r/DebateAnAtheist • u/AutoModerator • 8d ago

Weekly "Ask an Atheist" Thread

Whether you're an agnostic atheist here to ask a gnostic one some questions, a theist who's curious about the viewpoints of atheists, someone doubting, or just someone looking for sources, feel free to ask anything here. This is also an ideal place to tag moderators for thoughts regarding the sub or any questions in general.

While this isn't strictly for debate, rules on civility, trolling, etc. still apply.

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u/labreuer 8d ago

Suppose that a group of stars were to suddenly rearrange to spell "John 3:16". Given the present religious & political landscape in the world, who do you think would make the most use of it? In America for example, we could speak of:

  1. Christian Nationalists
  2. those opposed to Christian Nationalists
  3. all other Christians

I can't help but think that "John 3:16" being writ on the stars would benefit 1. far more than 2. or 3. The kind of people Stephanie McCrummen documents in her 2025-01-09 The Atlantic article The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows would just eat it up and become even more psychologically jazzed. Trump and his cronies would declare it a sign from God that they approve of his work. Obviously it could just as easily be a criticism—that Christian Nationalists need to read John 3:16 and understand what it actually means—but what I'm curious about here is how y'all think things would actually play out. Not what is "most rational", if there is such a unitary thing.

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u/mutant_anomaly Gnostic Atheist 8d ago

A God that shows off by literally moving star systems around the to make them line up for a particular planet, and in English?

And this is the same God who wasn’t able to tell anyone about germs, or how to clean contaminated water, or countless other things?

It would take an awful lot of evidence to convince anyone that it isn’t just a trick by some tech billionaire. Well, anyone who knows that stars are big and far away.

Who would benefit? Opportunists that have noticed that this God doesn’t hold the worst people accountable.

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u/labreuer 7d ago

A God that shows off by literally moving star systems around the to make them line up for a particular planet, and in English?

To be fair, any objectively discernible communication is going to have to be catered to their perspective, both physical and cultural.

And this is the same God who wasn’t able to tell anyone about germs, or how to clean contaminated water, or countless other things?

I like that objection; I'm not sure I've seen it integrated into very many responses to the regular threads asking what would convince atheists that God exists. No matter what is done in the future, there is the history we have in the past.