What is truth from an Atheist's point of view?

See related link; "The Truth"

Answer

Truth is an absolute. It is the same whether you are a Hindu, Christian or an Atheist. In fact, Atheists say that the truth is that there is no God, but that Christians do not understand that truth.

Another perspective

Truth is an absolute. It is the same whether you are a Hindu, Christian or an Atheist. In fact, Atheists say that the truth is that there is no God, but that Christians do not understand that truth.

Ultimately, it is impossible to show that anything is true. Anything at all - absolute truth is only available in the fields of pure logic and mathematics.

You can demonstrate this for yourself quite easily: drop a ball and watch it bounce. Did the ball bounce? How can you be sure? Maybe somebody hypnotised you and made you THINK that you'd dropped a ball and saw it bounce. After the fact, there is no way (even with witnesses) that you can prove that the ball truly dropped and bounced.

Think of the movie "The Matrix" if that helps. It's not a new idea, though: Plato came up with it well over two thousand years ago:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave

So what do atheists think is truth? Most atheists don't pretend to know. Atheists realise that the actual, real truth is ALWAYS subjective. Atheists take a scientific approach as best they can. Observe things happening. Try to work out why it happens. Test, and see if you are correct. If you are, then great! If not, your idea was wrong or incomplete.

The most important aspect of being an atheist is the willingness to change your mind about what you think, if new evidence comes to light which contradicts what you think.

Atheists do not believe in god because there is *no evidence* that there is a god. All the evidence which has ever been submitted has been shown to be faulty, forged, or can be explained without the need for any gods.

So, in short, atheists don't much bother with the pursuit of truth: just the pursuit of knowledge and explanations. They do, however, get riled when other people claim that something is "true". If there was any single religion on the planet which provided good evidence, then almost all atheists would convert to it.

There isn't. So they haven't.

ANSWER

Truth is only that which can be verified; everything else is opinion.

First answer by Itchie.c2. Last edit by Powerboy. Contributor trust: 3 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 20 [recommend question]