What does 'credible evidence' mean?
A lot of theists I've debated seem to have difficulty understanding what I mean when I say 'credible evidence.'
Credible evidence is:
Evidence that is independently verifiable, falsifiable, and derived from reliable, unbiased sources, meeting the same standard of proof that you would accept if it disproved your own god and supported a competing one.
This means:
- Anecdotes (personal testimonies, visions, feelings) are excluded because they cannot be independently verified.
- Presuppositional arguments are excluded because they assume their conclusion rather than demonstrating it.
- Arguments from ignorance (“God of the Gaps”) are excluded because they rely on lack of knowledge, not positive proof.
- Non-falsifiable premises (claims that cannot be tested or disproved in principle) are excluded because they cannot be objectively evaluated.
- Personal opinions are excluded because they are subjective rather than evidence-based.
Your credible evidence must be objective, testable, and persuasive even to someone who does not already share the underlying belief, and it must be strong enough that you would accept it even if it worked against your own position.
And before you say, "No amount of evidence would convince you, you're just being stubborn!" take your argument and replace your god with Krishna, or Zeus, or Odin, and ask yourself if YOU would believe it. Now, honestly ask yourself, "Are YOU being stubborn because you want credible evidence?"