Subject: Re: As this is the Atheist forum...
And what if people don't believe in the Divine?'
'I tell them to fuck off. I can't waste my time with atheists. They don't have an intellectual elbow to lean on.'
'They don't?'
'Of course, not. The fact that light has both physical and metaphysical characteristics means that it is nonsense to refuse the metaphysical. And an absence of doubt is an intellectual flaw. Ask any scientist, or holy man. Doubt is the agnostics' parachute. That's why agnostics have a softer landing than atheists, when the Divine speaks to them.

Back in the day, religious people would drop by occasionally with a zinger to convert us heathens. However, the zingers always contained a logical fallacy. This one has two-ish.

First, light isn't evidence of the metaphysical. So you can't logically use it as proof of the existence of other metaphysical* objects. In fact, by definition you pretty much can't prove the existence of metaphysical things. Using capitalized "Divine" implies the narrator is talking about God or some power of God. I don't have the context, but that's what it seems like he's talking about. Now just for the sake of argument, let's say light is indeed proof of the metaphysical. That opens up a whole bunch of potential things to be believe in. Zeus, Odin, leprechauns, unicorns, the dragon in Kazim's garage, etc. In fact, in this instance an atheist only believes in one less God than the narrator. The argument is really just a restatement of Pascal's Wager. e.g. Belief gives you can escape hatch, just in case.

There is a passage in Moby Dick (going from memory so wildly paraphrasing) where the crew has gathered to discuss the meaning of some sign. Ahab says basically, "If God wants to send me a message, he needs to make it clear enough I can understand it." Same thing here. No need to believe in something if there is no evidence. Lack of evidence is God's fault, not mine.

*"metaphysical means different things to different people. I'm using it how it is commonly understood in typical use.