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I had this conversation this weekend. Suppose that absolute proof of a god was found. Would atheists believe and worship this god?
My answer, which wasn't what they wanted, was that I would acknowledge the fact of god but I don't think I am the worshipping type. At the core of my atheism is a lack of interest in such activities like attending church, group conformity, and public displays of self importance.
I also don't follow sports, identify strongly politically, or do other activities that creates a division - 'us' vs 'them'.
I don't believe that an actual god would crave fawning obsequiousness from anyone, much less insignificant gnats like ourselves. That would make the deity externally dependent on something rather than completely independent and self sufficient, which would remove the property of "deity" from it. By most definitions that have any actual meaning, a god is something that needs nothing whatsoever and bestows grace (unmerited favor) on a mere whim.
So if an actual god was found and proven it would either be a dangerous malevolence or a benevolent being sincerely interested in communicating with and helping us in non-dysfunctional ways. If the latter were truly the case then it would be the greatest boon to humanity ever, although I would wonder where it had been all this time and would want a good answer to that before even beginning to trust its motives.
The very question "would you worship this god" reveals a faulty paradigm and a logically inconsistent understanding of what a deity would actually be. The Christian deity is little more than a moderately evolved Greek god -- petty, vindictive, capricious, by turns dangerous and helpful. And it craves worship. It wants it. It NEEDS it. It is actually jealous when it doesn't get it. And that is no god at all, just a powerful alien tinpot dictator.
Well, if "absolute proof" were to occur somehow, then I suppose there would be a rational reason to acknowledge there actually is a god of some sort. Depending on what that proof is, would suggest the next rational step.
"Worship" would be such an incomprehensible reaction for me, as that would mean this entity arrived, solved all problems for humans, and created the utopian world we all would agree on...that I'd be incomprehensibly joyous and wishing to express gratitude to the level of worship. Thats such a tall order fraught with contradictions that I cannot imagine any being which "can" do this, would not have done this already. And I'd question the motives of not doing doing so earlier, so the concept of professing worship merely at finding "proof of a creator/god" becomes even more remote.
I am of the opinion that even if we can find that somebody intelligently designed us, that ID is not necessarily proof of holding our best interests in mind. And to go even further, I think there would be reason to be even more skeptical of any entity (human or god) which would formulate rules & rituals without better explanation of "why".
And even if given that better explanation of "why", then I would be even more skeptical if the reason were that this same entity were going to "punish" me if I did not follow those rules which it created for me...and to which I had no way to agree to participate in as I did not have cognition before I was born (to my current cognition anyway...which is all that matters even if there were some pre-life cognition which I just don't remember).
In the end, creation of something is no guarantee of the best intentions for the created. And hiding behind convoluted, self-aggrandizing, and reward/punish mantra would bring forth more reason for skepticism...not less.
I had this conversation this weekend. Suppose that absolute proof of a god was found. Would atheists believe and worship this god?
The question assumes that a god requires being worshipped. Many people in the world today believe in concepts of god that do not require worship in the sense of the abrahamic religions.
Keep in mind that the modern-day worship of the abrahamic religions grew out of an animal - and maybe human* - sacrificing tradition. Cain's offering of grain/fruits/vegetables wasn't sufficient.
*Why did Abraham willingly accept god's demand to sacrifice Isaac? And why did god then use Abraham's willingness to tell the Jews that human sacrifice wasn't necessary?
there is no more a need to worship it then a child needs to worship their parent. Some parents require it, they are the sick ones. this thing is not sick, it just is. However, people to have mixtures of emotions and these mixtures come in various concentrations. Some people have more a need to "worship" than others. So god wouldn't care if they did as long as it helps then function.
some people's mixture lends itself to anti-worship or anti-thankful. we can all imagine their stances on many things. Ask them to describe their parents when they are "off guard".
We can make up anything else we want to fit our personal emotional perspective too. These emotional stances are not logical to anybody that doesn't have the same needs or if a person has less emotion.
This is just a base line factual analysis of humans. it is what it is I guess
If there was absolute proof, of course, I'd believe it.
As to the second part of your question, sorry, kab0906 , like so many....actually, most or even all.... of these "what if" scenerios presented on here, the questions are always too vague to answer.
Depends. Proof of god means different things to everyone. For me, it just means there is a higher being on a plane of existence we can't yet explain. But as for what role this god plays, I don't know. I guess it depends which came first: the universe or the god (or gods??). Or is this god something else; not an organic being but not one with the power to create time and space. It creates life, let's assume that. Would I worship that? Probably not. I'd want to understand it.
Now lets say the Abrahamic god is prove to be real, would I worship? Not sure. Depends on how literally true the Bible is. If Noah's flood is a real story, the answer is no. I don't worship mass murderers. I could go on for quite a while talking about whats real, but if the general story of Jesus is real, and that was it, I'd consider worshiping in some way, but it wouldn't be a traditional way. It, again, would be more about understanding.
Depends. Proof of god means different things to everyone. For me, it just means there is a higher being on a plane of existence we can't yet explain. But as for what role this god plays, I don't know. I guess it depends which came first: the universe or the god (or gods??). Or is this god something else; not an organic being but not one with the power to create time and space. It creates life, let's assume that. Would I worship that? Probably not. I'd want to understand it.
Now lets say the Abrahamic god is prove to be real, would I worship? Not sure. Depends on how literally true the Bible is. If Noah's flood is a real story, the answer is no. I don't worship mass murderers. I could go on for quite a while talking about whats real, but if the general story of Jesus is real, and that was it, I'd consider worshiping in some way, but it wouldn't be a traditional way. It, again, would be more about understanding.
now that dusted off some of the nonsense and gave us a little more clarity.
good job
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