- I suggest there is a china teapot revolving around the sun, between Earth and Mars.
- The teapot is too small to be revealed by our most powerful telescopes.
- Since my assertion cannot be disproved, my belief in the teapot's existence is justified.
An atheist may argue that belief in a god is like belief in such an absurd teapot; the burden of proof should be on the believer to demonstrate the existence of the god or teapot, and not on the atheist to demonstrate otherwise.
Now, I claim that the Celestial Teapot argument when used against religion falls apart for two reasons: gods are very different from teapots, and the notion of absurdity is very subjective.
The teapot exists in the realm of nature --- an exhaustive search of the (finite) space between the Earth and Mars orbits will tell us whether or not such a teapot exists. In other words, its existence or nonexistence can be proven by science. Science, unfortunately, cannot test the existence of a god because it is supernatural.
What is absurd to one individual may be plain fact to another; what is absurd at one time may be plain fact at another. In the past, it would be absurd to think that humans and chimpanzees descended from a common ancestor; now, evolutionary science has plenty of evidence in support of that. The Celestial Teapot may seem ridiculous to all but the indoctrinated Teapotists.
This is my point: Be aware of the limitations of the Celestial Teapot argument if you decide to wield it.
