But my strong suspicion is that to do so you will end up with a philosophical argument that amounts to "we can know nothing" and ends up with solipsism.
Which is largely why I disdain philosophy.
Instead, here is a simple set of statements to counter your position that all belief systems are equivalent:
* There is such a thing as objective reality, independent of belief.
* It is possible to probe and determine the nature of reality by experiment.
* By doing this, we can obtain objectively verifiable, reproducible results, ands they are consistent for all, regardless of belief.
* No such test is possible for any kind of supernatural belief. Gods, afterlife, any of it.
* Therefore there is no way to demonstrate these.
Belief in that which cannot be tested and demonstrated is faith based.
Lack of such belief is not a belief, although it is typically asserted to be so by faith-holders.
It is is equivalent to saying that "off" is a TV station. "I watch channel X, you watch channel Y. We are the same!"
No: I turned off my TV. It has no aerial. I do not watch any station or channel.
This is not the same.
Person A: "I have hair, you don't. We both have hairstyles. You chose that hairstyle."
Person B: "I am bald."
Atheism is not a faith. Atheism is not a belief. It is the absence of belief. It is not equivalent. It is not a metaphysical framework, if I understand what you meant.
I have encountered many evangelists who maintain that all atheists are lying and everyone believes in their god. This is a simple failure of imagination. It is not a stronger argument.
"Reality is what doesn't go away when you stop believing in it." -- Philip K Dick.
I stopped believing at age 11 and have never since seen any evidence to make me reconsider.
All gods are lies. All religions are simple superstition with no basis in reality or truth.
I welcome any objectively verifiable, reproducible evidence to the contrary.
If this was true, you would be able to DEMONSTRATE that you can actually consider criticism of your claims, and take questions seriously, and answer them.
I believe that you quite literally cannot do that.
For starters, there is your base cognitive capability. But there is also now the "losing face" element in play.
Pushing back against one's cultural conditioning and the intuitions and customs that come along with it is not easy.
I am not interested in whatever weird little sky-fairy-botherer game you are trying to play.
If your gods were real, you could prove their existence. You can't, same as all other sky-fairy-botherers. Therefore, there being no evidence whatsoever for them, they don't exist. The end.
Now please go away and stop being annoying. The grownups have technology to talk about.
You claim:
> all metaphysical frameworks are faith-based
First, define what a "metaphysical framework" is.
But my strong suspicion is that to do so you will end up with a philosophical argument that amounts to "we can know nothing" and ends up with solipsism.
Which is largely why I disdain philosophy.
Instead, here is a simple set of statements to counter your position that all belief systems are equivalent:
* There is such a thing as objective reality, independent of belief.
* It is possible to probe and determine the nature of reality by experiment.
* By doing this, we can obtain objectively verifiable, reproducible results, ands they are consistent for all, regardless of belief.
* No such test is possible for any kind of supernatural belief. Gods, afterlife, any of it.
* Therefore there is no way to demonstrate these.
Belief in that which cannot be tested and demonstrated is faith based.
Lack of such belief is not a belief, although it is typically asserted to be so by faith-holders.
It is is equivalent to saying that "off" is a TV station. "I watch channel X, you watch channel Y. We are the same!"
No: I turned off my TV. It has no aerial. I do not watch any station or channel.
This is not the same.
Person A: "I have hair, you don't. We both have hairstyles. You chose that hairstyle."
Person B: "I am bald."
Atheism is not a faith. Atheism is not a belief. It is the absence of belief. It is not equivalent. It is not a metaphysical framework, if I understand what you meant.
I have encountered many evangelists who maintain that all atheists are lying and everyone believes in their god. This is a simple failure of imagination. It is not a stronger argument.
"Reality is what doesn't go away when you stop believing in it." -- Philip K Dick.
I stopped believing at age 11 and have never since seen any evidence to make me reconsider.
All gods are lies. All religions are simple superstition with no basis in reality or truth.
I welcome any objectively verifiable, reproducible evidence to the contrary.