You say the NTCOF isn’t “faith based” but doesn it take faith to say that god(s) don’t exist?
To begin with, the NTCOF does not assert that god(s) do not exist. There is no faith required to say that one is not persuaded of something. Faith is needed only when the evidence does not support beliefs or is against them. The NTCOF’s position is in agreement with W.K. Clifford’s assertion that: “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” [The Ethics of Belief (1879)] When there is sufficient evidence, then no faith is necessary.Even when we “have faith” that a friend will be waiting for us at a given time and place, it is on the basis of our past experience that the friend can be relied on to keep promises. It has nothing to do with the kind of faith that is invoked in support of supernatural religious doctrines. Likewise, it is no “act of faith” to expect that the sun will rise tomorrow or to suppose that the information about our parentage recorded on our birth certificates is accurate. Experience teaches us that it is reasonab
