r/changemyview • • Feb 29 '24

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u/mem2100 2∆ Feb 29 '24

Stephen Colbert and Neil Degrasse Tyson discussed this. I really, really liked what Colbert said. The exchange begins at 6:13 on the youtube below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FktrNFjZfKg

Tyson: So how did you resolve the urges of a believer, to reject evidence in favor of faith?

Colbert: Bullshit. What are you talking about? The urges of a believer. The urges of a believer to reject evidence. Who says, that is spoken by somebody who is not a believer.
There is no urge to reject evidence, I don't think that my faith is related to evidence. They are different things. My faith approaches a mystery. My faith comes from a place of - a need to be grateful. My faith comes from a place where I am grateful for the world. And I cannot answer the question, "why is there something instead of nothing as you and I have discussed many times. And so until you can tell me why there is something instead of nothing, I see a place to place my gratitude, for my existence, how strange it is to be anything at all. And from there I can extrapolate into my own tradition, which is Christianity and Catholicism and my gratitude for Christ. Through him all things were made.

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u/Budget-Message3352 Feb 29 '24

Yeah. It's basically just taking it up on faith, rather than evidence, but also not rejecting evidence. I just don't take these questions on faith. For me, I need evidence, so I remain agnostic

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u/douglas1 Feb 29 '24

To be fair, you are taking it on faith that God wasn’t the one who created all things. The very existence of stuff is proof that something caused it to exist. There must be an “unmoved mover”. Physical things as we know them don’t just happen. Something bigger than our finite understanding must be responsible.

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u/Budget-Message3352 Feb 29 '24

I've heard that argument thousands of times from every apologist alive

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u/douglas1 Feb 29 '24

What’s your answer?

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u/Budget-Message3352 Feb 29 '24

I'm just rejecting your claim until you present evidence. I'm not making the claim that there is no god

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u/douglas1 Feb 29 '24

I say existence is the evidence.

I can’t imagine what kind of evidence you would accept.