Of course God exists. Are you trying to tell me that millions of people are wrong?
If you sail to the edge of the world, you will fall off. Everyone knows that.
Remember that logical reasoning is about finding the truth. Whether one person or a thousand or a million people believe something, does not make it true. Truth is not a contest you win by having the highest number of votes. You can believe that the sky is green, and you might even be able to convince others. But no matter how many people you convince, the sky is still blue. Or gray, during a storm. Or black, at night. Or orange, at sunset.
Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying, "If you call a horse's tail a 'leg,' then how many legs does it have? The answer is still four, because calling a horse's tail a leg doesn't make it one." Or, in other words, you can't make something true just by thinking so, even if other people agree with you.
Or can you?
Forcing, or enforcing, something to be true is what we do when we make laws and rules. For example, in our neighborhood, the residents decided that cars should drive no faster than 25 miles per hour. So the city was petitioned and new speed limits were set. Enough people believed that the speed limit should be 25 mph, and so it became 25 mph.
Everyone in my neighborhood thinks we should drive 25 mph.
We all signed the petition.
The city lowered the speed limit to 25mph.
Therefore, our neighborhood is now a safer place.
While sound (all the premises are true) it is not a valid argument (the conclusion does not follow from the premises). So, what would be a valid argument? How about something like this:
This neighborhood has many children who play in, or near, the street.
Drivers going 25 mph instead of 35 mph will make it easier for children to get out of the way of oncoming cars.
Driving 25mph will make it easier for drivers to stop if a child runs out into the street.
The city lowered the speed limit to 25mph.
Therefore, our neighborhood is now a safer place.
Examine some of the following beliefs, which were held to be true by large numbers of people at various times in our history (and some are still believed by many people in the world, today):
Slavery is the natural state of mankind.
Women's sphere is in the home, not in politics.
A person will be sick if their humors are not in balance.
The sun revolves around the earth.
Irish people are lazy, contentious drunks.
People of different races or religions should not marry.
Being homosexual is an offense against nature.
Marijuana use is evil.
God is good.
Space aliens visit earth on a regular basis and abduct people.
Whether lots of people agree or disagree with these statements doesn't make the statements any more or less true, logically speaking. Valid conclusions require premises which offer proof. "Because lots of people say so" is not proof. Just ask Columbus or Galileo.
