@Ishina
That is, when you speak of God, you mean a deity of some kind, a supernatural anthropomorphic entity, typically one that had a hand in the creation of the universe or oversees a certain aspect of it
No, I don't have to mean these kinds of gods because they aren't the only ones possible.
You could define God as this cup of hot black coffee sitting in front of me
That would just be a frivolous relabeling of something, of course. When one speaks of God, one generally intends, at least, something which is the necessary being, the one non-contingent 'cause' of everything else, the originator of the universe and all that exists, except itself. This is something along the lines of what I mean.
The body of knowledge we have to draw upon is obviously much more comprehensive now than it was thousands of years ago. Science has a far more encompassing understanding of the universe than it did thousands of years ago. We know things to more decimal places of certainty than we did thousands of years ago.
It isn’t unwise to think people would be wiser than those who lived thousands of years ago if they were better educated.
Even in an age where people know more than they used to, ignorance persists. And still, knowing more does not equate to being wiser. Wisdom is not the same as knowledge. And indeed, intelligent and educated people are prone to nonsensical beliefs, as you yourself must surely concede.
Sure, some people might be less likely to be taken in by hocus-pocus, but even now, superstitions and delusions are fairly common.
It’s the kind of contention that becomes redundant when posed as a question. As a question, you could put it: If there was evidence of a thing, would there be evidence of a thing?
That's irrelevant and you know it. I'm not driving at any tautology here. My contention from the start was merely that people cannot dismiss absolutely the possibility of the existence of a god without knowledge.
But this isn't really an abstract discussion on epistemology, as implied by your question. It's entirely possible that there is evidence for God's existence, and it's likewise possible that there's none. Either way, God could still exist. The possibility remains open, and that is my contention.
“Once again, we have hit philosophical bedrock with the shovel of a stupid question”
~ Sam Harris
Yeah, a stupid question you came up with.
Topic: Atheist Censorship