just an attempt to codify acceptable behaviors into a set of laws.
Unfortunately, these rules can quickly become outdated, irrelevant and even
painfully arbitrary.
It's fashionable for religious people to claim that atheists are immoral
hedonists, but a quick survey of real people shows that to be false. By and
large, atheists are no less moral than any other group of people.
5. "Belief in God would not be so widespread if God didn’t exist."
This type of claim is called an "argumentum ad populum" or “appeal to the
majority,” and it's simply not true. Many beliefs are popular or widely held
without being true, and things that are true exist whether anyone believes in
them or not.
Alchemy, at one time, was extremely popular and widespread, but few
people today would seriously claim that lead could be transmuted into gold.
There are similarly few people who still believe that the earth is flat or the
center of the universe despite those also being very popular beliefs at one
time.
Furthermore, the widespread nature of religion says little about the veracity
of any given religious belief. While it's true that many cultures around the
world hold religious beliefs, those beliefs themselves are widely variable and
often at odds with each other. When every religion states that it is the one
true path to salvation, it by necessity claims that all others are false. If
religion were true by virtue of widespread belief, it would certainly make
more sense for all people to at least believe the same thing.
6. "God answers prayers; therefore, he must be real."
Just as miracles are impossible to prove without resorting to unreliable
anecdotes, the power of prayer is certainly not supported by science. Belief
in prayer relies on confirmation bias. Essentially, people remember the times
that prayer seemed to "work" but conveniently forget the many occasions
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