What is the probability of God existing?

[Monica]

Any topics you're especially interested in? I've been debating atheists for the last two years. It's the mental equivalent of slam dancing. Is there anything he's particularly hung up on?

Allow me a little time please, I've got a few busy days ahead, and I want to do this right.

Oh, goody! My heart is singing! Thanks!!!

Well, basically, he calls himself an objectivist. Open to the possibility of God/supernatural but won't believe anything until it's been proven. Recognizes that subjective experiences seem 'real' to the person, but aren't really 'real' since only objective reality is 'real.' Has disdain for faith, even when I tried to explain it in the context of being necessary to create our own reality, if it's indeed true that there is a network connecting all of us, some sort of holodeck, that responds to our beliefs, desires, and visions. To me, that is an entirely different definition of 'faith' than the 'blind faith' promoted by religions, but he seems to lump it all in together as being 'blind' and sees no value in believing in or hoping for something that hasn't yet been proven. While I subscribe to the adage, Some things have to be believed to be seen, he's more likely to think that those seeing those things are just crazy.

While I believe that whether something has value in our lives (ie., makes us a better person, or the world a better place) is more important than whether it's literally 'true' or not, he is more concerned about finding 'the' truth and is concerned about believing something that might turn out to be false. For example, it would be somehow really terrible to believe in a soul if there really isn't a soul, regardless of whether believing in a soul might give peace and comfort. He'd rather remain without the peace and comfort he might get from believing in it, than get some 'false' peace and comfort.

To me, there is nothing that isn't real, because it's all real in some dimension or subjective reality...if it's real to us, then it's real, in a sense, and that's what matters. But to him, he wants to acknowledge only objective reality.

I've already voiced my views that waiting for science to catch up with unexplained phenomena is putting your faith in science. I even said science can be a religion, and trusting only in science is just like trusting only in a religion. He didn't like that.

He did have some negative experiences with organized religion, so some of his views are understandable, but I am concerned that he threw the baby out with the bathwater.