Quote from: Moloch on February 29, 2016, 05:27:30 AM

Quote from: anon_giraffe on February 29, 2016, 02:23:30 AM

Quote from: organofcorti on February 28, 2016, 06:43:16 AM

Quote from: anon_giraffe on February 28, 2016, 01:57:47 AM

It is easily possible to prove something that does not exist.

I have no elephants in my house. Or I am not drinking alcohol.

Only true in the trivial cases where something is provable, but not true for all cases. Do you have invisible microscopic elephants that run from you when you attempt to investigate them? Have you drunk alcohol that tastes and smells like like water and does not get you drunk and that someone has been putting in your water pipes?

This is an illustration of why the burden of proof regarding the existence of god is with those who claim a god or gods to exist.

Since when are provable arguments trivial?

When the definition of elephant includes "invisible microscopic elephants" and the definition of alcohol includes "alcohol that tastes and smells like like water and does not get you drunk" then you may have a point.
But currently neither are true so your argument fails as a strawman.

The point being that it is possible to prove a negative.

This does not mean that it is possible that God does or does not exist, unless you define God as such that such a statement actually becomes provable.
Given that there is no universally consistent set of properties attributable to God that does make it harder to prove anything.

Anecdotal evidence does not constitute proof... you cannot prove a negative claim...

You might remember what you ate for breakfast, but you could never prove it to anyone

You may find it very difficult to prove a negative claim, but the thing that you can often prove is that there is a chance that the negative claim is correct.

If there is a chance that God exists, then stating that He doesn't is a possible lie.

Stick to the truth that you think is the truth, rather than the thing you know you don't know for sure. Atheism is setting itself up as a potential lie in the face of knowing that it is a potential lie. Thus, it is a religion, just like all the other religions that exist by faith.

Cool