Argument for evidence

Since I am intrigued by Christian apologetics and the counter-apologetics that we skeptics employ, I tend to get drawn in deeply, and forget one simple fact.

Argument is a way of reaching logical conclusions. It does not establish facts, and may not reflect the physical state of the world, depending on the conclusions made.

When we watch a debate - William Lane Craig versus any poor atheist or skeptic you wish to name, for example - remember that the debaters are judged on some formal or informal criteria that is a) either established beforehand and usually scored by capable judges - as in competitive debates; or b) assumed to be left in the hands of the audience members - each responsible for concluding whether Debater A or Debater B made the more compelling argument.

This exercise never makes a whit of difference to the physical world. Whether we think that God exists is irrelevant to whether God can be reliably detected. People say they see the hand of God at work in the world, but they never provide evidence. There is nothing that has been observed that cannot be explained by nature. Even things that can't be seen, but can be conjectured (the origin of life, the origin of the universe) are more elegantly explained by natural processes than by the supernatural.

We (as a species) can't say definitely how life began - we would have to create life in order to observe its creation and put to rest the intellectually lazy presumption that it can't be explained. The parts and processes are all there, we just haven't seen the tipping point where non-life becomes life, but that gap gets ever smaller.

We (as a species) can't say definitely how the universe began - we would have to create a universe in order to observe its creation and put to rest the intellectually lazy presumption that it can't be explained. We may always be consigned to a lack of physical evidence due to the energy and/or technology required to perform such a test, but we may be able to "prove" mathematically and experimentally that a universe can arise from the stuff that we have to work with.

The evidence that we have so far for these and other mysteries point to natural causes, and do not even hint that a supernatural realm exists.

Argumentation can change minds, but does not change the state of the world.