Big fan of Carl Sagan, he was like a father figure to me, I’m partially molded by him.
That said, something he used to say all the time really baffled me, still does:
“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”
He said this when talking about aliens.
However: Sagan was a famous non believer.
How does this aphorism reconcile with the existence or non existence of a god?
If “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” does that apply to a god as well?
Is there a god even though there is no evidence of him/her/it?
In: 95
“I can no more disprove the existence of God, than i can disprove that mushrooms are alien space ships sent here to spy on is.”
~Dawkins, paraphrased
You’re right, the absence of evidence of God’s existence isn’t proof of His non-existence. But consider that the former clause is absence of evidence of (what’s probably contextually) a Christian God, whose son is Jesus, whose words were written down in the Bible. In contrast, the latter clause could literally apply to any (and no) deity. The discrepancy in scope is staggering, when you apply this aphorism to God.
I suggest you look at the phrase to mean “nothing can categorically constitute evidence of absence,” and then you’ll appreciate just how much the burden of proof is on believers, and not agnostics/atheists. Less poetic, though. :/
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