I prefer the more accurate “there is no evidence that God exists.” What proof do I have there is no evidence? “Behold, my field of evidence of God’s existence, and notice it is barren. To my knowledge, there is no evidence. If you have any non-anecdotal evidence of God’s existence, I’d be happy to look at it, but absent that, there does not appear to be any evidence.”
If pressed, there’s no evidence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, unicorns, or leprechauns either. Does that mean they don’t exist? I guess that depends on who speaks first, right?
The only reasonable way to think and live is to only believe in things that have evidence they exist. To, as a default, believe in something and then require proof of its non-existence doesn’t make any sense. There is literally no end of things that “exist” if you just believe in things without evidence. Therefore, requesting “proof of non-existence” makes absolutely no sense in any context except when evidence of existence has already been established (e.g. someone declaring the moon landing was faked, where there is established evidence showing the moon landing having been real. A case would have to be made why that evidence was somehow illegitimate).
I prefer the more accurate “there is no evidence that God exists.” What proof do I have there is no evidence? “Behold, my field of evidence of God’s existence, and notice it is barren. To my knowledge, there is no evidence. If you have any non-anecdotal evidence of God’s existence, I’d be happy to look at it, but absent that, there does not appear to be any evidence.”
If pressed, there’s no evidence of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, unicorns, or leprechauns either. Does that mean they don’t exist? I guess that depends on who speaks first, right?
The only reasonable way to think and live is to only believe in things that have evidence they exist. To, as a default, believe in something and then require proof of its non-existence doesn’t make any sense. There is literally no end of things that “exist” if you just believe in things without evidence. Therefore, requesting “proof of non-existence” makes absolutely no sense in any context except when evidence of existence has already been established (e.g. someone declaring the moon landing was faked, where there is established evidence showing the moon landing having been real. A case would have to be made why that evidence was somehow illegitimate).