Weekly "Ask an Atheist" Thread

believe in quarks, gluons, neutrinos, dark matter, etc and they have never seen it

We have other evidence for quantum particles. I don't have to be able to see it, unaided, in order for evidence to exist.

which periodically changes its mind

Nope, I think this is disingenuous.

Science adapts and discards some theories, as better theories, and better evidence dictate we should. We no longer think the universe is steady state, for example, because we have evidence that it's expanding, and with the cosmic microwave background, we know it wasn't always just collections of galaxies full of stars as we see them - more or less - today. So we no longer think that steady-state cosmologies are anywhere close to the truth. We have different cosmological models, now, derived from the evidence we have.

And we continue to refine those models, when we get new evidence.

But that doesn't mean that the scientific method is itself flawed. It has, so far, proven to be the most reliable method we've come up with for evaluating evidence and arriving at conclusions about the world that are as close to objective as we can make them.

Even now there is a possibility that Protons have 5 quarks not 3

In some cases, where some protons in atypical states may indeed be made up of more than the usual three quarks, that's part of that process of refining existing theory, and coming up with better theories, as new evidence comes to light. This is a good thing.

Religion only ever offers me, "just trust us, we're right."

They continue saying this, despite having been repeatedly wrong for thousands of years.

not realize you believe in unseen things too

It's still not about seeing everything with my naked eyeballs. "Seeing for myself" is a conventional turn of phrase, which I suspect you already understand, says, "I need a way to evaluate objective evidence," not "I only believe in things I can see, unaided."

I accept that ultraviolet light and microwaves exist. I will never, ever see them with these particular retinas. So what?

/r/DebateAnAtheist Thread Parent