Posts Tagged ‘analogy’

The Celestial Teapot

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

I was just reading about the “Celestial Teapot“, an analogy coined by Bertrand Russell to refute the argument that the burden of proof lies with the skeptic or non-believer in regards to religion. As a somewhat aggressive atheist, it really hits the mark as far as I’m concerned.

“If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.”

The instant I hear “Jesus”, “God” or “Faith”; I start hating.