my teeth into. As a bonus I've found that the accompanying philosophy is often quite interesting, e.g. the question of how we go about choosing...

Probably an archangel visit (sans drugs/psychosis).

Haha, I'll be sure to retract my head into my skeptical/cynical shell.

Thirded.

Much appreciated *true* (I too have a wise grandfather to whom I look up). Really I am just a 20 year old upstart of an undergraduate with philosophy on the brain. Mind you, it seems to have become more than just a casual interest - I probably spend most of my time reading...